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The Ugly Duckling

Part 1: One By One

On a farm long ago, a Mama Duck sat on her nest. “How long must I wait for my babies to hatch?” she said. “I have to sit here all alone! And no one comes to visit me.” But what could she do? A Mama duck must keep her eggs warm till they hatch.

At last, the eggs began to crack. One by one, yellow ducklings stepped out of their shells. They shook their wings and said, “Quack, quack!”

“Look at all of you!” said Mama Duck with joy. “You are all so cute!”

“Quack, quack!” they said.

Mama Duck said, “Come and line up. We will go down to the lake for your very first swim.” She counted – one, two, three, four, five. “Oh dear!” she said. “I should have six ducklings!”

But one large egg was still in the nest. “Well," said Mama Duck, "it looks like that big egg will take more time.” So she had to go sit on her nest again and wait some more.

Part 2: Unlike The Others

The next day, the big egg started to hatch. Out came a baby boy bird. But if one may say so, it was an odd-looking thing. This bird was much bigger than others. He was not yellow at all - he was dark-gray from his head to his feet. And he walked with a funny wobble.

One of the yellow ducklings pointed. “What is THAT? He cannot be one of us!”

“I have never seen such an ugly duckling!” said another.

“How can you say such a thing?” said Mama Duck in a stern voice. “You are only one day old! Your brother hatched from the very same nest as you did. Now line up. We will go to the lake for your very first swim.”

Yet the other ducklings quacked, “Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!” The Ugly Duckling did not know why the other ducklings were yelling at him. He took the last spot in the line.

Each yellow duck jumped in the river and swam behind Mama Duck. When it was his turn, the Ugly Duckling jumped in and started to paddle, too. “At least he can swim,” Mama Duck thought to herself.

When they left the water and started to play, the Ugly Duckling tried to play with his brothers and sisters, too. They yelled, “Go away! We will not play with you! You are ugly. And you walk weird, too!”

When Mama Duck was close by, she would not let them talk in this way. “Be nice!” she would scold. But she was not always close by.

Part 3: Get Out!

One day, one of the yellow ducklings said to the Ugly Duckling, “You know what? You would do us a big favor if you just left!” All of them started to quack: “Get out! Get out! Get out!”

“Why won’t they let me stay with them?” thought the Ugly Duckling. He hung his head down low. “Ah, they must be right. I should go.”

That night, the Ugly Duckling flew over the farmyard fence. He flew till he landed on the other side of the lake. There he met two grown-up ducks.

“Can I please stay here for awhile?” said the Ugly Duckling. “I have nowhere else to live.”

“What do we care?” said one of the ducks. “Just don’t get in our way.”

“Woof! Woof!” Suddenly a big hungry dog came tearing by, chasing the two ducks. They quickly flew up in the air, and their feathers fell down on the ground. The poor Ugly Duckling froze in fear. The dog sniffed and sniffed at the Ugly Duckling, then the dog turned around and walked away. “I am too ugly even for the big hungry dog,” said the Ugly Duckling with his head hung low.

The sky turned dark. Crack! A bolt of lightning. Then came a big storm, with heavy rains pouring down from the sky. In just moments, the Ugly Duckling was soaked through and through. A cold wind started to blow.

“Brrr!” he said with both wings held close to his chest. “If only there was a place I could get dry.”

All at once, a tiny light blinked far off in the woods. “Could it be someone’s hut?”

He flew to the door. “Quack?” said the Ugly Duckling. The door of the hut creaked open.

“What is all this noise?” said an old woman, looking right and left. Her eyes were not that good, but she could hear. She looked down. “Ah, it’s a duck!” She picked up the Ugly Duckling and dropped him inside her hut. “You can stay here, but I expect you to lay eggs,” she said.

A tomcat and hen both crept up to the Ugly Duckling. “Who do you think you are, coming in here and taking up room by the fire!” said the tomcat with a sneer.

“Squawk!” said the hen. “I am the only one around here who lays eggs.”

“Do not worry,” said the Ugly Duckling. “I am a boy duck.”

“Then why are you still here?” said the tomcat. “Did you not hear what the old woman said?”

“Get out of here, pretender!” clucked the hen.

“Get out! Get out!“ hissed the tomcat.

The door was still a bit open, so the poor Ugly Duckling slipped out the door and back into the storm.

“No one ever wants me,” said the Ugly Duckling with a tear in his eye.

Part 4: A New Lake

The storm ended. Soon he found a new lake. Looking into the water, the Ugly Duckling saw the reflection from behind him of a flock of large birds flying. He turned to look overhead and could not believe what he saw. Winging through the sky above him were the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. Their long bodies and slender necks seemed to glide through the sky. He watched until the very last bird winged its way out of view.

He stayed at that lake all by himself. Time passed, and the days grew shorter. The leaves of the trees turned deep red and gold, then the leaves fell to the ground. Winter came, setting a blanket of white snow all over. The cold wind and the dark clouds made the Ugly Duckling feel even more sad.

He had to walk onto the cold, icy lake to fish to find an open spot where he could dive into the freezing waters and find fish to eat. It was all he could do was to paddle the water to keep it from freezing around him and trapping him in the lake.

“I am so tired!” he said, paddling with all his might. The ice got thicker and drew closer to him.

In a moment, two giant hands swept him up. “You poor thing!” said a farmer. He held the Ugly Duckling close to his thick warm wool jacket. The farmer was carrying him someplace, but where?

And then came months of warmth. Warmth from the heat of the fire and from the heart of the farmer, too. For the rest of the winter, the farmer cared for the Ugly Duckling.

Part 5: Spring

Spring came. Tips of green covered the trees. Short, bright flowers popped up from the ground.

“It is time for you to go back to the lake to swim again, as you were born to do,” said the farmer. He took the duckling back to the lake where he had found him, and set him with care on the water.

“I feel strong!” said the young bird, flapping his wings. “Why, I do not think I ever felt as strong as I do right now!”

He heard quiet splashing sounds behind him, and turned around. A flock of those same beautiful birds he had once seen winging through the sky, landed by him on the water.

“Do not worry!” he said to these beautiful birds, holding out one wing. “I will go. I will not make trouble for you.” A tear rolled down his cheek, and he turned to go away. When he looked at the lake, he saw a reflection in the water that looked like one of those beautiful birds. Why was this bird so close to him? He jumped back. And the reflection jumped back, too.

“What is this?” he said. He stretched his neck, and the reflection of the beautiful bird in the lake stretched its neck, too.

“Why are you going so soon?” called out one of the beautiful birds.

“Stay here, with us!” said another. “We’ll be friends.”

Then the bird who used to be the Ugly Duckling knew what had happened. He was no longer an ugly gray bird that wobbled when it walked. He had become a Swan!

At one moment, all the swans flapped their wings and took off into the sky. “Come with us,” one called back. “Take the lead!” So he flapped his wings fast and took his place in front of the whole flock. All his new friends flapped their wings behind him.

“Say!” he said, gliding and dipping through the sky as he sped on. “Who’s an ugly duckling now? Surely, Not I!”

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