Once there was a simple farmer who was driving his cart through the forest at dusk on a spring evening. As he entered a straight, empty stretch of road, he seemed to hear a faint crying, and a struggling and thrashing, as if someone was in trouble far away in the trees.
The farmer left his cart, and went deeper into the forest to discover the source of the noise. It sounded vaguely human, and yet there was something odd about it. Not monstrous, but oddly hoarse. The farmer followed the noise, and eventually saw something white struggling in thorn bushes. Nearing it, he discovered it was a swan trying to extricate itself.
The bird struggled even more frantically as the farmer approached. Nevertheless, the farmer was able to free the struggling bird from the thorns. And as soon as the swan was released, its appearance altered, until before the farmer stood a little man all in green, with fierce glittering eyes. As it turned out, the little man was in reality the King of the Forest. And because the farmer had rescued him from a difficulty, the Forest King granted the farmer three leaves, which when crumbled, would grant him three wishes.
The farmer, however, was a simple man. He had everything he needed, most of the things he wanted, and was quite content with his life. The only thing that troubled him was that he was a little lonely, and had no companion in his old age. So he decided to use his first wish and keep his other two in case of an emergency.
Looking around at the dusky undergrowth, the primroses, the great beeches, and the blue-green water of the lake he said, "I wish I had a wife as beautiful as the forest," he said, and crumbled the first leaf.
A tremendous quacking and splashing broke upon the surface of the water, and the farmer thought that it was the swan laughing at him. Taking no notice, he made his way back through the woods to his cart. As it was becoming late, he settled himself, and went to sleep.
When he awoke the next morning, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen was coming up the track toward him.
"Are you the wife I wished for?" the farmer asked.
"Yes," replied the woman.
She stepped into the cart beside him, and they returned to his village where they were soon married.
He took her to his home and showed her all his treasures -- the bees in their white hives, the cows, the flowers... but what pleased his wife the most was the river which ran by the foot of his garden.
"Do swans come here?" she asked.
"Yes, I have often seen swans there on the river," said the farmer, and she smiled.
The woman made him a good wife. She was gentle and friendly, busied herself about the house and garden, milked the cows, mended his socks... But as time passed, the farmer began to feel that she was not happy. She seemed restless, wandered much in the garden, and sometimes when he came back from the fields, he would find the house empty. She would return only after half an hour or so with no explanation of where she'd been. However, on these occasions, she was especially tender and kind to him when she returned.
One evening, he was returning home along the river path when he saw his wife in front of him, down by the water. A swan had sailed up to her, and she had her arms around its neck. She was weeping, and as he came nearer, he saw that tears were rolling too from the swan's eyes.
"What is it?" the farmer asked his wife, quite troubled.
"This is my sister," she answered. "I can't bear to be separated from her."
Now the farmer understood that his wife was really a swan from the forest, and he was a little sad. When a human being marries a bird, it always leads to sorrow.
"I could use my second wish to turn her human," he suggested.
"No, no," she cried. "I could not ask that of her."
"Is it so very hard being a human being?" the farmer asked sadly.
His wife said yes. Though she loved him, she missed her old life in the forest.
"Then I shall use my second wish to turn you back into a swan again," he said, for he knew she would never be happy as a human. And crumbling the second leaf, he did so.
Those who knew his story often asked him whether he would wish for another wife, or turn himself into a swan.
"I shall do neither," he said. "Human beings and swans are better in their own shapes." But for all that, he was often seen watching towards the forest where his wife had flown.
One autumn night, many years later, passers-by along the road heard the mournful sound of two swans singing. All night the song went on. In the morning, the farmer was found peacefully dead in his bed with a smile of great happiness on his face. In between his hands, which rested on his chest, were a withered leaf and a white feather.