The Preacher’s Son and the Swan

by Gary Cottle

Once upon a time a preacher’s son fell in love with a boy in his father’s congregation. No one ever told him he might one day fall in love with a boy, so he was startled by the unexpected development, and he tried to hide his feelings. This caused him great heartache because he longed for the boy so much. 

The preacher's son was tempted to tell the boy that he would be the boy's faithful companion in life if the boy returned his love, but the preacher’s son was a good and loyal son, so he tried to continue to live by what his father had taught him.

One day the preacher’s son and the boy were asked to go out into the village and collect alms for the poor, and while making their rounds, the boy asked the preacher’s son, “Why do you always blush when you are near me?”

The preacher’s son was brought up to always be honest and true, so he said to the boy, “It is because I love you.”

The boy seemed to be surprised by this confession, but after a pause, he regained his composure. He said, “I am happy to hear that. I love you, too.”

The preacher’s son smiled, and he asked, “What are we to do?”

The boy said, “I think we should follow our hearts.”

The preacher’s son agreed, and then he gave the boy a kiss.

It just so happens that an old man, a terrible gossip, witnessed this, and by suppertime everyone in the village knew that the preacher’s son had kissed a boy.

When the news reached the preacher, he summoned his son to his office in the church. He asked his son, “Did you kiss your friend while out collecting alms today?”

The preacher’s son could not lie, so he humbly said, “Yes, sir.”

“Why would you do that?” the preacher asked.

“Because I love him,” the son said.

“You know the tenants of our faith do not permit two boys to love one another,” said the preacher.

In a respectful tone, the boy said, “Father, I have been a good and loyal son. I have tried to live by what you have taught me, but now I feel I must follow my heart.”

The preacher was disgusted by this, and he told his son to go home, retire to his room without supper, and pray that God change his wayward heart.

The preacher then went to his wife and told her that he feared they had lost their son, but she said, “Don’t worry, Husband, I think I can save our son.”

Several hours later, the wife, who had once been a sorceress, went to the boy’s home in the cover of night, crept into his room, and placed a swan’s feather dipped in the blood of a chameleon under the boy’s pillow. Soon the spell began to take effect, and the wife stood back and watched. Within moments, the boy was transformed into a beautiful swan. When the boy awoke in terror, he flew out the window.

The commotion caused the boy’s parents to stir from their slumber in the next room, so the preacher’s wife fled, and in her haste, she dropped a small, gold cross on a necklace that the preacher had given her on their wedding day. The cross had special meaning. It symbolized her renunciation of sorcery, and her conversion to her new husband’s faith.

When the preacher’s wife returned to her home, she told her husband that the boy would no longer trouble their family.

“So the boy is gone?” said the preacher.

“Yes. He is gone,” said the wife.

The preacher, knowing his wife’s past, knew better than to press for an explanation. Instead, he went to his son’s room, roused him from sleep and informed him that the boy he loved was gone.

“Now you may stop thinking about this boy and resume your role as my loyal son,” said the preacher.

Tears began to flow from the son’s eyes, and he said, “Father, my soul is heavy with sadness. May I take a walk in the woods to grieve in solitude?”

The preacher, on seeing his son cry, felt his pain, so he granted his permission. “Yes, son, but please return shortly and make your way to the church in time for services.”

The son dressed and left his father’s home to take his comforting stroll in the woods. But he was not in church when it was time for services to begin, nor was anyone from the village in church when it was time for services to begin.

The feather and the cross on the necklace had been found in the boy’s room by the boy’s parents, and they knew the preacher’s wife had taken their son from them with an act of sorcery. The boy’s parents informed their fellow churchgoers of what the preacher’s wife had done to their son, and they burned the church to the ground with the preacher and his wife inside.

Now, rather than take their children to church to be informed as to how to be good and loyal, they tell them the story of the preacher’s son and the boy he fell in love with.

Many years have passed, and still the preacher’s son and his beloved swan are sometimes seen in the woods surrounding the village.