Swan maidens

The swan maiden is legendary woman that shapeshifts into a swan, and she's found in many cultures. Most of all are folktales that centre around a cloak made of swan feathers, that are worn by a beautiful woman. When she removes this cloak to bath in the lake, a man takes it away and then marries her. This is because she can't resume her swan form and stays a human. After she bares children, she may suffer misery by not having her cloak. Later she'll find her missing cloak, wear it and transform into a swan, then fly away. She leaves her grown children behind to miss her. In various stories, it isn't the man who hides her cloak but his mother. 

In Norse mythology, there are Valkyries associated with swans. Brynhild and Kara who wear clothes made out of swans' feathers. A hero in Germanic stories named Wayland is a blacksmith who fell in love with a swan maiden. Swan maidens appear in Celtic legends too, linked with water fairies. There is a beautiful swan maiden called Etaine who transformed and flew away from her husband. Then there is Caer, a swan princess with many swan handmaids. There is a goddess named Aine of swans. There is much and more of legends about swan maidens that I've not covered here.

A prehistoric grave of a swan maiden and her baby was dug up. About 6,000 years ago, a young mother was buried with her premature baby. It seemed that the mother died in childbirth and her infant didn't survive. They were both found together with a swan's wing. The grave is number 8 and found in Vedæk in Denmark. It's certainly clear that the bodies were tenderly treated by those who buried mother and her child. Beliefs in swans and the spirit world was important to ancient people as far back as time began. 

Storm Valkyrie