Video transcript
Film By the Eucalypts 2023 - 11. Glenbrook Public School - Swan and Raven

NARRATOR: A raven, unable to see her own beauty, was envious of the swan because her feathers were as white as the purest snow. The raven got the idea that if she lived like the swan, swimming and diving and eating the water reeds, she would be as beautiful as her.

RAVEN: I will leave home. I will fly to the marshes and there I will stay. After a time, I will have luscious white plumage. This is my plan.

NARRATOR: So she left her home in the woods and fields and flew down to live on the lakes and in the marshes. But though she washed and washed all day long, almost drowning herself, her looks did not differ.

RAVEN: Why isn't this working?

NARRATOR: As the water reeds she ate did not agree with her, she got thinner and thinner, until the swan finally spoke.

SWAN: What are you doing, you poor thing? If you live like this, you'll end up dead.

RAVEN: I'm trying to be as beautiful and magnificent as you, with feathers as white as snow and a personality as sweet as sugar.

SWAN: Why, thank you. But you are just as beautiful as me. And though you might doubt yourself, you were already perfect.

NARRATOR: The raven got angry at the swan for telling her to stop. And when the swan argued with her, she ignored.

RAVEN: You're just afraid that I'll be more beautiful than you.

NARRATOR: Eventually, the raven got sick and craved worms and flying in the breeze and sky. The swan watched her rest.

SWAN: This poor creature, I will get her food, even if I have to travel for days.

NARRATOR: And so she did. But after a while--

SWAN: Oh, how I crave the water and the withering reeds. Why can't there just be a patch of worms?

NARRATOR: When the swan woke, she realised that a worm patch was in reach. But the sight she found when she came back to the lake was of the raven coughing and vomiting. The Raven looked up and screamed.

RAVEN: You're just trying to make me quit my goal. You're just jealous, trying to stop me being beautiful. I will never stop pursuing my dream. Never.

NARRATOR: The swan left in tears, knowing the result of this misfortune. Days passed, and she found the raven, the raven that never woke again.

SWAN: You were beautiful just the way you were.