here is legend swan women of the sea. get together to play, on the shore, on sunny days.
Swan women of the sea
One day, a boy of about fourteen was alone on the shore and gazed fearlessly out to the sea where there were green gleams produced by the glare of the sun, and not a breath of wind in the air. He had sat many times before that day at the bottom of the tide which was now beating against the stones below him, but he thought that he had never seen the water more beautiful and alluring, and he said to himself to himself that if he had a boat he would like to go for a walk; but there was no boat in sight. After looking around for a while, he saw a plank of wood very close to him, and at the same time he saw three swans swimming on the surface of the gulf and coming towards him. They turned around, but after a short time they came in front of him.
The boy was overjoyed at seeing the shape of the birds. He gathered all the breadcrumbs he had in his pocket and gave them to them to eat. He thought they weren't wild; they looked so sweet and so familiar! They stepped closer to him, but every time he tried to pick them up he failed to touch them. They hadn't been with him long before they seemed to get even more beautiful and shinier, and his desire to take them increased.
To satisfy his desire, he took the wooden plank, sat on it and followed the swans. He steered the board at will, quickly dipping his hands into the water, as one usually does with oars. The swans continued to move in front of him, but he could not reach them. In no time he found himself in the middle of the sea. He was tired and he stopped rowing; then it changed color, for fear of not being able to regain the land. But the birds approached and gathered around him as if they were trying to get him out of his trouble, and they made him forget the danger where he was. Full of affection for them, he quickly stretched out his hand to take the fairest of the bunch, but he carried too heavily on the edge of the board, he missed his shot and he fell into the waves of the sea.
When he awoke from the shock he had felt, he was stretched out on a feather bed, in the most beautiful castle that human eyes had ever seen, and three ladies were standing at the foot of his bed. One of them took the young boy's hand and asked him amiably how he was there.
“I don't know,” said the young boy, and he told them of the misfortune that had befallen him on the way.
– Do you agree to stay with us, finally? said the youngest, we welcome you. But if you stay here for three days, you will never be able to stay in your country again, because the wind and the sun will bother you.
He was so charmed in his heart by the beauty of the place that he promised not to part with them. They led him from room to room in the house; each room outweighed the other in beauty and richness; they were full of heaps of gold and rich silks. He had often read descriptions of Heaven and he wondered to himself if this was the place called by that name.
He remained with great pleasure in his new country for five years, but at the end of this time he was seized with the desire to return to see his parents and his relatives. He feared that it was not possible for him to do so, and his heart filled with sadness and turmoil without the ladies knowing it. One day when he was lying at the foot of a tree and tears were streaming down his cheeks, a toothless old woman came to him and said:
“If you promise to marry me, I'll drive you home tomorrow.
- I will not marry you, he said, even if you had half the wealth of the world.
She hadn't heard him say those words sooner than she leapt out of sight. At the same time, the three ladies, who were in the shade of a tower near him listening to his conversation, approached him: they thanked him for the answer he had given to the old woman, and told him that 'as a reward, they would take him back to his house.
As the sun rose the next day, when he awoke, he found himself sitting on a mound by the sea, not far from his father's house. When he looked ahead, he saw the three swans swimming in the same shallow where they were five years ago. They nodded to him, as if saying: - Farewell, friend of our hearts.
In doing so, they dived under the water and left without anyone knowing what had become of them.
He went to his house, and he told the story which is recorded here. As his father and mother had no other child than him, one can imagine how happy they were at his return, which they did not hope for. People who heard his story marveled but did not believe it, although it was the plain truth.
After a short time, he was seized with the desire to go to the beautiful country he had left to see the place where he had stayed, and his friends, but he did not know how to accomplish his project. His father and mother were sorry that he wanted to leave them, them who had only him, but he would not take their advice. He went to the edge of the gulf and began to cry, but it was in vain, for he had no knowledge, no information, no secret about where the swans had gone. He could not be forced to go away and not return, until he died in this very place.
