In article .com,
"hesira" wrote:

And I think it must all go back to the Greek myth in which Leda was
seduced by Zeus when he came to her as a swan. That Zeus had lots of
girlfriends and lots of disguises.

Hesira

suzee wrote:

I think it was swans, and an Australian writer wrote a trilogy based
on
the story. Leda is the girls name.

sue

In my Brothers Grimm collection.( Dutch translation) are notes for each
and every story they wrote. For the Six Swans it states the following.
The story is based on an old story that was found in a Latin work, a
Dolophatos, written in 1190 by monk named Johannes from the Lotharingsche
abby, Haute-Seille. At the time it was very common to hear stories where a
ball of yarn will lead the way to an answer, as well as that there are
demands made for the hero or heroinne to by silent for a period of time
and is also not allowed to laugh, so not to break the spell. It also
states that the same story lines were found in Arabic and Indian stories
long before that.

Els

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