UGLY DUCKLING STORY

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.
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.”
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.
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 awhile?” 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.”
A cold wind started to blow.
“Brrr!” He held both wings close to his chest. “If only there was someplace 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?” he said. The door of the hut creaked open.
“What is all this noise?” said an old woman, looking right and left. 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.”
“Go away!" jeered the tomcat.
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.
The Ugly Duckling stayed at the lake as the days grew shorter. Winter came, The cold wind blew and the
clouds darkened. Under the ice, it was all he could do to keep paddling so the water wouldn't freeze
around him.
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?
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.
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.

HE was no longer an ugly gray bird that wobbled when it walked. He had grown into a beautiful swan!
Our hero often imagined how lovely it would be to stretch out and just fly, fly, and fly some more.
And so the entire flock, including their newest friend, flapped their wings together. And in one moment
they took off into the clear blue sky.

UGLY DUCKLING STORY

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ONCE ON A FARM LONG AGO, a Mama Duck sat on her nest.

“How long must I wait for my babies to

“Quack, quack, QUACK!” they said with pride.

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

“Go away!" jeered the tomcat.

“What's this?” he thought, puzzled.

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