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The Ugly Duckling. It was so beautiful in thecountry. It was a summer time. The wheat fieldswere golden, the oats were green, and the haystood in great stacks in the green meadows. The stork paraded about among them on his long red legs,chattering away in Egyptian, the language he hadlearned from his lady mother.
All around the meadows and cornfields grew thickwoods, and in the midst of the forest was a deeplake. Yes, it was beautiful, it was delightful inthe country. In a sunny spot stood a pleasant oldfarmhouse circled all about with deep canals, andfrom the walls down to the water's edge grew greatburdocks, so high that under the tallest of them alittle child might stand upright. The spot was aswild as if it had been in the very center of thethick wood.
In this snug retreat sat a duck upon her nest,watching for her young brood to hatch, but thepleasure she had felt at first was almost gone,she had begun to think it a wearisome task, forthe little ones were so long coming out of theirshells, and she seldom had visitors. The otherducks liked much better to swim about in the canals than to climb the slippery banks and sit underthe burdock leaves to have a gossip with her. Itwas a long time to stay so much by herself.
At length, however, one shell cracked, and soonanother, and from each came a living creature thatlifted its head and cried peep, peep.
Quack, quack, said the mother, and then they alltried to say it, too, as well as they could, whilethey looked all about them on every side at thetall green leaves. Their mother allowed them tolook about as much as they liked, because green isgood for the eyes.
What a great world it is, to be sure, said thelittle ones, when they found how much more roomthey had than when they were in the egg-shell.
Is this all the world, do you imagine? said themother. Wait till you have seen the garden. Farbeyond that it stretches down to the pastor'sfield, though I have never ventured to such adistance. Are you all out? she continued, risingto look.
No, not all, the largest egg lies there yet, Ideclare. I wonder how long this business is tolast. I'm really beginning to be tired of it, butfor all that she sat down again.
Well, and how are you today? quacked an old duckwho came to pay her a visit.
There's one egg that takes a deal of hatching. Theshell is hard and will not break, said the fondmother, who sat still upon her nest. But just lookat the others.
Have I not a pretty family? Are they not the prettiest little ducklings you ever saw?
They are the image of their father, the good fornaught. He never comes to see me.
Let me see the egg that will not break, said theold duck. I've no doubt it's a guinea fowl's egg.The same thing happened to me once, and a deal oftrouble it gave me, for the young ones are afraidof the water.
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I quacked and clucked, but all to no purpose. Letme take a look at it.
Yes, I am right, it's a guinea fowl, upon my word,so take my advice and leave it where it is.
Come to the water and teach the other children toswim.
I think I will sit a little while longer, said themother. I have sat so long, a day or two more won't matter.
Very well, please yourself, said the old duck,rising, and she went away.
At last the great egg broke, and the latest birdcried peep, peep, as he crept forth from theshell.
How big and ugly he was! The mother duck stared athim and did not know what to think.
Really, she said, this is an enormous duckling,and it is not at all like any of the others.
I wonder if he will turn out to be a guinea fowl.Well, we shall see when we get to the water,
for into the water he must go, even if I have topush him in myself.
On the next day the weather was delightful. Thesun shone brightly on the green burdock leaves,
and the mother duck took her whole family down tothe water and jumped in with a splash.
Quack, quack, cried she, and one after another thelittle ducklings jumped in.
The water closed over their heads, but they cameup again in an instant and swam about quite
prettily, with their legs paddling under them aseasily as possible, their legs one of their
own accord, and the ugly gray coat was also in thewater, swimming with them.
Oh, said the mother, that is not a guinea fowl.See how well he uses his legs,
and how erect he holds himself. He is my ownchild, and he is not so very ugly after all,
if you look at him properly. Quack, quack. Comewith me now. I will take you into grand society
and introduce you to the farmyard, but you mustkeep close to me or you may be trodden upon,
and, above all, beware of the cat. When theyreached the farmyard,
there was a wretched riot going on, two familieswere fighting for an eel's head, which, after all,
was carried off by the cat. See, children, that isthe way of the world, said the mother duck,
wetting her beak, for she would have liked the eel's head herself. Come now, use your legs,
and let me see how well you can behave. You mustbow your heads prettily to that old duck yonder,
she is the highest born of them all and hasSpanish blood, therefore she is well off.
Don't you see she has a red rag tied to her leg,which is something very grand and a great honor
for a duck, it shows that everyone is anxious notto lose her, and that she is to be noticed by
both man and beast. Come now, don't turn in yourtoes, a well-bred duckling spreads his feet wide
apart, just like his father and mother, in thisway, now bend your necks and say quack.
The ducklings did as they were bade, but the otherduck stared and said,
Look, here comes another brood, as if there werenot enough of us already. And bless me,
what a queer-looking object one of them is, we don't want him here, and then one flew out
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and bit him in the neck. Let him alone, said themother, he is not doing any harm.
Yes, but he is so big and ugly. He's a perfectfright, said the spiteful duck,
and therefore he must be turned out. A littlebiting will do him good.
The others are very pretty children, said the oldduck with the rag on her leg,
all but that one. I wish his mother could smoothhim up a bit, he is really ill favored.
That is impossible, your grace, replied themother. He is not pretty, but he has a very
good disposition and swims as well as the othersor even better. I think he will grow up pretty,
and perhaps be smaller. He has remained too longin the egg, and therefore his figure is not
properly formed. And then she stroked his neck andsmoothed the feathers, saying, It is a drake,
and therefore not of so much consequence. I thinkhe will grow up strong and able to
take care of himself. The other ducklings aregraceful enough, said the old duck.
Now make yourself at home, and if you find an eel's head you can bring it to me.
And so they made themselves comfortable, but thepoor duckling who had crept out of his shell
last of all and looked so ugly was bitten andpushed and made fun of, not only by the ducks
but by all the poultry. He is too big, they allsaid, and the turkey-cock, who had been born into
the world with spurs and fancied himself really anemperor, puffed himself out like a vessel in
full sail and flew with the duckling. He becamequite red in the head with passion, so that the
poor little thing did not know where to go, andwas quite miserable because he was so ugly as to
be laughed at by the whole farmyard. So it went onfrom day to day, it got worse and worse.
The poor duckling was driven about by every one,even his brothers and sisters were unkind to him
and would say, Ah, you ugly creature, I wish thecat would get you and his mother had been heard
to say she wished he had never been born. Theducks packed him, the chickens beat him, and the
girl who fed the poultry pushed him with her feet.So at last he ran away, frightening the little
birds in the hedge as he flew over the palings.They are afraid because I am so ugly, he said.
So he flew still farther, until he came out on thelarge moor inhabited by wild ducks.
Here he remained the whole night, feeling verysorrowful.
In the morning, when the wild ducks rose in theair, they stared at their new comrade.
What sort of a duck are you? they all said, cominground him.
He bowed to them and was as polite as he could be,but he did not reply to their question.
You are exceedingly ugly, said the wild ducks, butthat will not matter if you do not want to
marry one of our family. Poor thing! He had nothoughts of marriage, all he wanted was permission
to lie among the rushes and drink some of thewater on the moor. After he had been on the moor
two days, there came two wild geese, or rather goslings, for they had not been out of the egg
long, which accounts for their impertinence.Listen, friend, said one of them to the duckling,
you are so ugly that we like you very well. Willyou go with us and become a bird of passage?
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Not far from here is another moor, in which thereare some wild geese, all of them unmarried.
It is a chance for you to get a wife. You may makeyour fortune, ugly as you are.
Bang! bang! sounded in the air, and the two wildgeese fell dead among the rushes,
and the water was tinged with blood. Bang! bang!echoed far and wide in the distance,
and whole flocks of wild geese rose up from therushes. The sound continued from every direction,
for the sportsmen surrounded the moor, and somewere even seated on branches of trees,
overlooking the rushes. The blue smoke from theguns rose like clouds over the dark trees,
and as it floated away across the water, a numberof sporting dogs bounded in among the rushes,
which bent beneath them wherever they went. Howthey terrified the poor duckling! He turned away
his head to hide it under his wing, and at thesame moment a large, terrible dog passed quite
near him. His jaws were open, his tongue hung fromhis mouth, and his eyes glared fearfully.
He thrust his nose close to the duckling, showinghis sharp teeth, and then splash,
splash, he went into the water, without touchinghim.
Oh! sighed the duckling, how thankful I am forbeing so ugly, even a dog will not bite me.
And so he lay quite still, while the shot rattledthrough the rushes,
and gun after gun was fired over him. It was latein the day before all became quiet,
but even then the poor young thing did not dare tomove. He waited quietly for several hours and
then, after looking carefully around him, hastenedaway from the moor as fast as he could.
He ran over field and meadow till a storm arose,and he could hardly struggle against it.
Towards evening he reached a poor little cottagethat seemed ready to fall,
and only seemed to remain standing because itcould not decide on which side to fall first.
The storm continued so violent that the ducklingcould go no farther. He sat down by the cottage,
and then he noticed that the door was not quiteclosed, in consequence of one of the hinges having
given way. There was, therefore, a narrow openingnear the bottom large enough for him to slip
through, which he did very quietly, and got ashelter for the night. Here, in this cottage,
lived a woman, a cat, and a hen. The cat, whom hismistress called My Little Son, was a great
favorite, he could raise his back and purr, andcould even throw out sparks from his fur if it
were stroked the wrong way. The hen had very shortlegs, so she was called Chicky Short Legs.
She laid good eggs, and her mistress loved her asif she had been her own child.
In the morning the strange visitor was discovered,the cat began to purr and the hen to cluck.
