A King remarries a witch's daughter through a trick and this daughter is just as evil and wicked as her mother so he does not tell her that he already has six sons and a daughter. In order to keep this secret from her he sends his children from his first wife off to live in a lone tower. When his new bride finds out of this secret she is furious and quickly constructs a plan to get rid of the children forever. She sews six shirts to give to the children and when they put them on they all turn into swans instantly only allowing them to return to their human form for a quarter of an hour each night. However the queen was unaware that the King had a lone daughter who lived with her brothers so she was able to escape the Queens enchantment.

That night the sons in their human forms begged their younger sister not to speak for six years and throughout these six years she must sew six new shirts, one for each of them for this is the only way for the spell to be broken.

For six years the sister followed these instruction. She marries a Prince and through the Prince's mother's actions her promise not to speak becomes harder. There are hateful accusations in which the sister cannot defended herself, which leads to being burnt to death, but when the day arrives her brother's fly up and she throws them their new six shirts which instantly frees them once they put them on. Everything is saved and in true Fairy tale style, her, her brother and her husband live happily ever after.