one day as i was passing the library door with a pair of swan’s wings belonging to philip, mr morgan stepped out. the look which he gave to the wings and to me compelled me to stop, and he said:

“you have a pair of wild swans there, arthur.”

i said i had.

“swan’s wings,” he repeated. “swan’s wings;” and as he uttered the words his body relaxed more than ordinary, until the middle of his back was supported against the wall, his feet and face stuck out towards me.

“did you know,” said he, “that some women had swan’s wings with which to fly?”

now i had heard of swan maidens, but he distinctly said “women,” and the tone of his voice made me feel that he was not referring to the flimsy, incredible creatures of fairy tales, but to women of flesh and blood, of human stature[31] and nature, such women as might come into the library and stand by mr morgan’s fire—only, so far as i knew, no women ever did. so i said “no.”

“they have,” said he, “or they had in the young days of elias griffiths, who was an old man when i was a lad.”

here he sighed and paused, but apologised, though not exactly to me, by saying: “but that”—meaning, i suppose, the sigh—“is neither here nor there. besides, i must not trespass in mr stodham’s province.” for mr stodham was then passing, and i made way for him.

mr morgan continued:

“it was on a thursday....”

now i held mr morgan in great respect, but the mention of thursday at the opening of a story about swan maidens was too much for me.

“why thursday?” i asked.

“i agree with the boy,” remarked mr stodham, leaving us and the talk of swan maidens and thursday.

thursday was a poor sort of a day. saturday, sunday, monday, were all noticeable days in some way, though not equally likeable. friday, too, as, ushering in saturday and the end of the[32] week, had some merit. wednesday, again, was a half holiday. but least of all was to be said for thursday. mr morgan’s answer was:

“i said it was on a thursday, because it was on a thursday and not on any other day. i am sorry to see that the indolent spirit of criticism has resorted to you. pluck it out, my boy.... give me those wings.... they are beautiful: i expect the ferryman shot the swans in the estuary at abercorran.... however, they are not large enough....”

he was looking carefully at the wings, thinking things which he could not say to me, and i said nothing. then, handing me back the wings, he went on:

“it was on a thursday, a very stormy one in december, that two young men who lived with their old mothers a mile or two inland went down to the rocks to shoot with their long, ancient guns. they shot some trash. but the wind for the most part snatched the birds from the shot or the shot from the birds, and they could not hold their guns still for cold. they continued however, to walk in and out among the rocks, looking for something to prevent them saving their gunpowder. but they saw nothing more until they were close to a creek that runs up[33] into the cliff and stops you unless you have wings. so there they stopped and would have turned back, if one of them had not gone to the very edge of the creek wall and looked down. he levelled his gun instantly, and then dropped it again. his companion coming up did the same. two white swans—not gray ones like this—were just alighting upon the sand below, and before the eyes of the young men they proceeded to lay aside their wings and entered the water, not as swans, but as women, upon that stormy thursday. they were women with long black hair, beautiful white faces and—have you seen the statues at the museum, my boy? yes, you have; and you never thought that there was anything like them outside of marble. but there is. these women were like them, and they were not of marble, any more than they were of what i am made of.” his own skin was coloured apparently by a mixture of weather and cigar smoke. “these women were white, like the moon when it is neither green nor white. now those young men were poor and rough, and they were unmarried. they watched the women swimming and diving and floating as if they had been born in the sea. but as it began to darken and the swimmers showed no signs of tiring, the[34] young men made their way down to the swans’ wings to carry them off. no sooner had they picked up the wings than the two women hastened towards them into the shallow water, crying out something in their own tongue which the men could not even hear for the roar of winds and waters. as the women drew nearer, the men retreated a little, holding the wings behind them, but keeping their eyes fixed on the women. when the women actually left the water the men turned and made for home, followed by the owners of the wings. they reached their cottages in darkness, barred the doors, and put away the wings.

but the wingless ones knocked at the doors, and cried out until the old mothers heard them. then the sons told their tale. their mothers were very wise. fumbling to the bottom of their chests they found clothes suitable for young women and brides, and they opened their doors. they quieted the women with clothes for wings, and though they were very old they could see that the creatures were beautiful as their sons had said. they took care that the wings were not discovered.

those young men married their guests, and the pairs lived happily. the sons were proud[35] of their wives, who were as obedient as they were beautiful. said the old women: anybody might think they still had their wings by their lightsome way of walking. they made no attempt to get away from the cottages and the smell of bacon. in fact, they were laughed at by the neighbours for their home-keeping ways; they never cared to stay long or far from home, or to see much of the other women. when they began to have children they were worse than ever, hardly ever leaving the house and never parting from their children. they got thin as well as pale; a stranger could hardly have told that they were not human, except for the cold, greenish light about them and their gait which was like the swimming of swans.

in course of time the old women died, having warned their sons not to let their wives on any account have the wings back. the swan-women grew paler and yet more thin. one of them, evidently in a decline, had at length to take to her bed. here for the first time she spoke of her wings. she begged to be allowed to have them back, because wearing them, she said, she would certainly not die. she cried bitterly for the wings, but in vain. on her deathbed she still cried for them, and took no notice of the[36] minister’s conversation, so that he, in the hope of gaining peace and a hearing, advised her husband to give way to her. he consented. the wings were taken out of the chest where they had been exchanged for a wedding garment years before; they were as white and unruffled as when they lay upon the sand. at the sight of them the sick woman stood up in her bed with a small, wild cry. the wings seemed to fill the room with white waves; they swept the rush-light away as they carried the swan out into the wind. all the village heard her flying low above the roofs towards the sea, where a fisherman saw her already high above the cliffs. it was the last time she was seen.

the other swan-wife lingered for a year or two. a sister of her husband’s kept house in her place. whether this woman had not heard the story or did not believe it, i do not know. one day, however, she discovered the wings and gave them to the children to play with. as one child came in soon afterwards crying for his mother and the wings at the same time, it was certain that she also had taken flight to some place more suitable for wild swans. they say that two generations of children of these families were famous for the same beautiful walking as their[37] mothers, whom they never saw again....” here mr morgan paused for a moment then added: “i wonder why we never hear of swan-men?”

i was not much impressed at the time by the story and his dry way of telling it. what i liked most was the idea that two ordinary men went shooting on a thursday in mid-winter and caught swan-maidens bathing in a pool on the welsh coast and married them. so i said to mr morgan:

“why did you ever leave wales, mr morgan?”

he put a new cigar severely between his teeth and looked at me as if he did not know or even see me. i ran off with the wings to philip.