The Swan's Wish Once upon a time, there was a peasant girl with such a light complexion that even the sun appeared to pale in front of her. She didn't give her beauty much attention since there were goats to milk and maize to plant, but it attracted the eye of a passing prince one day, and he vowed that she and no one else would be his queen. Although her friends claimed she'd be a fool to refuse him, she figured if she were queen, she'd never have to worry about hunger again! € On the whole, the girl decided she'd rather deny him. Her reasons were numerous: she would seem a lowborn idiot among nobility, she loathed intrigue, she had many peasant acquaintances she would prefer retain, she disliked males in general and the prince in particular; all of this and more. The prince, on the other hand, would not be so lightly dismissed. Though the law would not allow him to marry the girl without her agreement, he could and did court her. Each day, he came to shower her with new gifts, each more extravagant than the previous, and each day
