The Ugly Duckling

Once upon a time, on a warm summer day, a mother duck sat on her nest by the pond. She was waiting for her eggs to hatch. Crack! Crack! Crack! Out came one fluffy yellow duckling, then another, and another. "Peep, peep!" they said. But one egg was still there. It was the biggest egg of all. The mother duck sat and sat. At last, crack! Out tumbled a big, grey, scruffy little bird.

"My, my," said the mother duck. "You don't look like the others. But you can swim very well!" And it was true. The grey bird paddled along nicely at the end of the line. But the other animals in the farmyard laughed at him. "What a big, ugly duckling!" said the hens. "Look at his long neck!" said the geese. Even his brothers and sisters said, "Go away, you funny grey thing." And the little grey bird felt very, very sad.

"Nobody wants me here," he thought. So one evening, he slipped away through the tall reeds. He walked and walked, until the farm was far behind him. He came to a wide marsh where wild ducks lived. "You are very ugly," said the wild ducks, "but you can stay, as long as you don't bother us." So the little grey bird stayed by himself, at the quiet edge of the water.

Autumn came. The leaves turned gold and red, and the wind blew cold. One evening, the little grey bird saw something wonderful. A flock of great white birds flew across the sky. They had long, graceful necks and shining white wings. "Oh," whispered the little bird, "how beautiful they are." He stretched his neck up to watch them, and he felt a strange, warm feeling in his heart, as if he knew them somehow.

Then winter came, cold and white. The pond froze over, and the little grey bird was very cold. A kind farmer walking by saw him shivering in the snow. "You poor little thing," he said gently. He wrapped him in his scarf and carried him home. The farmer's children gave him a warm box by the stove and a bowl of grain. And there the little grey bird rested all winter long, listening to the crackle of the fire.

At last, spring came back. The sun was warm, and the flowers opened. The little grey bird had grown bigger, and his wings felt strong. "Thank you for looking after me," he seemed to say to the children. They opened the gate. He spread his wings, and, whoosh, up he flew, higher than he had ever flown before, over the green fields to a lovely garden with a clear blue lake.

On the lake swam three beautiful white swans. "They will laugh at me," thought the bird, and he bowed his head low over the water. But what did he see in the water? Not a scruffy grey bird anymore. He saw a swan! A beautiful white swan with a long, graceful neck. The three swans swam to him and touched him softly with their beaks. "Welcome, brother," they said. "We've been waiting for you."

Some children came to the lake. "Look!" they cried. "There's a new swan! He's the most beautiful of all!" The young swan felt shy, and very, very happy. He remembered being the little grey bird nobody wanted. Now he had a family, and friends, and the whole wide sky. "I never dreamed of such happiness," he thought, "when I was the ugly duckling." And he glided across the golden water, as the sun went down. Good night.