Chapter 4 Swan Lake.
Once upon a time, in the days of princes and peasants and castles, there lived a prince named Siegfried.
He was an extremely handsome prince and very wise for his age.
Prince Siegfried had just celebrated a birthday.
It was an important birthday because the great prince was now of the age to be married.
We shall have a grand ball in your honor, my son, his mother, the queen, announced.
You shall have your choice of any princess in the land.
For many princes this would have been a dream come true, but for Siegfried it was troubling.
He was a kind and noble prince who had friends everywhere in the village.
Peasant girls were every bit as beautiful and charming, if not more so, than any princess he had ever met.
Why did he have to marry a princess?
The evening before the grand ball, Prince Siegfried left his friends at the castle gate and took a walk in the woods.
He tried to be happy, but deep down he was miserable.
He wanted to marry a lady for love, not because she was a princess, but how he wished he would meet the perfect woman before tomorrow.
As the prince stopped to rest, a flock of swans flew overhead.
They were flapping their way toward the setting sun, but circled at the last second to make a great landing on the pond.
The prince watched the beauties for a long time.
In fact, it was the first stroke of midnight on the town's distant clock that brought him out of his long stare.
As the prince gazed upon the pond, the swans swam one by one to the bank.
When each bird reached the grass, it turned into a beautiful girl dressed in a costume of white feathers.
The leader of the group wore a golden crown on her head.
"'Dear prince,' the leader said as she gracefully pranced toward him, "'at last you have come!'
I am Queen Odette, and these are my maidens.
The queen curtsied to the prince and smiled.
We have had a spell cast on us by a wicked magician.
We are human from midnight to dawn, but we change into swans when the morning comes.
We remain in that form all day.
The prince simply stared at the queen, not knowing what to say.
He had never heard a story so sad.
The spell cannot be broken until I find a prince who will marry and love me forever.
The beautiful queen blushed after she spoke.
Was it right to suggest to the prince he should fall in love with her?
Little did she know that Prince Siegfried had fallen in love with her the moment he saw her.
And how could he help himself?
Her eyes were a deep brown and her long dark hair was swept up off her neck in a gorgeous swirl.
Her mouth was a lovely shade of red and she had a childlike smile.
She could warm any gentleman's heart.
As for Queen Odette, she had realized when she was dancing on the banks of the pond that Prince Siegfried was the only one for her.
She had noticed him from afar when her flock of swans was landing.
How? handsome he was.
He was tall and muscular, with light wavy hair and blue eyes.
His gaze was intense, and his smile upon seeing the queen was welcoming and warm.
To find a prince like him to break the spell would be too wonderful to imagine.
After the two looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, they began to dance.
Everything was perfect.
The pond offered a symphony of summer sounds.
The joyous rhythm of crickets chirping frogs, croaking and nightingales singing was wonderful for dancing.
The prince held the queen as if she were a flower that needed special care.
They seemed to be so happy together.
The other girls danced along with pleasure at the thought of their awful spell being broken once and for all.
But as the couple began talking of their love for each other, a strange thing happened.
A winged shadow crossed the pond.
The atmosphere darkened.
So did the queen's mood.
Oh, no, she cried.
What is that? asked the prince.
A large owl swooped close.
It It's the magician in disguise.
The magician who cast the spell on us, Queen Odette cried.
The owl flew just inches above her head.
He must know that you are the prince who has come to end the spell.
I don't know what he will do to us.
The owl then swooped down close to the prince's head.
Siegfried shouted so loudly at the attack that his friends overheard his cries and ran to help him.
The group fought the owl until the owl flew away.
The lovely ladies were safe again.
You are truly my prince, Odette said, smiling gratefully.
I don't know how to thank you.
The queen gave the prince a hug and sat down beside him.
She told him of the magician's evil.
When the queen felt sure the owl was gone and the mood was once again light, the group of ladies danced for the prince Siegfried and his friends.
They thanked the men for their help and kindness.
The prince then invited Odette and the ladies to the grand ball.
They accepted the invitation and said they'd arrive around midnight.
As darkness turned to day, all the girls, including Queen Odette, turned back into swans.
The prince returned to his palace, sad to see the queen leave, but he was happy knowing that she would be at the grand ball that night.
Of course he would choose her as his bride.
Once they were married, Queen Odette and her maidens could take off their feathers forever, because the magician's spell would be broken.
The grand ball was every girl's dream come true.
There were guests from all over the world.
Women wore gorgeous gowns with precious jewels sparkling in the light.
They gossiped in little groups about their hopes of dancing with the prince.
The gentlemen had all dressed in their finest, no matter how far they had journeyed.
They gladly kept the ladies' company as the women waited their turn to dance with the prince.
Just before twelve o'clock, a beautiful woman looking exactly like Queen Odette arrived at the palace.
Prince Siegfried didn't notice it wasn't quite midnight yet.
Upon seeing this beautiful girl, he sincerely thought she was Odette.
However, the lovely lady who resembled the girl of Siegfried's dreams was not the true queen.
In fact, she was Odile, the daughter of the wicked magician who had cast the swan spell.
She was there to play a trick on him.
I am so happy you have come, he whispered to her, guiding her across the ballroom.
You look lovely.
Even though she was supposed to be mean to the prince, Odile was thrilled at his kind words.
As the daughter of such a nasty man, she hadn't heard many nice things.
I am so happy to be here, she responded.
I know so little about you, my beautiful swan queen, the prince said, still captured by her beauty and her smile.
What can you tell me that will make me love you always?
Odile blushed for a moment, her thoughts racing.
Could she speak as well as Queen Odette would?
Why do you ask, my prince? she asked, trying to avoid the question.
I ask, my dear lady, because I want you to be my bride.
Odile knew she was only required to fool the prince for that one evening.
After tonight, he would know she was not the real queen.
He would never look at her again unless she could somehow figure out a way to make him love her.
She smiled back at the prince.
Of course I will marry you.
I shall live to make you happy.
Odile said these words with a glimmer in her eyes.
The prince turned Odile around slowly so the crowd could see her.
He had never met anyone so beautiful.
He would be so proud to call her his wife.
As Odile waved to the crowd, a loud clap of thunder suddenly shook the ballroom.
The lights flashed and the chandelier swayed.
The floor shook slightly.
The guests in the ballroom began screaming in fear.
What was happening?
At that very moment, Prince Siegfried looked up and noticed the true Swan Queen at the castle window, tired and injured from beating her wings against the pane of glass.
She had been trying to get his attention, but he had been entranced by the wrong woman.
The prince looked from the window to the woman by his side and back again.
I don't understand, he said.
How can there be two of you?
In an instant, the woman by his side disappeared with a cloud of smoke.
In her place appeared a short man.
He was dressed in black and carried a wand.
How do you feel now?
The magician asked, smiling wickedly at the prince.
You have just asked for my daughter's hand in marriage.
Your pretty little swan queen never even made it through the door.
The evil man's plan had worked.
Prince Siegfried had promised his love to a fake, not to Queen Odette.
Now she and her maidens would remain swans the rest of their lives.
The prince was overcome with despair.
He ran from the palace, knowing he must explain his awful mistake to his true love, Queen Odette.
He found her weeping at the pond.
She was in her human form since it was past midnight.
Prince Siegfried, with tears of his own, took her in his arms and explained the magician's cruel plan.
He asked for forgiveness.
The generous woman forgave the prince and accepted her fate.
Queen Odette's heart filled with sadness.
The more she thought of her future without the prince, the fuller her heart became.
Within moments, Odette's heart was almost bursting.
She could no longer live this life.
There was no way she could exist without Prince Siegfried.
Queen Odette buried her face in her hands and cried.
The magician came to the woods.
He hoped to find the young lovers and boast about the trick he had played on them.
As the magician approached, Prince Siegfried jumped from where he was sitting with Queen Odette to fight him.
The prince was wild with anger at the evil little man.
He kicked him and punched him.
Prince's very last blow threw the wicked man right into the pond.
The heart of the magician was as black as coal and as heavy as a rock.
The weight of it took him down, down, down to the bottom of the lake.
He never surfaced again.
Odette's soft cries drew Siegfried's attention back to his love.
Odette was dying from heartbreak.
He ran to her side and took her hands in his.
It was then that Siegfried decided that life without Odette would be unbearable.
Looking into each other's eyes, they leaped into the lake and allowed the water to swallow them gently.
As the morning arrived, the maidens were filled with joy to find that they had not changed back into swans.
Looking at the quiet beauty of the water, they saw a silhouette of the lovely Odette and the man who had loved her.
The maidens knew the couple had broken the spell.
As for Prince Siegfried and Queen Odette's love, the lake known for evermore as Swan Lake was livened by the spirits of the couple every morning at dawn.
As long as there is Swan Lake, there will be Queen Odette and Prince Siegfried there in true love for ever.
