Sygna came to live with Alan in his cabin as if they were husband and wife, although there had never been a wedding. Her enchantment filled the house and the village, and people accepted her as one of them – only an unaffected stranger could have seen the difference. But while he went on with his business, hunting in the forest to bring in their daily food, she was never occupied as the other women. She kept the house in order by a movement of her arm, she brought in fruit and roots by calling them out from the forest, and she kept the other women happy by charming them with her songs.
Winter came. Snow covered the forest's trees, and the water froze in the lake. In clear days, Sygna and Alan spent their time skating on the ice or walking in the snow; otherwise, she made the days go by quickly, just by charming her surroundings, while her pregnant belly grew from month to month. When spring came, they went for walks in the forest looking at the sprouting leaves and sitting on the grass peeping on the bank of the lake. At last, the swans came back, and Sygna went down to the lake to meet her sisters.
"We'll stay until you give birth, child," Mother Song said to her. From that day onward, every day when Alan had gone hunting in the forest, Sygna would go down to the lake for their company. Then the blossoms began to appear, and Sygna had her first labor pains.
"Shall I call the midwife of the village?" Alan asked her, worryingly, when she woke him in the night."
"No; in the morning, I'll go down to the lake and my sisters will help me deliver," she told him.
"Your sisters?" he asked in wonder. He had not known about her daily meetings with the Swan Maidens by the lake, and did not really remember the circumstance of their first meeting.
"Never mind," she said, "don't worry, I'll be all right." As usual, he was too charmed to know what was going on.
In the morning, Sygna went down to the lake, and the swans came up to meet her. "Come into the water," Mother Song told her, "you'll have it easier this way."
Thus, with the help of the Swan Maidens, Sygna had her first child, a lovely boy with bright coppery hair and deep violet eyes. When the Hunter came home that evening, she was waiting there with their son to meet him, and he was overcome by the boy's beauty.
***
Next autumn, it was clear that Sygna was pregnant again, and early next summer, with the help of the Swan Maidens, she gave birth to another beautiful boy, who had fair hair and shiny green eyes. But when she became pregnant again the third autumn, Alan said, "As much as I love our boys, I hope this time it's a girl; I'd love to have a daughter by you, Sygna, she must be the most beautiful girl in the world."
"She will be," Sygna answered, "with golden hair and bright blue eyes, just like me; but you'll never have the chance to see her."
Still under the spell of her enchantment, Alan did not pay much attention to what she said. Then spring came and the swans arrived again and were floating on the lake's water. That day, when Alan was hunting in the forest, Sygna left the house and went in search of Reina. The young woman was sitting in front of her parent's house, preparing food for cooking. As she raised her stormy gray eyes toward Sygna, the Swan Maiden sat by her side.
"I am going away, now," she said in her musical voice, "and you can go to the house and claim your man."
"Don't you love him, then?" asked the deep, low voice in wonder.
"Love? It's not for me to love. I had a need of Alan, as you can see by my children, and the girl I am carrying now. He was enchanted and could not see you, but now he'll take you in and you'll have your life together."
"But what about his sons? He'll be devastated to lose them!"
"I cannot take my sons with me, I'm leaving them to Alan and you to look after. You'll have to take good care of them as your own, you see, and if you do, I'll bless your house and everything in it, including the two children of your own, a boy and a girl you're going to have. But if you neglect my sons, you'd better wish for another life because you'll not have any here."
She spoke very quietly, but Reina knew what was in her voice. She raised her eyes to those of the Swan Maiden and said, "You needn't worry and there's no need for a threat. I'll take good care of everything belonging to Alan, including his and your sons."
Then Sygna stood up, and a flock of swans came flying over her head. She waved her arms and made the little dance with her feet, took the shape of a swan that rose up in the air to join her sisters.
At that moment Alan came out of the forest. He just managed to see his wife transformed and taking to the air, and he cried after her, "Don't go, Swan Maiden! Come back!"
Reina came up to him, "It's no good, you know, she's going. But you'll have me now, Alan." He ignored her, looking with yearnings after the flock of swans, which circled once and twice above their heads, then rose higher up in the sky and flew away. Only then he shook all over as if wakening from a dream, and looked in amazement at the girl standing next to him.
"Reina! Where have you come from? And what am I doing here, in the middle of the day?"
"Come," she said, taking his arm, "let's go to your cabin and take a look at your sons."
"Sons?" he sounded amazed. But she led him away and without too much explanation, took over the house and his life. From that day onward, Alan thought he had never been happier in his life before Reina joined him in it.
Tala Bar was born and is living in Israel. She holds an M.Phil. degree in literature from the London University, and taught Hebrew and English languages and literature before she became a full time writer. She has had a number of books, stories and articles published in print and on the Net, both in Hebrew and English. Among the publications where her stories and articles have been published are Bewildering Stories, The Wheel, Scribal Tales and many others.