The Ugly Duckling teaches us many lessons like that lesson for people to accept themselves for who they truly are, we shouldn’t discriminate against people, judging by their physical appearance, and we should never give up on following our passions and finding our place in society.
The Ugly Duckling
it was lovely summer weather in the country, and the golden corn, the green oaks
and the haystacks piled up in the meadows looked beautiful. The stork walks about
on his long red legs chattered in the Egyptian language, which he had learned from his
mother, the cornfields and meadows were surrounded by large forests in the midst
of which were deep pools; it was indeed delightful to walk about in the country in
a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farmhouse close by a deep river, and from
the house down to the waterside grew great burdock leaves so high that under
the tallest of them, a little child could stand upright; the spot was as wild
as the center of thick wood in this snug retreat sat a duck on her nest, watching
for her young brood to hatch, she was beginning to get tired of her tasks for the little
ones for a long time coming out of their shells, and she seldom had any visitors;
the other ducks liked much better to swim about in the river than to climb the slippery
banks and sit under a burdock leaf to have a gossip with her had less than one shell
cracked and then another, and from each egg came a living creature that lifted
his head and cried.
“Peep-peep, quack quack,” said the mother, and then they all cracked as well as
they could and looked about them on every side of the large green leaves,
their mother allowed them to look as much as they liked because green is good for
the eyes, “how large is the world?” said the young ducks when they found out how
much more room they now had than while they were inside the eggshell,
“do you imagine that this is the whole world?” asked the mother, “wait till you have
seen the garden, it stretches far beyond the back to the Parsons field, but I have
never ventured to such a distance. Are you all out?” she continued rising,
“No, I declare the largest egg lies there still; I wonder how long this is to last. I am
quite tired of it,” and she seated herself again on the nest,
“Well, how are you getting on?” asked an old duck who visited her,
“one egg is not hatched yet,” said the duck, “it will not break, but look at all
the others! Are they not the prettiest little ducklings you ever saw? they are
the image of their father, who is so unkind he never comes to see”,
“let me see the egg that will not break,” said the duck, “I have no doubt it is
a Turkey’s egg, I was persuaded to hatch some once, and after all my care in trouble
with the young ones, they were afraid of the water; I quiet and clucked, but all to
no purpose, I could not get them to venture in, let me look at the egg! yes, that is a
turkey, Zack; take my advice, leave it where it is, and teach the other children to swim”,
“I think I will sit on it a little while longer,” said the duck, “as I have sat so long already,
a few days will be nothing” “Please yourself,” said the old duck, and she went away.
At last, the large egg broke, and a young one correct forth crying, “Peep peep”,
it was very large and ugly; the duck stared at it and exclaimed it is very large and not
at all like the others, “I wonder if it is a turkey? we shall soon find it out however
when we go to the water, it must go in if I have to push it myself”.
On the next day, the weather was delightful, and the Sun shone brightly on the green
burdock leaves, so the mother duck took her young brood down to the water,
and jumped in with a splash, “quack-quack” cries she, and one after another, the little
ducklings jumped in the water closed over their heads, but they came up again in an
incident and swam about quite prettily with their legs paddling under them as easily
as possible, and the ugly duckling was also in the water swimming with him.
“Oh,” said the mother, “that is not a turkey; how well he uses his legs, how upright
he holds himself, he is my child, and he is not so very ugly after all if you look at
him properly, quack, quack, come with me now. I will take you to Grand Society
and introduce you to the farmyard, but you must keep close to me, or you may be
trodden upon and above all, beware of a cat”.
when they reach the farmyard, there was a great disturbance; two families were
fighting for an eels head which, after all, was carried off by the cat, “see children,
that is the weight of the world,” said the mother duck wetting her beak for she would
have liked the Eel head herself. “Come now, use your legs, and let me see how well
you can behave; you must bow your heads prettily to that old duck younger; she is
the highest born of them all and has Spanish blood; therefore, she is well off,
don’t you see she has a red flag tied to her leg, which is something very grand
and a great honor for a duck; it shows that everyone is anxious not to lose her,
as she can be recognized both by man and beast, come now don’t turn your toes,
a well-bred duckling spreads his feet wide apart, just like his father and mother
in this way, now bend your neck and say quack.”
The ducklings did as they were bid, but the other ducks stared and said, “Look here
comes another brood as if there were not enough of us already,
and what a queer-looking object one of them is we don’t want him here”, and then
one flew out and picked him in the neck, “leave him alone,” said the mother,
“he is not doing any harm,” “Yes, but he is so big and ugly,” said the spiteful duck,
therefore, he must be turned out” “The others are very pretty children,” said the old
duck with a rag on her leg. “All but that one; I wish his mother could have proved
him a little” “That is impossible, your grace,” replied the mother, “he is not pretty,
but he has a very good disposition and swims as well or even better than the others,
I think he will grow up pretty and perhaps be smaller; he has remained too long
in the egg and therefore his figure is not properly formed”, and then she stroked
his deck and smooth his feathers, saying, “It is a trait and therefore not of so much
consequence, I think he will grow up strong and be able to take care of himself”,
“the other ducklings are graceful enough,” said the old duck. “Now, make yourself at
home, and if you can find an eels head, you can bring it to me”,
and so they made themselves comfortable, but the poor duckling who had crept out
of his shell last of all and looked so ugly, was bitten and pushed and made fun of,
not only by the Ducks but by all the poultry “he is too big,” they all said, and the
Turkey, who had been born into the world with Spurs and fancied himself an emperor
puffed himself out like a vessel, and full sail and flew at the duckling and became
quite red in the head with a passion so that the poor little thing did not know where
to go, and was quite miserable because he was so ugly and laughed at by the whole
form yard, so it went on from day to day till it got worse and worse, the poor duckling
was driven about by everyone, even his brothers and sisters were unkind to him
and would say, “Ah, you ugly creature, I wish the cat would get you” and his mother
said she wished he had never been born, the expecting the chickens beat him,
and the girl who fed the poultry kicked him with her feet, so at last, he ran away
frightening the little birds in the hedge as he flew over the peelings.
“They’re afraid of me because I am ugly,” he said, so he closed his eyes and flew still
farther until he came out on a large more inhabited by wild ducks, where he remained
the whole night feeling very tired and sorrowful.
In the morning, when the wild ducks rose in the air, they stared at their new comrade,
“What sort of a duck Ryu,” they all said; coming around 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, but that will not matter if you do not want
to marry one of our families.
poor thing he had no thoughts of marriage; all he wanted was permission to lie
among the rushes and drink some of the water 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 and were very saucy,
“Listen, friend,” said one of them to the duckling, “you are so ugly that we like you
very well, will you go with us and become a bird of passage? Not far from here is
another more in which there are some pretty wild geese all unmarried, it is a chance
for you to get a wife, you may be lucky ugly as you are”‘Pup-pup’ sounded in the air
and the two wild geese fell dead among the rushes, and the water was tinged with
blood, ‘pop-pop; echoed far and wide in the distance and whole flocks of wild geese
rose from the rushes, the sound continued from every direction, for the sportsman
surrounded the moor, and some were even seated on branches of trees overlooking
the rushes, the blue smoke from the guns rose like clouds over the dark trees,
and as it floated away across the water, several sporting dogs bounded and among
the rushes which bent beneath them wherever they went, how they terrified the poor
duckling, he turned away his head to hide it under his wing, and at the same
moment, a large terrible dog passed quite near him; his jaws were opened, his tongue
hung from his mouth, and his eyes glared fearfully; he thrust his nose was close
to the duckling showed his sharp teeth, and then “splash, splash,” he went into
the water without touching him. “Oh,” said the duckling, “how thankful I am for being
so ugly, even a dog will not bite me”, and so he lay quite still while the shot rattled
through the rushes, and gun after gun was fired over him.
It was late in the day before all became quiet, but even then, the poor young thing
did not dare to move; he waited quietly for several hours and then, after looking
carefully around him، hastened away 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 cottage that seemed ready to fall
and only remains standing because he could not decide on which side to fall,
first, the storm continued so violently that the duckling could go no farther; he sat
down by the cottage, and then he noticed that the door was not quite closed, in
a consequence of one of the hinges had been given away; there was, therefore,
a narrow opening near the bottom large enough for him to slip through, which he did
very quietly and got a shelter for the night, a woman, a tomcat and a hen, lived in this
cottage, the Tomcat whom the mistress called my little son was a great favorite
he raises back in purr and could even throw out sparks from his fur if it were stroked
the wrong way, the hen had very short legs, so she was called chicky short legs,
she laid good eggs, and her mistress loved her as if she had been her child.
In the morning, the strange visitor was discovered, and the Tomcat began to purr
in the hint to cluck, “what is that noise about” said the old woman looking around
the room, but her sight was not very good; therefore, when she saw the duckling
she thought it must be a fat duck that has strayed from home, “oh what a prize.”
she exclaimed, “I hope it is not a trick, for then I shall have some ducks eggs,
I must wait and see”, so the duckling was allowed to remain on trial for three weeks,
but there were no eggs; now, the Tomcat was the master of the house and the hen
was the mistress, and they always said we and the world, for they believed
themselves to be half the world, and the better half, to the duckling, thought that
others might hold a different opinion on the subject, but the hen would not listen to
such doubts, “Can you lay eggs?” she asked, “no, then have the goodness to hold
your tongue” “Can you raise your back or/or throw out sparks?” said the Tomcat,
“no, then you have no right to express an opinion when sensible people are
speaking”, so the duckling sat in the corner feeling very low-spirited till the sunshine
and the fresh air came into the room through the open door, and then he began
to feel such a great longing for a swim on the water that he could not help telling
the hen, “What an absurd idea,” said the hen, “you have nothing else to do, therefore,
you have foolish fancies, if you could / or late eggs they would pass away”, “but it is
so delightful to swim about on the water,” said the duckling, “and so refreshing
to feel it close over your head when you dive down to the bottom, delightful indeed.”
said to him, “Why? you must be crazy! ask the cat; he is the cleverest animal I know”,
he asked him how he would like to swim about on the water or to dive under it,
” But I will not speak of my own opinion; ask mistress, the old woman; there is no one
in the world more clever than she is, do you think she would like to swim or to let
the water close over her head?” “You don’t understand me,” said the duckling,
“We don’t understand you!! who can understand you?! I wonder do you consider
yourself more clever than the cat or the old woman, I will say nothing of myself
don’t imagine such nonsense, child, and thank your good fortune that you have been
received here, are you not in a warm room and in a society from which you may learn
something?! but you are a chatter, and your company is not very agreeable,
believe me, I speak only for your own good; I may tell you unpleasant truths
but that is proof of my friendship, I advise you, therefore, to lay eggs and learn
to purr as quickly as possible”.
“I believe I must go out into the world again,” said the duckling, “yes do,” said to him,
so the duckling left the cottage and soon found water on which he could swim
and dive, but was avoided by all other animals because of its ugly appearance,
Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold, then as winter
approached, the wind caught them as they fell and whirled them in the cold air,
the clouds heavy with hail and snowflakes hung low in the sky and the Raven
stood on the ferns.
Crying “broke, broke,” it made one shiver with cold to look at them all. This was very
sad for the poor little duckling, one evening just as the Sunset amid radiant clouds,
there came a large flock of beautiful birds out of the bushes; the duckling had never
seen any like them before, they were swans, and they curved graceful necks,
while their soft plumage is shown with dazzling whiteness, they uttered a singular
cry as they spread their glorious wings and flew away from those cold regions
to warmer countries across the sea, as they mounted higher and higher in the air,
the ugly little duckling felt quite a strange sensation as he watched them; he whirled
himself in the water like a wheel, stretched out his neck towards them, and uttered
a cry so strange that it frightened him. Could he ever forget those beautiful happy
birds? when at last they were out of sight, he dived under the water and rose again
almost beside himself with excitement, he knew not the names of those birds nor
where they had flown, but he felt towards them as he had never felt for any other bird
in the world, he was not envious of these beautiful creatures but wish to be as lovely
as they.
Poor ugly creature, how gladly he would have lived even with the Ducks had they
only encouraged him.
The winter grew colder and colder; he was obliged to swim about on the water
to keep it from freezing, but every night the space in which he swam became
smaller and smaller, at length, it froze so hard that the ice and the water crackled
as he moved, and the duckling had to paddle with his legs as well as he could
to keep the space from closing up, he became exhausted at last and lay still
and helpless frozen fast in the ice.
Early in the morning, a peasant who was passing by saw what had happened,
he broke the ice in pieces with his wooden shoe and carried the duckling home
to his wife, the warmth revived the poor little creature, but when the children wanted
to play with him; the DA claimed thought they would do him some harm, so he
started up in tariff fluttered into the milk pan and splashed the milk about the room,
then the woman clapped her hands which frightened him still more; he flew first into
the bark asked, then into the meal tub and out again; what a condition he was in,
the woman screamed and struck at him with the tongs; the children laughed and
screamed and tumbled over each other in their efforts to catch him, from luckily he
escaped, the door stood open, and the poor creature could manage to slip out
among the bushes and lie down quite exhausted in the newly fallen snow.
it would be very sad were I to relate all the misery and privations which the poor little
duckling endured during the hard winter, but when it had passed, he found himself
lying one morning in a more amongst the rushes, he felt the warm sun shining
and heard the Lord singing, and saw that all around was beautiful spring, then the
young bird felt that his wings were strong as he flapped them against his side
and rose high into the air; they bore him onward, where he found himself in a large
cordon.
Before he well knew how it happened, the apple trees are in full blossom
and the fragrant elders bent their long green branches down to the stream,
which wound around a smooth lawn; everything looked beautiful in the freshness
of early spring.
From a thicket close by came three beautiful white swans rustling their feathers
and swimming lightly over the smooth water, the duckling remembered the lovely
birds and felt more strangely unhappy than ever. “I will fly to those Royal Birds.”
he exclaimed, “and they will kill me because I am so ugly and dare to approach them,
it does not matter better to be killed by them than attacked by the Ducks beaten,
by the hens pushed about, by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with
hunger in the winter” Then he flew to the water and swam toward the beautiful
swans.
The moment they aspired to the stranger they rushed to meet him with outstretched
wings, “kill me,” said the poor bird, and he bent his head down to the surface of the
water and awaited death, but what did he see in the clear stream below? his own
image no longer a dark gray bird ugly and disagreeable to look at but a graceful
and beautiful swan.
To be born in a duck’s nest in a farmyard is of no consequence to a bird if it is
hatched from a swans egg, he now felt glad at having suffered sorrow in trouble
because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness
around him.
For the great swans swam around the newcomer and stroked his neck with their beaks
as a welcome into the garden, presently came some little children and threw bread
and cake into the water.
to their father and mother dancing and clapping their hands and shouting joyously,
“There is another Swan, come a new one has arrived,” then they threw more bread
and cake into the water and said, “The new one is the most beautiful of all; he is so
young and pretty, and the old swans bowed their heads before him”,
then he felt quite ashamed and hid his head under his wing, for he did not know what
to do, he was so happy and yet not at all proud.
He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say
he was the most beautiful of all the birds, even the elder tree bent down its bowels
into the water before him, and the Sun shone warm and bright.
Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully from
the depths of his heart. “I never dreamed was such happiness as this while I was
an ugly duckling”.
I am EHAB GOUBRAN, blogger, and influencer, discovered that my true passion is to share with people whatever I knew and experienced by reading- which I adore by the way - or by experiences. my goal is to help others to improve their lifestyle by increasing their knowledge and passion. -"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."- Anthony J. D'Angelo
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