The Ugly Duckling
Once upon a time, there was a mother duck nesting on her eggs, by a pond near an old farmhouse. The mother duck was quite tired of sitting on her eggs, but they finally hatched and she was relieved, until she noticed one very large egg had still yet to hatch, so she was forced to keep nesting.
The mother duck got a visitor and as she explained the large egg had yet to hatch, the other duck was quick to assume it probably was a turkey egg. The duck advised to abandon the egg, as turkeys were of no use and she should rather use energy on teaching her ducklings to swim.
The mother duck decided to nest for a little longer and after some time, the egg hatched, but instead of a cute little yellow duckling, it was instead a large, grey and ugly duckling. Mother duck was not sure if the duckling in reality was a turkey, but decided to take the ducklings with her to the pond and see if it could swim, even if she had to push it into the water herself. Mother duck took the ducklings with her too the water and jumped in. Calling for her ducklings to follow along and they all did. Even the grey one and mother duck could conclude that the ugly duckling could not be a turkey, seeing how well he could use his legs. He was truly her son and not so ugly, if you looked properly at him. Though she still had to bring them all with her to the farmyard.
She warned them all to keep close or they could be trotted on or be taken by the cat. The other duck from earlier saw the family though and quickly saw the ugly duckling and decided to peck him, as they did not wanted him in their farmyard. Mother duck protected her son, saying he was just as good or even a better swimmer than the others and he would grow big and strong, so the eldest duck allowed it for now, though still finding him ugly.
The ugly duckling was treated badly from the first day. All the other poultry in the farmyard would peck and bite him and laugh at him. Even his own brothers and sisters turned against him, because he was so ugly, wishing the cat would take him. His mother in the end also wished he hadn’t been born. It all became too much for the ugly duckling, who was so miserable and saw no other option than to run away.
He flew until he reached a large moor and stayed there for some days. He first met some ducks, who said how ugly he was and he would be allowed to stay, as long as he didn’t tried to marry into their families. Some days passed and a pair of geese came, suggesting he should come with them to another moor, saying there were some pretty single geese ladies and despite him being so ugly, he maybe would have a chance to marry one of them or at least make the two of them look better in comparison to him.
They never made it away though, as a hunter passed by and shot several of the geese in the area. The ugly duckling hid in the large grass and even the hunter’s dog wouldn’t even bite him, because he was so ugly. The ugly duckling fled and after a long time, he came across an old cottage. A storm was brewing and he found shelter by the door and noticed it wasn’t completely closed and he slipped inside.
An old woman, a tom cat and a hen lived in the house. The cat could purr and make the woman happy, while the hen could lay eggs. In the morning, the old woman found the ugly duckling, but due to her bad eyesight, she assumed he had to be a fat duck. Happy and hoping he wasn’t a drake, she allowed him to stay on trial for three weeks, to see if any eggs would come, but there didn’t. The tom cat and hen confronted him about being able to neither purr nor lay eggs and therefore he was useless and had nothing to say in the house.
The duckling longed to be free and swim again, so he left the cottage and continued on. The ugly duckling spent most of his time by a lake, always alone, as he was too ugly for the other birds to come near him. One winter day, a group of beautiful white birds passed by. They were swans, but the ugly duckling did not know this, but was still so excited and had an odd sensation watching the graceful birds taking off, to warmer countries. Oh how he wished he could be as graceful and magnificent as them, but he was just a poor ugly creature and had to stay in the lake for the winter.
The ugly duckling had to keep swimming, to keep the lake from freezing, but each night, the space he had, became smaller and smaller, until he was finally completely frozen solid onto the ice. A peasant came by and freed him from the ice and took the ugly duckling with him home to his wife. The ugly duckling got startled by the peasant’s children though and he escaped. He spends the winter all alone on his own and endured so much hardship, but still he survived and made it to spring.
As the apple trees were in full bloom and the sun shined down on the lake, the ugly duckling was hiding in a thicket and noticed three of those beautiful white birds had appeared at the lake and he felt strangely unhappy. He wished to swim to those royal birds and have them kill him, for he was so ugly and dared to approach them. He didn’t care anymore and then swam out onto the lake and pleaded for the swans to kill him, as he bend his head down towards the lake and awaited death.
Though as he saw his reflection in the water, he could see he no longer was an ugly grey duckling, but had become a beautiful white swan. He was glad he had suffered trouble and hardship, ‘cause now he could enjoy this pleasure and happiness even more and the other swans swam around him and happily greeted him.
A family came to the lake and the children were excited to see the new swan and immediately started to throw pieces of bread and cake to them. They kept repeating how beautiful the new swan was and how he was the most magnificent of them all. The ugly duckling did not know what to do. He felt so happy, being called the most beautiful of them all and even the other swans bowed before him. Then he cried from his heart “I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling. To be born into a duck’s nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan’s egg.”
Beautiful swan dog! <3
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