The Ugly Duckling

It was such a lovely summer in the country. The corn stood golden in the fields, the oats were green, and the hay lay in tall stacks on the meadows. The stork walked about on his long red legs and chattered in Egyptian, for that was the language he had learnt from his mother. Around the fields and meadows grew great forests, and deep in the forests lay deep pools. It was truly delightful to wander in the country. On a sunny slope stood an old farmhouse beside a deep river, and from the house down to the water grew tall burdock leaves, so high that a small child could stand upright beneath them. There, in the wildest corner, a mother duck sat on her nest waiting for her ducklings to hatch.

It took a long time. At last one egg after another cracked, and small yellow heads peeked out. 'Peep, peep,' they said. 'Quack, quack,' the mother duck answered, and then they looked out at the world, which was much bigger now than it had been inside the shell. But one large egg still lay there. It simply would not crack. An old duck came visiting and looked at it. 'That is a turkey's egg,' she said firmly. 'Leave it where it is and teach the others to swim.' But the mother duck shook her head. 'I have sat so long now, a few more days will make no difference,' she said, and she settled herself comfortably over the big egg again.

At last the big egg cracked. A young one crept out. 'Peep, peep,' he said. He was large and grey, quite unlike the other small yellow ones. The mother duck looked at him for a long time. 'He does not look like a turkey,' she thought. 'We shall see what he can do when we go to the water.' And the next day, when the sun shone over the green burdock leaves, she led her whole brood down to the river. Splash into the water jumped the mother duck. 'Quack, quack,' she called, and one by one all the ducklings jumped in. The water closed over their heads, but they came up again at once and swam so prettily, with little feet paddling under the water. And look! The big ugly grey duckling swam just as well as the others.