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A very traditional rendition with classic illustrations.
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The Wild Swans adaptation
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An updated version of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale, The Wild Swans is the soulful story of a young girl searching for her lost brothers. Upon discovering they have been turned into swans, she sets off on a difficult journey, enduring many hardships in the quest to return her brothers to their human form.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1,2005
This edition
- Format
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48 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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March 1, 2005 by Barefoot Books
- ISBN
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9781841481647
- ASIN
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1841481645
- Language
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English
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Rating(4.2 / 5.0, 6 votes)
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6 reviews All reviews
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Maddie: Elisa, there's a princess and her name's Elisa, and she has 11 brothers and there's a fairy and swans and the girl is beautiful.
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Absolutely beautiful illustrations. The description of Elisa's ride through the air was lovely as well. This version, by Hans Christian Andersen, has much more description than the Grimm version.
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Hans Christian Andersen's Wild Swans have many similarities to Grimm's "The Six Swans" and "The Twelve Brothers" and Andrew Lang's "The Six Swans" in The Yellow Fairy Book. I think Anderson's tale is a much later version because it is set in a Christian Kingdom. There are many references to God. Later Eliza (the protagonist) is accused of witchcraft and killing her babies and is ordered to be burnt alive at the stake. The archbishop and the church really look forward to it. I didn’t like references to God/Christianity. Those beliefs shouldn't get mixed up in fairy tales which depicts the battles of good and evil, where the bad is punished/condemned by nature/karma.
Princess Eliza is one of those few young women you will come across in folklore/fairy tale narrations that is really admirable. She doesn't get saved. She does the saving of her 11 brothers and herself. She is determined, compassionate, patient, strong, courageous, altruistic, perseverant, pure and beautiful. In other words, Eliza is the epitome of perfection. So she has a stepmother who wants to make her ugly (because she was unsuccessful in killing her), and a mother-in-law who wants to see her burned.
Yvonne Gilbert Barefoot's illustrations are magical.
Princess Eliza is one of those few young women you will come across in folklore/fairy tale narrations that is really admirable. She doesn't get saved. She does the saving of her 11 brothers and herself. She is determined, compassionate, patient, strong, courageous, altruistic, perseverant, pure and beautiful. In other words, Eliza is the epitome of perfection. So she has a stepmother who wants to make her ugly (because she was unsuccessful in killing her), and a mother-in-law who wants to see her burned.
Yvonne Gilbert Barefoot's illustrations are magical.
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This Hans Christian Anderson tale was in my 2nd grade reading anthology, and it truly captured my imagination. The wickedness of the evil queen, and the love and dedication and self-sacrifice of the princess even to the point of death really spoke to me. This version of the story is absolutely beautiful!!!! I love the gorgeous pictures - they are exquisite.
There were a couple changes to other versions of this story that I've read. I don't remember the fairy Morgana being in the story. Also in some versions Elisa has children with the king, and she also collapses and dies after throwing the shirts over her brothers. I'd have to go back to the original Anderson to find out which elements were in his original story.
I have always thought the story strange in a couple ways. One is how the story does not return full circle to punish the wicked stepmother for her evil spells. Another is the weird mix of fairy tale elements with "real life": there is an archbishop (Christianity) but also the fairy Morgana, spells that turn princes into swans, and lamias on the graves. It's such a strange mix. Sometimes I feel that the first part of the story is almost a different story than the second half.
Now let me quibble. The wicked queen disguises Elisa so much so that the king does not recognize her, but the pictures do not reflect this. If the illustrator didn't want to do a picture of Elisa looking "ugly", the writer should have moved up the part where she washed her face so it matched the illustrations. Also Elisa is referred to as the younger sister in the story, but in most of the picures showing her brothers, she actually looks older than most of them. Also at the barest minimum five years have gone by since the wicked queen turned them into swans, so pictures showing some of them looking seven or eight years old would mean that the queen drove them away as young toddlers which is inaccurate to the original story. Also I really disliked the first picture of the king who marries Elisa: he looks too effeminate, I think. But, like I said, these are quibbles because I really loved the beautiful illustrations. It's an amazing story.
There were a couple changes to other versions of this story that I've read. I don't remember the fairy Morgana being in the story. Also in some versions Elisa has children with the king, and she also collapses and dies after throwing the shirts over her brothers. I'd have to go back to the original Anderson to find out which elements were in his original story.
I have always thought the story strange in a couple ways. One is how the story does not return full circle to punish the wicked stepmother for her evil spells. Another is the weird mix of fairy tale elements with "real life": there is an archbishop (Christianity) but also the fairy Morgana, spells that turn princes into swans, and lamias on the graves. It's such a strange mix. Sometimes I feel that the first part of the story is almost a different story than the second half.
Now let me quibble. The wicked queen disguises Elisa so much so that the king does not recognize her, but the pictures do not reflect this. If the illustrator didn't want to do a picture of Elisa looking "ugly", the writer should have moved up the part where she washed her face so it matched the illustrations. Also Elisa is referred to as the younger sister in the story, but in most of the picures showing her brothers, she actually looks older than most of them. Also at the barest minimum five years have gone by since the wicked queen turned them into swans, so pictures showing some of them looking seven or eight years old would mean that the queen drove them away as young toddlers which is inaccurate to the original story. Also I really disliked the first picture of the king who marries Elisa: he looks too effeminate, I think. But, like I said, these are quibbles because I really loved the beautiful illustrations. It's an amazing story.
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This rating is for the edition translated by Naomi Lewis and illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert.
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