The Ugly Duckling

Part 1: One By One

ONCE ON A FARM LONG AGO, a Mama Duck sat on her nest. “How
long must I wait for my babies to hatch? I have to sit here all by myself!”
But what could she do? A Mama duck must keep her eggs warm till they
hatch.
At last, the eggs began to crack. One yellow duckling stepped out of its
shell, then another. Each little chick shook its wings. “Quack, quack!”
“Look at you!” cried Mama Duck with joy. “You're all so cute!”
“Quack, quack, quack!” they said with pride.
“Come line up," said Mama Duck. "We will go down to the lake for your
very first swim.” She counted – one, two, three, four, five. “Oh dear!” she said with a frown. “I
had six eggs. I should have six ducklings.”
One large egg was still in the nest. “Well!" said Mama Duck, "it looks like that big egg will take
more time.” So she went back to sit on her nest again and wait some more.

Part 2: Unlike The Others

The next day, the big egg started to hatch! Out popped a baby boy bird.
Yet - my goodness! How different this one looked! He was much larger than the others. He was not
yellow, but dark-gray all over. And after he stepped out of his egg, he walked with a funny wobble.
One of the yellow ducklings pointed. “What's that? He can't 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 very 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.”
All the way the other ducklings quacked, “Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!” The Ugly Duckling did not know
why the other ducklings were yelling at him. He fell behind to take the last spot in line.
When they got to the lake, each yellow duck jumped in and swam behind Mama Duck. When it
was his turn, the Ugly Duckling jumped in too, and he started to paddle. “At least he can swim,”
Mama Duck thought to herself.
When the yellow ducklings got out of the water and started to play, the Ugly Duckling tried to play
with his brothers and sisters. They yelled at him, “Go away! We will not play with you! You are
ugly. And you walk weird!”
When Mama Duck was close by, she would not let them talk 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 went away!” All of them started
to quack: “Go! Go away!”
“Why won’t they let me stay with them?” thought the Ugly Duckling. He
hung his head down low. “They must be right. I should go.”
That night, the Ugly Duckling flew over the farmyard fence to the other side of
the lake. There he met two grown-up ducks.

“Can I please stay here for a while?” said the Ugly Duckling. “I have nowhere else to live.”
“What do we care?” said one of the ducks. “It's a big lake. 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 it turned around and walked away. “I am too ugly even for that mean old
dog,” said the Ugly Duckling in a sorrowful voice.
The sky turned dark. Crack! A bolt of lightning lit up the sky. Then came a big storm, with heavy
rains pouring down. In just moments, the Ugly Duckling was soaked through and through. A cold
wind started to blow.
“Brrr!” He held both wings close to his chest. “If only there was some place I could dry out.”
All at once, a tiny light blinked far off in the woods. Could it be someone’s hut?
The Ugly Duckling flew to the door. “Quack?” said he. 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. “A duck!” She picked up the Ugly Duckling and dropped
him inside her hut. “You might as well stay here," she said. "But mind you, I expect you to lay
eggs.”
A tomcat and hen both crept up to the Ugly Duckling. “Who do you think you are?" the tomcat
hissed. "Coming here and taking up room by the fire!”
“Squawk!” said the hen. “I'm the only one around here who lays eggs. You don't know the first
thing about laying eggs.”
“You got that right,” said the Ugly Duckling. “I'm a boy duck.”
“Then why are you here?” sneered the tomcat. “Didn't you hear what the old woman said?”
“Imposter! Get out of here!” yipped the hen.
“Go away!" jeered the tomcat.
The door was still a bit open, so the poor Ugly Duckling crept out the door and back into the storm.
“No one ever wants me,” said the Ugly Duckling with a tear in its eye.

Part 4: A New Lake

The storm ended. Finally, he found another lake. Looking in the water, the
Ugly Duckling saw a reflection from above - a flock of large birds were flying
overhead, above him. He turned to admire them. They were the most
beautiful birds he had ever seen. Their long bodies and slender necks winged
through the sky with ease and grace. He watched until the very last one had
disappeared from view.

The Ugly Duckling stayed at the lake as the days grew shorter. The leaves
turned deep red and gold, and fell to the ground. Winter came, setting its
blanket of white snow. The cold wind blew and the clouds darkened. He had to
dive into small holes in the ice to find fish to eat. Under the ice, it was all he could
do to keep paddling so the water wouldn't freeze around him, trapping him
underneath the lake.
He became terribly tired. The ice got thicker still and the wind blew harder.
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. "You didn't fly south with the others?" The farmer
was carrying him someplace - where?
The next months were lovely. Warmth from the heat of the fire and from the heart of the farmer
enveloped our poor hero. For the rest of the winter, the farmer cared for the Ugly Duckling.

Part 5: Spring
At last, spring came. Little dots of green spotted the tree branches. Short, bright flowers popped up
from the ground.
“It's 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 on the water.
“I feel good!” said the young bird, flapping his wings. “Why, I don't think I ever felt as strong as I
do right now!”
Spring passed, then summer. The leaves started to change colors when one day, the Ugly Duckling
heard quiet splashing sounds behind him. He turned around. A flock of those same beautiful birds
he had once seen winging through the sky now sat on the lake.
“Don't worry!” he said to the beautiful birds, holding out one of his wings. “I am leaving. I won't
make trouble for you.” When he happened to glance down at the lake, he saw a reflection in the
water that looked like one of those beautiful birds. Why was the bird so close to him? He jumped
back. The reflection jumped back, too.
“What's this?” he thought, puzzled. Our troubled hero stretched his neck and strangely, the
reflection of the beautiful bird in the lake stretched its neck, too.
“Why are you leaving so soon?" called out one of the beautiful birds.
"Come back!” said another.
“Stay with us!” said yet another swan. “We’ll be friends.”

Then, the bird who used to be the Ugly Duckling realized what had happened.
He was no longer an ugly gray bird that wobbled when it walked. He had
grown into a beautiful swan! Then a dark thought crossed his mind.
"You only want me because I'm a swan and I look like you," said he.
"That's not it at all!" said the first swan who had spoken. "We saw you all
alone down here and thought you might want to join us. We don't care how
birds look. Why, take a look at Pelican over there."
"No one would take me for a swan," squawked Pelican.
"How did you end up with them?" asked our hero, who used to be an Ugly Duckling.
"Stayed up too late the night before," shrugged Pelican. "Slept till noon. My flock took off without
me. Was sure glad the swans came along when they did. Thanks, guys!"
Said the second swan who had spoken, "And there's Egret."
"What can I tell you?" said Egret. "I love to ride those wind currents! Then found out my entire
flock was gone. By then there was no way I could catch up. If the swans didn't come along and
invite me to join them, who knows where I'd be now?"
The hero who used to be an Ugly Duckling considered these stories, yet was still skeptical. "Winter
may get a little cold on the lake," he said, "but no one bothers me here. And spring comes
eventually."
"Eventually?" said the first swan. "Why suffer if you don't have to? Where we fly to, the sun
shines hot all day long. Imagine it - thick, delicious pondweed for as far as you can see. Algae,
waterside grasses, the works!"
"I see your point," admitted our hero.
"Besides," said the third swan, "I bet you'd love to fly farther than just circling around this lake.
We sure do."
Another good point. Our hero often imagined how lovely it would be to stretch out and just fly, fly,
and fly some more.
The bird who used to be an Ugly Duckling considered, "These birds may be beautiful to look at, but
they are also beautiful inside. This is the flock for me."
And so the entire flock, including their newest friend, flapped their wings together. And in one
moment the flock took off into the clear blue sky.