wings be strong enough to fly with you over the sea?"

"Yes, take me with you," said Eliza.

The whole night they were occupied in weaving a net of the pliable
willow bark and tough reeds; and it was great and strong. On this net
Eliza lay down; and when the sun rose, and her brothers were changed
into wild swans, they seized the net with their beaks, and flew with
their beloved sister, who was still asleep, high up toward the clouds.
The sunbeams fell exactly upon her face, so one of the swans flew over
her head, that his broad wings might overshadow her.

They were far away from the shore when Eliza awoke: she was still
dreaming, so strange did it appear to her to be carried high through the
air and over the sea. By her side lay a branch with beautiful ripe
berries and a bundle of sweet-tasting roots. The youngest of the
brothers had collected them and placed them there for her. She smiled at
him thankfully, for she recognized him; he it was who flew over her and
shaded her with his wings.

They were so high that the greatest ship they descried beneath them
seemed like a white sea-gull lying upon the waters. A great cloud stood
behind them--it was a perfect mountain; and upon it Eliza saw her own
shadow and those of the eleven swans; there they flew on, gigantic in
size. Here was a picture, a more splendid one than she had ever yet
seen. But as the sun rose higher and the cloud was left farther behind
them, the floating shadowy images vanished away.

The whole day they flew onward through the air, like a whirring arrow,
but their flight was slower than it was wont to be, for they had their
sister to carry. Bad weather came on; the evening drew near; Eliza
looked anxiously at the setting sun, for the lonely rock in the ocean
could not be seen. It seemed to her as if the swans beat the air more
strongly with their wings. Alas! she was the cause that they did not
advance fast enough. When the sun went down, they must become men and
fall into the sea and drown. Then she prayed a prayer from the depths of
her heart; but still she could descry no rock. The dark clouds came
nearer in a great black threatening body rolling forward like a mass of
lead, and the lightning burst forth, flash upon flash.

Now the sun just touched the margin of the sea. Eliza's heart trembled.
Then the swans darted downward, so swiftly that she thought they were
falling, but they paused again. The sun was half hidden below the water.
And now