e pride of his mother, who told him that some day he
would marry a princess for having been such a good and dutiful son.

When the time came for him to go out into the world and make his
living, his mother blessed him and said, "Here, my son, is a talisman,
which you are to hang about your neck and wear nearest your heart.
Whenever you are in trouble, look at this talisman and it will preserve
you from harm."

So, with his mother's kiss upon his lips and the talisman next his
heart, Wilhelm set out to make his fortune in the world. The talisman
was simply an old silver coin which had been smoothly polished upon one
side and inscribed with the word "Mother;" yet Wilhelm prized it above
all other earthly things--first, because his mother had given it to
him, and again because he believed it possessed a charm that would keep
him from harm.

Wilhelm travelled many days through the forests and over the hills in
search of a town where he might find employment, and the food with
which his mother had provided him for the journey was nearly gone. But
whenever he was inclined to sadness, he drew the talisman from his
bosom and the sight of the name of mother restored his spirits.

One evening as he climbed a hill, he beheld a great city about a league
distant.

"Here at last I shall find employment," thought he. But he had no
sooner uttered these words than he heard something like a sigh issuing
from the roadside and as he turned to discover whence it came, he saw a
dark and forbidding looking old castle standing back some way from the
road in a cluster of forest trees. The grounds belonging to this old
castle were surrounded by a single fence, between the palings of which
a white swan stretched out its neck and gave utterance to the sighs
which had attracted Wilhelm's attention.

The dismal noise made by the bird and its strange actions--for it
fluttered its wings wildly and waved its head as if it would have
Wilhelm approach--excited Wilhelm's curiosity, and he drew nearer the
fence and said, "Why do you act so strangely, white swan?"

But the swan made no answer except to sigh more dismally than before
and flap its wings still more widely. Then Wilhelm saw that the swan,
although a swan in every other particular, had the eyes of a human
being. He had scarcely recovered from the astonishment occasioned by
this discovery, when the first swan was joined by a full score of other
white swans that came running over the