` Where are your brothers ? ' asked the King . ` Alas ! dear father , ' she answered , ` they have gone away and left me all alone . ' And she told him that looking out of her little window she had seen her brothers flying over the wood in the shape of swans , and she showed him the feathers which they had let fall in the yard , and which she had collected . The King mourned , but he did not think that the Queen had done the wicked deed , and as he was afraid the maiden would also be taken from him , he wanted to take her with him . But she was afraid of the stepmother , and begged the King to let her stay just one night more in the castle in the wood . The poor maiden thought , ` My home is no longer here ; I will go and seek my brothers . ' And when night came she fled away into the forest . She ran all through the night and the next day , till she could go no farther for weariness . Then she saw a little hut , went in , and found a room with six little beds . She was afraid to lie down on one , so she crept under one of them , lay on the hard floor , and was going to spend the night there . But when the sun had set she heard a noise , and saw six swans flying in at the window . They stood on the floor and blew at one another , and blew all their feathers off , and their swan-skin came off like a shirt . Then the maiden recognised her brothers , and overjoyed she crept out from under the bed . Her brothers were not less delighted than she to see their little sister again , but their joy did not last long . ` You can not stay here , ' they said to her . ` This is a den of robbers ; if they were to come here and find you they would kill you . ' ` Could you not protect me ? ' asked the little sister .
` No , ' they XXXXX , ` for we can only lay aside our swan skins for a quarter of an hour every evening .
answered begged came fled gone kill looking recognised think went