The Ugly Duckling

It was summer in the country. The wheat was yellow, the grass was green, and the sun was warm. By an old farm, near a deep river, a mother duck sat on her nest. She was waiting for her eggs to hatch.

At last, the eggs began to crack, one by one. 'Peep, peep,' said the little ducklings as they came out. They looked around at the big green world.

'How large the world is!' said the little ones. The mother duck looked at them. 'Yes, the world is much bigger than this nest,' she said. 'But are you all here?' She stood up and looked. 'No! The biggest egg is still here. How long will this take?'

So she sat down again. Some days passed. At last the big egg cracked. 'Peep, peep,' said the little one, and out he came. But he was very large, and he was grey, and he did not look like the others at all.

The mother duck looked at him. 'That is a very big duckling,' she said. 'None of the others look like that. Is he really my own child? We will see when we go to the water.'

The next day the sun was bright. The mother duck went down to the river with all her family. Splash! She jumped into the water. 'Quack, quack,' she said, and one after another the ducklings jumped in too. The water went over their heads, but they came up again and swam beautifully.

Even the big grey one swam well. 'He is not so bad,' thought the mother. 'He is my own child, and when you look at him closely, he is really quite handsome.'

But the other ducks in the yard did not agree. They looked at the big grey duckling and said unkind things. 'He is too large,' said one. 'He is too grey,' said another. The poor duckling did not understand why they were so unkind to him, and he began to feel very alone. He did not know yet that one day he would grow into something far more beautiful than any duck in the yard.