Note 1 — The Swan Maiden.1
Willard Henry Myers translation
Stories of elvemaidens, who have married humans, lived with them some time and then vanished, are not uncommon in Sweden. One such from Småland is related of a priest whose son held office under him as curate.
One morning when the young man wakened he saw the sun streaming into his apartment through a knot hole in the wall. Suddenly there entered, as if on a sunbeam, a maiden, who stood before him as naked as Eve in the garden of Eden. He hurriedly threw a cloak over the beautiful apparition and conducted her down to his parents. Who she was or where she came from, neither she nor any other could tell. After a time she became the wife of the young priest and lived happily with him a number of years. But one day he was relating to her the wonderful manner of her coming, and to confirm his account removed the plug from the knot hole, whereupon she instantly, as suddenly and mysteriously as she had come, vanished, leaving him in sorrow and despair. ↑