the ugly duckling
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 nice morning, the eggs hatched and out popped six chirpy ducklings.
But one egg was bigger than the
rest, and it didn´t hatch. Mother Duck couldn´t recall laying that seventh egg.
How did it get there? 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.
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, shaking her
head as she looked at her last born.
Well, the gray duckling 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 became more and more unhappy.
His brothers didn´t want to play with him, 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, he 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, 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 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, finding the hutch
door open, he 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
hid here forever."
There was plenty a food, and the
duckling began to feel a little happier, though he was lonely.
One day at sunrise, he saw a
flight of beautiful birds wing 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 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 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.
FIN
