Mummy Duck lived on a farm. In her nest, she had five little eggs and one big egg. One day, the five little eggs started to crack. Tap, tap, tap! Five pretty,
yellow baby ducklings came out. Then the big egg started to crack. Bang, bang, bang! One big, ugly duckling came out. ‘That’s strange,’ thought Mummy Duck.
Soon, the news spread around the farm and all the other animals laughed at him. Nobody wanted to play with him. ‘Go away,’ said his brothers and sisters.
‘You’re ugly!’ The ugly duckling was sad. So he went to find some new friends. 'Go away!’ said the pig. ‘Go away!’ said the sheep. ‘Go away!’ said the cow. ‘Go away!’ said the horse. 'Where did he come from, an animal so ugly?' They would say to each other. No one wanted to be his friend. It went on from day to day... The poor dark duckling was tired of the jokes and insults. At last, he decided to run away.
One summer day, when the sun was setting, he left the farm with a heavy heart. 'You are crazy!' a bird said to him. 'Don't you know that the world is full of dangers?' I don't care he replied. I couldn't be unhappier than I am here.
He should have listened to the bird's advice. When the night fell, the forest seemed to be a spooky place inhabited by the most frightening monsters. 'Oh, how scary! Those things are going to eat me!' the duckling moaned, covering his head with his wings.
But if the horrors of the night were only his imagination, the daylight brought to him a real terror. A hunter reached the lake with his ferocious dog who didn't take long to start sniffing the duckling. 'This is my end!' moaned the poor animal, hiding in the grass near the lake. And the dog was just about to see him when... a woman's hand-picked him up carefully saving his life. She was a tripper riding a motorbike and had seen all that had happened near the lake. 'What a strange creature, I'll take him home and will show him to my friends!' she exclaimed. But soon she had second thoughts and said: 'He is so ugly that it's better if I leave him here.' The poor duckling, it seemed, was loved by none!
The days passed by, winter was setting in. It was colder each day, and one after the other, all the animals started seeking shelter. 'Come on, boys!' Mumma rabbit said to her little ones. 'Let's all go home, where it is so warm!' 'How true!' said the mole hiding in his burrow. The ugly duckling was the only one without a home. 'I am going to freeze to death' he thought.
Luckily, a woodcutter picked him up and put him in his pocket. 'You will be warm in there' the man said driving his powerful sled truck full of trunks. The duckling spent the winter at the woodcutter's house. And when the spring came, the man took him to the lake and left him in the water, saying: 'It's time you live with your family and friends.'
With time, the duckling had fully grown and matured. He got a big surprise when he saw himself mirrored in the water of the lake. He saw a beautiful, white bird! ‘Wow!’ he said. ‘Who’s that?’ ‘It’s you,’ said another beautiful, white bird.
‘Me? But I’m an ugly duckling.’
‘Not anymore. You’re a beautiful swan, like me. Do you want to be my friend?’
‘Yes,’ he smiled.
All the other animals watched as the two swans flew away, friends forever...
Wednesday 5 February 2020
