Swan maiden
The "swan maiden" is a tale classified as ATU 400, "The Swan Maiden" or "The Man on a Quest for His Lost Wife", in which a man makes a pact with, or marries, a supernatural female being who later departs. The wife shapeshifts from human to bird form with the use of a feathered cloak. The discussion is sometimes limited to cases in which the wife is specifically a swan, a goose, or at least some other kind of bird, as in Enzyklopädie des Märchens.
The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached.
In the typical story a maiden is in some body of water, a man furtively steals, hides, or burns her feather garment, which prevents her from flying away, forcing her to become his wife. She is often one of several maidens present, and often it is the youngest who gets captured. The bird wife eventually leaves this husband in many cases.
The oldest narrative example of this type is Chinese, recorded in the Sou shen ji, etc.
There are many analogues around the world, notably the Völundarkviða and Grimms' Fairy Tales KHM 193 "The Drummer". There are also many parallels involving creatures other than swans.
Scope of definition
The "swan maiden" here may more generally be rephrased as "bird-maiden", as its identity may be that of the swan, goose or crane, as is usually the case or a duck or heron, or doves, or vultures, parrots and such non-migratory birds. And since tale type ATU 400 is "The Man on a Quest for His Lost Wife," it could involve a broad spectrum of supernatural creatures: also as stars, celestial nymphs, or a fée of the lake.Russian folklorist Eleazar M. Meletinskii had studied the human-animal marriage tradition extensively, which in the past had been categorized under "swan maiden", but this would excessively broaden the scope of this topic.
The swan maiden tales could also fall under the broader scope of "Magic Wife". The "Magic Wife" motif in the broad sense is one of the most widely distributed motifs in the world, most probably being many millennia old, and the best known supernatural wife figure in narratives. This motif is one of the most interconnected and centrally referred to among all the other stories.
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Medieval legends
Germanic legend
In Germanic mythology, the character of the swan maiden is associated with "multiple Valkyries", a trait already observed by Jacob Grimm in his book Deutsche Mythologie. Like the international legend, their magic swan-shirt allows their avian transformation.In Germanic heroic legend, the stories of Wayland the Smith describe him as falling in love with Swanhilde, a Swan Maiden, who is the daughter of a marriage between a mortal woman and a fairy king, who forbids his wife to ask about his origins; on her asking him he vanishes. Swanhilde and her sisters are however able to fly as swans. But wounded by a spear, Swanhilde falls to earth and is rescued by the master-craftsman Wieland, and marries him, putting aside her wings and her magic ring of power. Wieland's enemies, the Neidings, under Princess Bathilde, steal the ring, kidnap Swanhilde and destroy Wieland's home. When Wieland searches for Swanhilde, they entrap and cripple him. However he fashions wings for himself and escapes with Swanhilde as the house of the Neidings is destroyed.
Another tale concerns valkyrie Brynhild. In the Völsunga saga, King Agnar withholds Brynhild's magical swan shirt, thus forcing her into his service as his enforcer.
A third tale with a valkyrie is the story of Kára and Helgi Haddingjaskati, attested in the Kara-lied. A similarly named character with a swanshift appears in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar, where she helps her lover Helgi.
China
The oldest attestation of the archetypal swan maiden narrative recorded anywhere in the world comes from China, dating to c. 300 or later. The story is preserved in Guo Pu's Xuan zhong ji as well as Gan Bao 's Sou shen ji. In the Sou shen ji version, a man from Xinyu town in steals the feather cloak from among the 6 or 7 bird maidens he witnesses, and forces her to be his wife. This "feather garment" tale type is considered a subtype of the broader swan maiden tale type, and has cognate tales distributed all over the world.In later periods, a story is found from among the Dunhuang manuscripts which veers close to the general Swan Maiden tale: a poor man named T'ien K'un-lun approaches a lake where three crane maidens are bathing.
Japan
The swan maiden type narrative is found in medieval Japanese literature as well, specifically in the where the heavenly woman has her feather garment taken away by a man and is forced to marry him. In different tale found in the, the heavenly woman has her garment hidden away, and has no choice but to become an adoptive daughter of a childless couple.In Irish Sagas
Clearly the best known story of transformation into swans in Middle Irish narrative occurs in the Oidheadh chloinne Lir, this work being counted among the "Three Sorrows of Storytelling".There are other Irish medieval narratives that touch on woman-bird transformation, and there is also some lore regarding feather robes, but they don't coalesce together, viz.:
The swan is said to be the preferred form adopted by Celtic goddesses. Even in this form, their otherworldly nature is identifiable by a golden or silver chain hanging around their neck.
In the Irish Mythological Cycle of stories, in the tale of The Wooing of Étaine, a similar test involving the recognition of the wife among lookalikes happens to Eochu Airem, when he has to find his beloved Étaine, who flew away in the shape of a swan.
A second Irish tale of a maiden changing into a swan is the story of hero Óengus, who falls in love with Caer Ibormeith, in a dream. When he finds her, Caer is in swan form, wearing a golden chain, and accompanied by 150 maidservants also in swan form, each pair bound with a silver chain.
In another tale, relating to the birth of hero Cú Chulainn, a flock of birds, "joined in pairs by silver chains", appear and guide the Ulstermen to a house, where a woman was about to give birth. In one account, the birds were Cu Chulainn's mother, Deichtire, and her maidens.
Modern collected oral folklore
Scholarship has remarked that the Swan Maiden appears "throughout the ancient Celtic lands".On the other hand, researcher Maria Tatar points out that the "Swan Maiden" tale is "widespread in Nordic regions".
Scholar Lotte Motz contrasted its presence in different geographical regions. According to her study, she appears as a fairy tale character in "more southern countries", whereas "in northern regions", she becomes a myth and "an element of faith".
East Asia
According to professor Alan Miller, the swan maiden tale is "one of the most popular of all Japanese folktales". Likewise, scholar Manabu Waida asserted the popularity of the tale "in Korea, Manchuria and China", as well as among "the Buryat, Ainu and Annamese".Chinese oral tales
A tale from Southeastern China and near regions narrates the adventures of a prince who meets a Peacock Maiden, in a tale attributed to the Tai people. The tale is celebrated amongst the Dai people of China and was recorded as a poem and folk story, being known under several names, such as "Shaoshutun", "The Peacock Princess" or "Zhao Shutun and Lanwuluona".In a Chinese tale titled The Seven Snow-White Cranes, a scholar is walking somewhere on a bright day, when seven cranes being to fly down to the ground near him. The man hides behind some bushes and sees the cranes alighting near a pond, then taking off their feather garments to become human maidens. As they play and frolic in the water, the scholar steals the garments of one of the crane maidens, who pick up their featherskins, turn back into cranes and fly away, save for one of them. The scholar appears to her and brings her home to be his wife. They have a son the next year, but the maiden still longs for the skies. One day, a maidservant takes all clothes inside the house and places them in the sun, along them the crane garments, which were hidden in a camphor chest. The crane maiden finds her garments and, with great joy, turns back into a crane and goes back to the heavens. Years pass, and their son grows up being mocked for not having a mother. He asks his scholar father where he can see his mother, and the man tells him to go to a certain hill and shout for a passing flock of seven cranes. The boy does as instructed and the crane maiden meets her son in human form. The boy asks for her to come back, which she cannot do, but, in return, gives him a magic gourd.
Chinese minorities
In a Chuan Miao tale, An Orphan Enjoyed Happiness and His Father-in-law Deceived Him, but His Sons Recovered Their Mother, an orphan gathers wood in the forest and burns the dead trees to make way for a clearing. He also builds a well. One day, seven wild ducks light on the water. The orphan asks someone named "Ye Seo" about the ducks, who answers the youth they are his fortune and that he must secure a "spotted feather" from their wings. The next day, the youth hides near the well when the ducks arrive and plucks the spotted feather, which belongs to an old woman. He goes back to Ye Seo, who tells him he needs to get a white feather, not a spotted one, nor a black one. He fetches the correct feather this time and a young woman appears to become his wife. They marry and she gives birth to twin boys. For some time, both children cry every time their mother is at home, until one day she asks them the reason for their sadness. They explain that their human father is hiding their mother's feather somewhere in the house and wears it on his head when she is not at home. She finds the feather, puts it on her head and flies away from home. The boys' human father scolds them and sends them to seek their mother.The swan maiden appears in a tale from the Yao people of China.
In a tale from the Kachari, Sā-se phālāngī gotho-nī khorāng, an orphaned youth decides to earn his living in foreign lands. He buys goods and a boat, and hires some help. He and his crew arrive at another country, where an old couple lived with their pet swan. One day, the youth sees the swan transform into a maiden and becomes enamoured. He buys the swan from the old couple in hopes it will become a girl again, but no such luck. The youth pines away with longing and his mother is worried. A wise woman advises the mother and son to prepare a mixture of ashes and oil, procure a yak's tail and to pretend to fall asleep at night. The swan takes off her animal clothing and, as a human, begins to "worship her country's gods". The youth awakes, takes the plumage and tosses it in the fire. The maiden faints, but the youth uses the mixture on her and fans her with the yak's tail. She awakes and marries the human, giving birth to many children.