Once
upon a time down on an old farm, lived a duck family, and Mother Duck
had been sitting on a clutch of new eggs. One day, the eggs hatched and
out popped six chirpy ducklings. But one egg was bigger than the others,
and it didn't hatch. Mother Duck couldn't remember laying that seventh
egg. “How did it get there?” Mother Duck wondered. TOCK! TOCK! The
little prisoner was pecking inside his shell.
"Did
I count the eggs wrongly?" Mother Duck wondered. But before she had
time to think about it, the last egg finally hatched and a strange
looking duckling with gray feathers that should have been yellow gazed
at a worried mother. The ducklings grew quickly, but Mother Duck had a
secret worry.
"I
can't understand how this ugly duckling can be one of mine!" she said
to herself. She shook her head as she looked at her last born duckling.
Well, the gray duckling certainly wasn't pretty. He also ate much more
than his brothers and growing faster than them. As the days went by, the
poor ugly duckling became more and more unhappy. His brothers didn't
want to play with him because he was so clumsy, and all the farmyard
folks simply laughed at him. He felt sad and lonely, while Mother Duck
did her best to console him. "Poor little ugly duckling!" she would say.
"Why are you so different from the others?" And the ugly duckling felt
worse than ever. He secretly wept at night. He felt nobody wanted him.
"Nobody loves me, they all tease me! Why am I different from my
brothers?"Then
one day, at sunrise, the poor ugly duckling ran away from the farmyard.
He stopped at a pond and began to question all the other birds. "Do you
know of any ducklings with gray feathers like mine?" But everyone shook
their heads in scorn. "We don't know anyone as ugly as you." The ugly
duckling did not lose heart, however, and kept on making inquiries. He
went to another pond, where a pair of large geese gave him the same
answer to his question. What's more, they warned him: "Don't stay here!
Go away! It's dangerous. There are men with guns around here!" The
duckling was sorry he had ever left the farmyard.
Then
one day, the poor ugly duckling arrived at an old countrywoman's
cottage. Thinking he was a stray goose, she caught him. "I'll put this
in a hutch. I hope it's a female and lays plenty of eggs!" said the old
woman, whose eyesight was poor. But of course, the ugly duckling did not
lay a single egg. The hen kept frightening him. "Just wait! If you
don't lay eggs, the old woman will wring your neck and pop you into the
pot!" And the cat chipped in: "Hee! Hee! I hope the woman cooks you,
then I can gnaw at your bones!" The poor ugly duckling was so scared
that he lost his appetite, though the old woman kept stuffing him with
food and grumbling: "If you won't lay eggs, at least hurry up and get
plump!"
"Oh, dear me!" moaned the now terrified duckling. "I'll die of fright first! And I did so hope someone would love me!"
Then
one night, the old woman left the hutch door ajar, and the poor ugly
duckling escaped. Once again he was all alone. He fled as far away as he
could, and at dawn, he found himself in a thick bed of reeds. "If
nobody wants me, I'll hide here forever." There was plenty of food
there, and the poor ugly duckling began to feel a little happier, even
though he was lonely. One day at sunrise, he saw a group of beautiful
birds flying overhead. White, with long slender necks, yellow beaks and
large wings, they were migrating south.
"If
only I could look like them, just for a day!" said the duckling,
admiringly. Winter came and the water in the reed bed froze. The poor
duckling left home to seek food in the snow. He dropped exhausted to the
ground, but a farmer found him and put him in his big jacket pocket.
"I'll take him home to my children. They'll look after him. Poor thing,
he's frozen!" The duckling was showered with kindly care at the farmer's
house. In this way, the ugly duckling was able to survive the bitterly
cold winter.
However,
by springtime, he had grown so big that the farmer decided: "I'll set
him free by the pond!" That was when the duckling saw himself mirrored
in the water. "Goodness! How I've changed! I hardly recognize myself!"
The flight of swans winged north again and glided on to the pond. When
the duckling saw them, he realized that he was one of their kind and
they made friends.
"We're swans like you!" they said, warmly. "Where have you been hiding?"
"It's
a long story," replied the young swan, still astounded. Now, he swam
majestically with his fellow swans. One day, he heard children on the
river bank exclaim: "Look at that young swan! He's the finest of them
all!"
And he almost burst with happiness.