THE UGLY DUCKLING

Once upon a time . . . down on an old farm, lived a duck family, and MotherDuck had been sitting on a clutch of new eggs. One nice morning, the eggshatched and out popped six chirpy ducklings. But one egg was bigger than therest, and it didn't hatch. Mother Duck couldn't recall laying that seventhegg. How did it get there? TOCK! TOCK! The little prisoner was pecking insidehis shell.
"Did I count the eggs wrongly?" Mother Duck wondered. But before she hadtime to think about it, the last egg finally hatched. A strange lookingduckling with grey feathers that should have been yellow gazed at a worriedmother. 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 toherself, shaking her head as she looked at her lastborn. Well, the greyduckling certainly wasn't pretty, and since he ate far more than his brothers,he was outgrowing them. As the days went by, the poor ugly duckling becamemore and more unhappy. His brothers didn't want to play with him, he was soclumsy, and all the farmyard folks simply laughed at him. He felt sad andlonely, while Mother Duck did her best to console him. "Poor little ugly duckling!" she would say. "Why are you so different fromthe others?" And the ugly duckling felt worse than ever. He secretly wept atnight. He felt nobody wanted him.
"Nobody loves me, they all tease me! Why am I different from my brothers?" Then one day, at sunrise, he ran away from the farmyard. He stopped at apond and began to question all the other birds. "Do you know of any ducklingswith grey feathers like mine?" But everyone shook their heads in scorn. "We don't know anyone as ugly as you." The ugly duckling did not loseheart, however, and kept on making enquiries. He went to another pond, where apair 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 withguns around here!" The duckling was sorry he had ever left the farmyard. Then one day, his travels took him near 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 the ugly duckling laid not asingle egg.
The hen kept frightening him: "Just wait! If you don't lay eggs, the old woman will wring your neck andpop you into the pot!" And the cat chipped in: "Hee! Hee! I hope the womancooks you, then I can gnaw at your bones!" The poor ugly duckling was soscared that he lost his appetite, though the old woman kept stuffing him withfood 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, finding the hutch door ajar, he escaped. Once again he wasall 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 hid here forever." There wasplenty a food, and the duckling began to feel a little happier, though he waslonely. One day at sunrise, he saw a flight of beautiful birds wing overhead.White, with long slender necks, yellow beaks and large wings, they weremigrating 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 ducklingleft home to seek food in the snow. He dropped exhausted to the ground, but afarmer 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'shouse. In this way, the ugly duckling was able to survive the bitterly coldwinter. However, by springtime, he had grown so big that the farmer decided: "I'llset him free by the pond!" That was when the duckling saw himself mirrored inthe water. "Goodness! How I've changed! I hardly recognize myself!" The flight ofswans winged north again and glided on to the pond. When the duckling sawthem, he realized he was one of their kind, and soon 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 swammajestically with his fellow swans. One day, he heard children on the riverbank exclaim: "Look at that young swan! He's the finest of them all!" And he almost burst with happiness.

Design and story content by Barb Malott ©1998.
Site Programmed and Maintained by Barb Malott
All other Content Copyrighted to their respective owners or companies.