The Ugly Duckling

Part One · The Big Egg

It was summer in the country, and the fields were golden. Beside an old farmhouse, under some giant leaves, a mother duck sat on her nest. She had been sitting there for a long time, and she was getting bored. At last the eggs began to crack. Peep! Peep! One by one, the yellow ducklings popped out their heads.

But one egg had not hatched, and it was the biggest egg of all. "How much longer will this one take?" sighed the mother duck. An old duck waddled by and peered at it. "That looks like a turkey egg to me," she said. "Leave it, my dear." But the mother duck was patient, and she kept on sitting.

At last the big egg cracked, and out tumbled a duckling. He was large and gray, with big feet and a long, skinny neck. "Goodness, what an ugly duckling," said his mother. But when she led them all to the water, the big gray duckling swam best of all. "He is mine, after all," she said.

The other animals in the farmyard were not so kind. The ducks bit him, the hens pecked him, and the big turkey puffed himself up and gobbled rudely at him. Even the girl who fed the birds pushed him away with her foot. "You ugly thing," they all said. "We wish the cat would carry you off!" The poor duckling was miserable.

One morning, the ugly duckling ran away. He fluttered over the fence and hurried across the fields until he reached a wide marsh where the wild ducks lived. "You are very ugly," the wild ducks told him, "but you can stay, as long as you leave our families alone." So he hid among the reeds and drank the marsh water.

Part Two · Out in the World

After a few days, hunters came to the marsh with their noisy dogs. Bang! Bang! The wild ducks flew away. A big dog splashed right up to the duckling and sniffed him, and then it trotted off. "I am so ugly that even a dog does not want me," thought the duckling sadly, and he stayed very still until night.

At dusk, he came to a tiny, tumbledown cottage. An old woman lived there with a tomcat who could purr and a hen who could lay eggs. "Can you lay eggs?" asked the hen. "No," said the duckling. "Can you purr?" asked the cat. "No," said the duckling. "Then you are no use at all," they said, "so hush."

"I would love to swim in the water," said the duckling quietly. "I love to dive down to the bottom and feel it go over my head." The hen laughed at him. "What a silly idea! Ask the cat. Ask the old woman. Nobody wants to get their head wet!" So the duckling went out into the wide world again.

Autumn came, and the leaves turned brown and gold. One evening, at sunset, the duckling saw a flock of beautiful birds rise out of the bushes. They were dazzling white, with long, graceful necks, and they were flying away to warm lands. The duckling stretched up his neck after them and gave a strange cry. He loved them, and he did not know why.

Then the winter came, and it was bitterly cold. The duckling had to swim around and around to keep the water from freezing, but one night he was too tired. In the morning he was stuck fast in the ice. A farmer came by and broke the ice with his wooden shoe, and he carried the duckling home to his wife.

Part Three · Spring

The farmer's children wanted to play with him, but the duckling was frightened. He flapped into the milk pan and splashed milk everywhere. Then he flew into the butter tub and the flour barrel! The children laughed and chased him, and the farmer's wife shrieked. At last the door was open, and out he ran into the snow.

It would be too sad to tell about all the cold days that followed. But at last the sun shone warmly again, the larks sang, and spring had come. The duckling stretched his wings, and they were bigger and stronger than before. Up he rose into the air, and soon he flew over a lovely garden with a lake.

Out from the bushes on the lake glided three beautiful white swans. The duckling knew them at once. "I will go to them," he said, "even if they chase me away." He flew down onto the water and swam toward them, and he bowed his head low. And there in the clear water, he saw his own reflection.

He was not a clumsy gray bird anymore. He was a swan! The other swans swam around him and stroked him gently with their beaks. Some children ran down to the lake with bread. "Look, there is a new one!" they cried. "The new one is the most beautiful of all!" The old trees bowed their branches down to the water.

The young swan felt very shy, and he hid his head under his wing. He remembered how everyone had laughed at him, and now they said he was the most beautiful bird of all. He ruffled his feathers and lifted his long neck. "I never dreamed of such happiness," he said, "back when I was the ugly duckling."