` Could you not protect me ? ' asked the little sister . ` No , ' they answered , ` for we can only lay aside our swan skins for a quarter of an hour every evening . For this time we regain our human forms , but then we are changed into swans again . ' Then the little sister cried and said , ` Can you not be freed ? ' ` Oh , no , ' they said , ` the conditions are too hard . You must not speak or laugh for six years , and must make in that time six shirts for us out of star-flowers . If a single word comes out of your mouth , all your labour is vain . ' And when the brothers had said this the quarter of an hour came to an end , and they flew away out of the window as swans . But the maiden had determined to free her brothers even if it should cost her her life . She left the hut , went into the forest , climbed a tree , and spent the night there . The next morning she went out , collected star-flowers , and began to sew . She could speak to no one , and she had no wish to laugh , so she sat there , looking only at her work . When she had lived there some time , it happened that the King of the country was hunting in the forest , and his hunters came to the tree on which the maiden sat . They called to her and said ` Who are you ? ' But she gave no answer . ` Come down to us , ' they said , ` we will do you no harm . ' But she shook her head silently . As they pressed her further with questions , she threw them the golden chain from her neck . But they did not leave off , and she threw them her girdle , and when this was no use , her garters , and then her dress .
The huntsmen would not leave her alone , but climbed the XXXXX , lifted the maiden down , and led her to the King .
end head hunters hunting hut mouth quarter tree use word