raz_ll31_wildswans_clr

The Wild Swans LEVELED BOOK • L

A Reading A–Z Level L Leveled Book The Wild Swans
Word Count: 487
I•L•O
Connections
Writing A Retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale
What do you think happened by Karen Mockler • Illustrated by Sumiti Collina
to the queen at the end
of the story? Explain. www.readinga-z.com
Math
How many shirtsleeves
was Eliza able to make
for her brothers?
Solve the problem
two different ways.

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The Wild Swans dawn Words to Know
dusk
knit nettles
task
wicked

A Retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen The Wild Swans Correlation
Fairy Tale by Karen Mockler Level L Leveled Book LEVEL L
Illustrated by Sumiti Collina © Learning A–Z
A Retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen Fountas & Pinnell K
www.readinga-z.com Fairy Tale by Karen Mockler Reading Recovery 18
Illustrated by Sumiti Collina
Focus Question DRA 20
All rights reserved.
What role does Eliza play in the story?
www.readinga-z.com

There once lived a king who had The king asked the queen if she
eleven sons and one daughter. He knew where the princes were. She
married a wicked queen, and soon merely smiled and shook her head.
after the wedding she turned the
princes into eleven wild swans. At dusk the swans returned. They
With a strange cry, they flew up flew through the open bedroom
into the clouds and away. window of the princess, Eliza.

The Wild Swans • Level L 3 4

As the Sun set, their feathers fell off,
and Eliza’s eleven brothers stood
before her.

“By day, we fly about as wild swans,”
said the oldest brother. “Each night
when the Sun sinks, we become
human again.”

The Wild Swans • Level L That night, Eliza dreamed that a
fairy came to her. “Your brothers
can be released,” she said. “You
must gather nettles from the forest
and use them to knit eleven shirts. If
the shirts are thrown over the eleven
swans, the spell will be broken.”

56

“Be warned, though,” the fairy
added. “From the moment you start
your task until it is finished, you
must not speak. The first word you
speak will kill your brothers.”

The Wild Swans • Level L The princess set out for the forest
to begin her work. She gathered
many nettles, which burned
great blisters on her hands. With
the nettles, she made yarn for
the first shirt.

78

Her brothers returned at sunset, Each day, Eliza knit another shirt.
and when they saw her hands, When she needed more burning
the youngest brother wept. nettles, she gathered them and
Where his tears fell, the pain hurried back to the castle.
stopped and the blisters vanished.
Each day at dusk, the brothers
returned to her. Each dawn, they
again became wild swans and flew
away. But one morning the queen
saw them leaving Eliza’s open
window and grew worried.

The Wild Swans • Level L 9 10

Then the queen announced that
there would be a grand feast:
roast bird for everyone in the castle.
Only Eliza knew the truth about the
feast, and she could not speak it. She
continued her task instead.

The next dawn, before they could
fly away, the queen threw a giant
net over the swans. She had men
haul the swans to a dark cell deep
in the castle’s dungeon. Eliza found
them there and continued to knit
through the dark nights outside
their cell door.

The Wild Swans • Level L 11 12

They turned into eleven handsome
princes, but the youngest brother’s
shirt was not quite done. He was
left with a swan’s wing instead
of an arm.

The morning of the feast, ten shirts
lay beside her at her brothers’ cell.
She was working hard on the last
shirt when the men came to haul the
swans away. As the queen unlocked
the cell door, Eliza threw the eleven
shirts over the swans.

The Wild Swans • Level L 13 14

dawn (n.) Glossary

the time of day when
the Sun begins to rise
(p. 10)

dusk (n.) the time of day when
the Sun begins to set
(p. 4)

knit (v.) to make fabric by
looping together yarn
or another threadlike
material using large
needles (p. 6)

nettles (n.) wild plants that have
stinging hairs on their
When the king learned the truth leaves (p. 6)
about his new wife, he sent guards
to arrest her. On her throne they task (n.) a piece of work that
found a vulture—the queen was needs to be done (p. 7)
never seen again.
wicked (adj.) very mean or bad (p. 3)

The Wild Swans • Level L 15 16