But she was afraid of the stepmother , and begged the King to let her stay just one night more in the castle in the wood . The poor maiden thought , ` My home is no longer here ; I will go and seek my brothers . ' And when night came she fled away into the forest . She ran all through the night and the next day , till she could go no farther for weariness . Then she saw a little hut , went in , and found a room with six little beds . She was afraid to lie down on one , so she crept under one of them , lay on the hard floor , and was going to spend the night there . But when the sun had set she heard a noise , and saw six swans flying in at the window . They stood on the floor and blew at one another , and blew all their feathers off , and their swan-skin came off like a shirt . Then the maiden recognised her brothers , and overjoyed she crept out from under the bed . Her brothers were not less delighted than she to see their little sister again , but their joy did not last long . ` You can not stay here , ' they said to her . ` This is a den of robbers ; if they were to come here and find you they would kill you . ' ` 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 XXXXX had said this the quarter of an hour came to an end , and they flew away out of the window as swans .
bed brothers feathers floor hut noise shirt swans thought window