The Fisherwoman

There once was a fisherwoman without a husband to look after her son. It was too dangerous to bring her son to the sea with her and no one else lived for miles around, so she had to find some way to protect her son when she went to fish every morning.

Now every day on her way to the sea, she passed by a pond where she saw some swan maidens bathing, leaving their sparkling cloaks to soak in all the warmth of the sun on the bank. When they were done, they put on their cloaks and as swans they flew away. One morning she noticed a swan maiden was too busy preening to notice her, so she stole his cloak and slipped away. She wrapped it around her son and it kept him safe from anything that would harm him. The swan maiden whose cloak she stole realised what happened, but it was too late and the protection of the cloak made sure that he couldn’t simply steal it back. He had no choice but to make a deal with the fisherwoman to find her a new protector for her son so that he could get his cloak of feathers back and fly home.