Once upon a time there were twelve royal children – eleven brothers and one older sister, Elisa.
Jednom davno, živjelo je dvanaest kraljevske djece – jedanaest braće i jedna starija sestra Elisa.
One day the mother died, and some time later the king married again. The new wife, however, was an evil witch.
Jednog dana umrla je majka, a nešto kasnije, kralj se je ponovno oženio.
She turned the eleven princes into swans and sent them far away to a distant land beyond the large forest.
Međutim, nova žena bila je zla vještica. Sa čarolijom pretvorila je tih jedanaestero prinčeva u labudove i poslala ih je u jednu daleku zemlju izvan velike šume.
She dressed the girl in rags and smeared an ointment onto her face that turned her so ugly, that even her own father no longer recognized her and chased her out of the castle.