Eliza's youngest brother glided on the early morning air currents to peer into the window of the isolated cabin. His sweet, selfless sister was sound asleep in her chair, having worked late into the night on a shirt to break the curse.
Truth be told, he was less upset about how the curse had affected him and his brothers than he was about how it was affecting their innocent sister. She spent every waking hour making shirts from nettles so that someday they could shed their downy feathers and return to human form. And through all of it, she was required to remain as silent as the grave. No companion could help her or even be told of her task. For his formerly bubbly, talkative sister, this prohibition on speaking must be akin to torture!
A commotion of wings could be heard behind him, so the youngest swan turned his long neck to make out what his brothers were about. With the light of a new day brightening the sky, they were fanning out to resume their search for fruit and nuts that would sustain their faithful little sister through her work.
Thinking over the previous day, the youngest brother recalled a patch of nettles growing nearby that he did not think Eliza was aware of. He spread his wings and set out to find it again. His swan shape may prevent him from helping her to actually spin the fiber or make the shirts, but it did not prevent him from helping her to gather the materials she needed.
By the time Eliza awoke, there were fresh apples and nuts in a basket just inside her window and a small pile of newly gathered nettles waiting for her to soak and spin into more yarn for knitting. The youngest swan brother, along with all of her other brothers, was waiting for her on the pond. He wished that he could do more for her, but was content that he had helped in his own small way.
