[Active participant audiences are the best for this sort of thing. She's perking up already, really getting into the narration. But of course, it's a fun story to tell, isn't it?]

She did! Oh, but that wasn't all, because she was a wicked stepmother and terribly jealous and oooh, she wanted the king all to herself and couldn't stand it that he loved his children more than her. So one night she crept off into her lair and bewitched a set of charms and sewed them into little white shirts, and then took them with her when she stole the yarn. Then, on a day when the king was preoccupied himself, she went out and threw down the yarn and followed it all the way to the hidden castle!

Well, the children had been living a happy life amongst themselves in the hidden castle, but the best times of all were when they saw the magic yarn come rolling up, because that meant their beloved father was coming for a visit and they missed him terribly whenever he was away. So out they came running to greet him, the six brothers--and when they did, the wicked stepmother threw a shirt over each of them, and as soon as it touched them, they all turned into swans!