The Ugly Duckling

Once upon a time, a mother sat on five eggs near a river. She kept them warm, watching the beautiful water flow beside her. She was very happy. She waited for the babies to be born. She was looking forward to swimming with them in the river.

On one fine day, when the sun was shinning brightly, the first egg cracked. A very sweet yellow duckling emerged out. He went chirping to his mother. The mother was delighted. Then the second egg hatched, and the third – and soon there were five bright and joyful little ducklings dancing around their mother. “Let’s go into the water,” they said. “Let’s go in the water, let’s go in the water,” they said.

But there was another egg left. It was larger than the others and a bit darker. The mother looked at it and said, “Hmm, let’s wait a bit. There is another one to come.” So, they waited around watching the egg, impatiently, while the sun shine down on them and the wind blew across the reeds.

And then a small line appeared on the egg – it became bigger and bigger and crack! – a bird emerged from the shell.

But it was not a duckling like the others. It was dark and greyish and did not have the cheerful yellow that the rest of the ducklings had.

“Eww – who is this?” asked one of the ducklings.

“He is ugly,” said another.

“Why does he walk so funny?” asked another.

Indeed, he did walk clumsily. His feet were large and when he moved, it didn’t look sweet or graceful. He couldn’t run quickly to his mother like the other had. The mother said hurriedly, “Come, come, into the water with all of you.”

They all fell into line behind her as she walked to the river, five ducklings walking smartly and one swaying clumsily after them all.

In the water it was the same. The five yellow ducklings could swim very well after a few moments. The grey ugly one could only waddle around in fear. It didn’t take long for the others to laugh at him and call him names. The mother tried to help him all she could, but he could not learn to swim more smoothly or walk more gracefully.

“He is stupid”

“He cannot learn.”

“He is so ugly,” were all that the ugly duckling could hear day after day. His mother felt sad and tried to make her other children kinder but she could not do that. On a particularly bad day, listening to how scornful his siblings sounded towards him, ugly duckling decided to run away. He didn’t want to be laughed at any more. He didn’t want to cause his mother worry anymore. He waddled out of the river, flapped his wings dry, and sadly walked away with his head down.

He walked and he walked and he walked. He passed hens and cows and sheep and horses. Near everyone he waited for a bit hoping that they will ask him to stay and be their friend. But no one even looked at him. They didn’t want to even talk to him because he looked so miserable and ugly. So he kept on walking.

The ugly duckling ended up in a small garden that belonged to an old woman who lived there with her hen and her cat. They discovered the ugly ducking in the corner of the yard cold and shivering in the rain. The old woman thought she will be able to get more eggs if she kept this duck with her. So she carried the trembling bird inside her house, kept it near the fire, and gave it some food. The ugly ducking soon felt better. The cat and the hen looked at this bird curiously.

“Can you lay eggs?” asked the hen. “No,” said the ugly duckling.

“Can you purr and make the old woman happy?” asked the cat. “No,” said the ugly duckling.

“Useless creature. You will not be allowed to stay here long, we are sure,” they said. And sure enough, when the old woman saw that the ugly duckling could do nothing but stand sadly in the corner, she shooed him away with a broom after a few days.

“You are so ugly you make this whole house sad,” she said as she tried to sweep him outside.

The ugly duckling felt scared and ran away from the broom as fast as he could. He ran down the steps and across the yard. He ran down the road as far as he could from that house and hid in some reeds near the river. Tears were falling from his eyes. He heard some rustling and looked up. And there in the sky, were some white birds who looked more beautiful and elegant than any other animal he had seen before. They looked so wonderful that the ugly duckling forgot to cry and stared at them in admiration. He saw how they all flew together and looked like a family that liked being together.

“How I wish I could be as beautiful and as happy as them,” he thought, looking up at them through the reeds. He watched them till they flew away and passed out of sight.

The ugly duckling tried to live alone near that river, hiding in those reeds. He didn’t want anyone to see him even though he was lonely. He didn’t want anyone to laugh at him or call him ugly.

But soon the Winter came. The weather grew colder and colder. The ugly ducking found it hard to swim because the water was freezing over too. One day, as the thin ice trapped him in the corner of the river and he lay there shivering, thinking that he was going to die, a kind old man who was passing saw him and came to him.

“Oh, you poor thing,” he said and picked him up gently and held the duckling against his chest. The man quickly took him to his farmhouse and kept him near the fire. The ugly duckling felt the warmth come creeping through his frozen body. Slowly, slowly he opened his eyes and knew that he was saved from death.

That whole winter the kind old man tended to the ugly duckling. He gave him food. And more importantly he gave him kind words. He gave him love. The ugly duckling slowly grew stronger.

Winter ended and Spring came. The snow melted away and the trees outside grew green leaves and suddenly burst into flower. The water of the river thawed and they could hear it gurgling down happily. One fine warm day the old man carried the ugly duckling to the river and let him into the water. The ugly duckling found that he could swim easily into the middle of the river. He felt strong and confident. Suddenly he caught sight of a beautiful while bird in the water. Surprised he looked up at the sky. Had those beautiful birds come back? But there was no one there. There was only him. He looked at the bird below him again. The beautiful bird looked back at him. The ugly duckling lifted a wing. The bird lifted a wide strong shinning white wing as well. That was him, the ugly duckling realized. That beautiful bird was him!

Just then he heard the rustling of wings again and looked up. The group of beautiful white birds were back. And they all looked just like him. They circled above him and landed on the water next to him. They spoke excitedly to him and asked who he was.

“Will you be our friend?” they asked.

The ugly duckling could hardly believe it. “Yes,” he said, happily.

So they all opened their strong wings and rose to the sky. They flew as a flock over rivers and forests and sometimes towns. All the people who saw them could be heard exclaiming, “What beautiful swans they are!”

Sometimes the ugly duckling, who was now a swan, thought he could see his old family of ducks still waddling in the water in the river. He never wanted to see them again, though. He now belonged elsewhere.