The Wild Swans LEVELED BOOK •

A Reading A–Z Level I Leveled Book

Word Count: 293 The
Wild Swans
Connections
Writing
What do you think happened
to the queen at the end
of the story?
Explain.
Math
How many shirtsleeves
was Eliza able to make
for her brothers?
Solve the problem
two different
ways.

I•L•O
A Retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale
by Karen Mockler • Illustrated by Sumiti Collina

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 Wild Swans
The Words to Know
arrest spell
dawn task
nettles wicked

A Retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen

Fairy Tale by Karen Mockler
Illustrated by Sumiti Collina
www.readinga-z.com
Focus Question
What role does Eliza play
in the story?
The Wild Swans
Level I Leveled Book
© Learning A–Z
A Retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen Correlation
Fairy Tale by Karen Mockler LEVEL I
Illustrated by Sumiti Collina
Fountas & Pinnell I
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 15–16
DRA 16
www.readinga-z.com
 The king asked the queen if she
knew where the princes were.
She shook her head.

There once lived a king who had

eleven sons and one daughter.
He married a wicked queen
who turned the princes
into eleven wild swans.
The Wild Swans • Level I 3 4
At sunset, the swans flew
to their sister, Eliza.
Their feathers fell off,
and the eleven princes
stood before her.
At dawn, they said, they would
become swans again.
The Wild Swans • Level I
That night, Eliza dreamed that
a fairy came to her.
The fairy said to take nettles
and make them into eleven shirts.
The shirts would break the spell.
5 6
She also told Eliza not to speak Eliza woke and went to the forest.
before the task was done. She picked many nettles,
If she did, her brothers would die. which burned her hands.

The Wild Swans • Level I 7 8

 The brothers flew to her
each sunset.
Each dawn, they became
wild swans again and flew away.
One morning, the queen saw
them leaving Eliza’s window
and grew worried.

With the nettles, she made yarn.

Then, she made the yarn into shirts.
The Wild Swans • Level I 9 10

The next dawn, the queen threw
a net over the swans.
She put them in a cell
under the castle.
The Wild Swans • Level I
Then the queen said that there
would be a feast—roast bird
for everyone.
Only Eliza knew that the birds
would be her brothers.
She could not speak.
She worked instead.
11 12
The morning of the feast,
the queen came for the swans.
Eliza threw the eleven shirts
over the swans, and they turned
into eleven princes.
The Wild Swans • Level I
The youngest brother’s shirt
was not quite done, though.
He was left with a swan’s wing
instead of an arm.
13 14
 Glossary
arrest (v.) to capture someone
using the power of law
(p. 15)

dawn (n.) the time of day when

the Sun begins to rise
(p. 5)

nettles (n.) wild plants that have

stinging hairs on their
leaves (p. 6)

spell (n.) a magical charm (p. 6)

task (n.) a piece of work that

The king sent out guards needs to be done (p. 7)
to arrest the queen. wicked (adj.) very mean or bad (p. 3)
They found a vulture
on her throne, but the queen
was never seen again.
The Wild Swans • Level I 15 16