Has anyone ever had their arm broken by a swam?

[JonnyBoy12]

[ummmm]

Swan? I think so.

[andy-hughes]

I believe this is an apochryp[hal story, and it has its roots in a short stroy by Enid Blyton - about a boy wqho shoots a bird with a catapault and breaks its leg, but understands his cruelty when a swan breaks his arm.

I remember reading the story as a child, but can't remember the title, but the notion has evolved into a folk myth.

Think about the size of a swan compared to a man, and the strength it would need to hit a human solid bone with its own hollow-boned wing, and work out the potential.

It's just not feasible, assuming a swan would ever be that aggressive, which is highly unlikely - they usually confine themselves to flapping and spitting to frighten intruders away from their nest or cygnets.

[CatInTheHat]

I Ithink there's something in it, as police officers are famously nervous when a swan has strayed on to a main road and has to be physically removed. and not just about the traffic. They are strong birds, certainly.
I can't help but be reminded of a Jake Thackeray song (younger posters look away and yawn now) 'Leopold Alcox'. The eponymous song tells of his 'distant relation' coming for 'a brief visitation'.
'One blow from his thighs/Which are fearsomely strong/Could easily fracture the wing of a swan'. Oh, all right then, it's just me...