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Ugly Duckling
Ugly Duckling
[See The Beautiful Swan: And lo! It was no longer a clusy, ugly, duckling, but
a swan.]
It was so glorious out in the country; it was summer; the cornfields were
yellow, the oats were green, the hay had been put up in stacks in the green
meadows, and the stork went about on his long red legs, and chattered
Egyptian, for this was the language he had learned from his good mother. All
around the fields and meadows were great forests, and in the midst of these
forests lay deep lakes. Yes, it was right glorious out in the country. In the
midst of the sunshine there lay an old farm, with deep canals about it, and
from the wall down to the water grew great burdocks, so high that little
children could stand upright under the loftiest of them. It was just as wild
there as in the deepest wood, and here sat a Duck upon her nest; she had to
hatch her ducklings; but she was almost tired out before the little ones came;
and then she so seldom had visitors. The other ducks liked better to swim
about in the canals than to run up to sit down under a burdock, and cackle
with her.
At last one egg-shell after another burst open. "Piep! Piep!" it cried,
and in all the eggs there were little creatures that stuck out their heads.
"Quack! quack!" they said; and they all came quacking out as fast as they
could, looking all around them under the green leaves; and the mother let them
look as much as they chose, for green is good for the eye.
"How wide the world is!" said all the young ones, for they certainly had
much more room now than when they were in the eggs.
"D`ye think this is all the world?" said the mother. "That stretches far
across the other side of the garden, quite into the parson`s field; but I have
never been there yet. I hope you are all together," and she stood up. "No, I
have not all. The largest egg still lies there. How long is that to last? I am
really tired of it." And she sat down again.
"Well, how goes it?" asked an old Duck who had come to pay her a visit.
"It lasts a long time with that one egg," said the Duck who sat there.
"It will not burst. Now, only look at the others; are they not the prettiest
little ducks one could possibly see? They are all like their father: the
rogue, he never comes to see me."
"Let me see the egg which will not burst," said the old visitor. "You may
be sure it is a turkey`s egg. I was once cheated in that way, and had much
anxiety and trouble with the young ones, for they are afraid of the water.
Must I say it to you, I could not get them to venture in. I quacked and I
clacked, but it was no use. Let me see the egg. Yes, that`s a turkey`s egg.
Let it lie there, and teach the other children to swim."
"I think I will sit on it a little longer," said the Duck. "I`ve sat so
long now that I can sit a few days more."
"Just as you please," said the old Duck; and she went away.
At last the great egg burst. "Piep! piep!" said the little one, and crept
forth. It was very large and very ugly. The Duck looked at it.
"It`s a very large duckling," said she; "none of the others look like
that: can it really be a turkey chick? Well, we shall soon find out. It must
go into the water, even if I have to thrust it in myself."
The next day, it was bright, beautiful weather; the sun shone on all the
green trees. The Mother-Duck went down to the canal with all her family.
Splash! she jumped into the water. "Quack! quack!" she said, and one duckling
after another plunged in. The water closed over their heads, but they came up
in an instant, and swam capitally; their legs went of themselves, and they
were all in the water. The ugly gray Duckling swam with them.
"No, it`s not a turkey," said she; "look how well it can use its legs,
and how straight it holds itself. It is my own child! On the whole it`s quite
pretty, if one looks at it rightly. Quack! quack! come with me, and I`ll lead
you out into the great world, and present you in the duck-yard; but keep
close to me, so that no one may tread on you, and take care of the cats!"
And so they came into the duck-yard. There was a terrible riot going on
in there, for two families were quarreling about an eel`s head, and the cat
got it after all.
"See, that`s how it goes in the world!" said the Mother-Duck; and she
whetted her beak, for she too wanted the eel`s head. "Only use your legs," she
said. "See that you can bustle about, and bow your heads before the old Duck
yonder. She`s the grandest of all here; she`s of Spanish blood - that`s why
she`s so fat; and d`ye see? she has a red rag round her leg; that`s something
particularly fine, and the greatest distinction a duck can enjoy: it signifies
that one does not want to lose her, and that she`s to be known by the animals
and by men too. Shake yourselves - don`t turn in your toes; a well-brought-up
duck turns its toes quite out, just like fatler and mother, - so! Now bend
your necks and say `Quack!`"
And they did so: but the other ducks round about looked at them, and said
quite boldly, -
"Look there! now we`re to have these hanging on, as if there were not
enough of us already! And - fie! - how that Duckling yonder looks; we won`t
stand that!" And one duck flew up at it, and bit it in the neck.
"Let it alone," said the mother; "it does no harm to any one."
"Yes, but it`s too large and peculiar," said the Duck who had bitten it;
"and therefore it must be put down."
"Those are pretty children that the mother has there," said the old Duck
with the rag round her leg. "They`re all pretty but that one; that was rather
unlucky. I wish she could bear it over again."
"That cannot be done, my lady," replied the Mother-Duck. "It is not
pretty, but it has a really good disposition, and swims as well as any other;
yes, I may even say it, swims better. I think it will grow up pretty, and
become smaller in time; it has lain too long in the egg, and therefore is not
properly shaped." And then she pinched it in the neck, and smoothed its
feathers. "Moreover it is a drake," she said, "and therefore it is not of so
much consequence. I think he will be very strong: he makes his way already."
"The other ducklings are graceful enough," said the old Duck. "Make
yourself at home; and if you find an eel`s head, you may bring it to me."
And now they were at home. But the poor Duckling which had crept last out
of the egg, and looked so ugly, was bitten and pushed and jeered, as much by
the ducks as by the chickens.
"It is too big!" they all said. And the turkey-cock, who had been born
with the spurs, and therefore thought himself an emperor, blew himself up like
a ship in full sail, and bore straight down upon it; then he gobbled and grew
quite red in the face. The poor Duckling did not know where it should stand or
walk; it was quite melancholy because it looked ugly, and was the butt of the
whole duck-yard.
So it went on the first day; and afterwards it became worse and worse.
The poor Duckling was hunted about by every one; even its brothers and sisters
were quite angry with it, and said, "If the cat would only catch you, you ugly
creature!" And the mother said, "If you were only far away!" And the ducks bit
it, and the chickens beat it, and the girl who had to feed the poultry kicked
at it with her foot.
Then it ran and flew over the fence, and the little birds in the bushes
flew up in fear.
"That is because I am so ugly!" thought the Duckling; and it shut its
eyes, but flew on further; and so it came out into the great moor, where the
wild ducks lived. Here it lay the whole night long; and it was weary and
downcast.
Towards morning the wild ducks flew up, and looked at their new
companion.
"What sort of a one are you?" they asked; and the Duckling turned in
every direction, and bowed as well as it could. "You are remarkably ugly!"
said the Wild Ducks. "But that is nothing to us, so long as you do not marry
into our family."
Poor thing! it certainly did not think of marrying, and only hoped to
obtain leave to lie among the reeds and drink some of the swamp water.
Thus it lay two whole days; then came thither two wild geese, or,
properly speaking, two wild ganders. It was not long since each had crept out
of an egg, and that`s why they were so saucy.
"Listen, comrade," said one of them. "You`re so ugly that I like you.
Will you go with us, and become a bird of passage? Near here, in another moor,
there are a few sweet lovely wild geese, all unmarried, and all able to say
`Rap?` You`ve a chance of making your fortune, ugly as you are."
"Piff! Paff!" resounded through the air; and the two ganders fell down
dead in the swamp, and the water became blood red. "Piff! Paff!" is sounded
again, and the whole flock of wild geese rose up from the reeds. And then
there was another report. A great hunt was going on. The sportsmen were lying
in wait all round the moor, and some were even sitting up in the branches of
the trees, which spread far over the reeds. The blue smoke rose up like clouds
among the dark trees, and was wafted far away across the water; and the
hunting dogs came - splash, splash! - into the swamp, and the rushes and the
reeds bent down on every side. That was a fright for the poor Duckling! It
turned its head, and put it under its wing; but at that moment a frightful
great dog stood close by the Duckling. His tongue hung far out of his mouth,
and his eyes gleamed horrible and ugly; he thrust out his nose close against
the Duckling, showed his sharp teeth, and - splash, splash! - on he went,
without seizing it.
"O, Heaven be thanked!" sighed the Duckling. "I am so ugly, that even the
dog does not like to bite me!"
And so it lay quite quiet, while the shots rattled through the reeds and
gun after gun was fired. At last, late in the day, all was still; but the poor
Duckling did not dare to rise up; it waited several hours before it looked
round, and then hastened away out of the moor as fast as it could. It ran on
over field and meadow; there was such a storm raging that it was difficult to
get from one place to another.
Towards evening the Duck came to a little miserable peasant`s hut. This
hut was so dilapidated that it did not itself know on which side it should
fall; and that`s why it remained standing. The storm whistled round the
Duckling in such a way that the poor creature was obliged to sit down, to
stand against it; and the wind blew worse and worse. Then the Duckling noticed
that one of the hinges of the door had given way, and the door hung so
slanting that the Duckling could slip through the crack into the room; and
that is what it did.
Here lived a woman, with her Cat and her Hen. And the Cat, whom she
called Sonnie, could arch his back and purr, he could even give out sparks;
but for that one had to stroke his fur the wrong way. The Hen had quite little
short legs, and therefore she was called Chickabiddy Shortshanks; she laid
good eggs, and the woman loved her as her own child.
In the morning the strange Duckling was at once noticed, and the Cat
began to purr and the Hen to cluck.
"What`s this?" said the woman, and looked all round; but she could not
see well, and therefore she thought the Duckling was a fat duck that had
strayed. "This is a rare prize!" she said. "Now I shall have duck`s eggs. I
hope it is not a drake. We must try that."
And so the Duckling was admitted on trial for three weeks; but no eggs
came. And the Cat was master of the house, and the Hen was the lady, and
always said "We and the world!" for she thought they were half the world, and
by far the better half. The Duckling thought one might have a different
opinion, but the Hen would not allow it.
"Can you lay eggs?" she asked,
"No."
"Then will you hold your tongue!"
And the Cat said, "Can you curve your back, and purr, and give out
sparks?"
"No."
"Then you will please have no opinion of your own when sensible folks are
speaking."
And the Duckling sat in a corner and was melancholy; then the fresh air
and the sunshine streamed in; and it was seized with such a strange longing to
swim on the water, that it could not help telling the Hen of it.
"What are you thinking of?" cried the Hen. "You have nothing to do,
that`s why you have these fancies. Lay eggs, or purr, and they will pass
over."
"But it is so charming to swim on the water!" said the Duckling, "so
refreshing to let it close above one`s head, and to dive down to the bottom."
"Yes, that must be a mighty pleasure, truly," quoth the Hen. "I fancy you
must have gone crazy. Ask the Cat about it, - he`s the cleverest animal I
know, - ask him if he likes to swim on the water, or to dive down: I won`t
speak about myself. Ask our mistress, the old woman; no one in the world is
cleverer than she. Do you think she has any desire to swim, and to let the
water close above her head?"
"You don`t understand me," said the Duckling.
"We don`t understand you? Then pray who is to understand you? You surely
don`t pretend to be cleverer than the Cat and the woman - I won`t say anything
of myself. Don`t be conceited, child, and thank your Maker for all the
kindness you have received. Did you not get into a warm room, and have you not
fallen into company from which you may learn something? But you are a
chatterer, and it is not pleasant to associate with you. You may believe me, I
speak for your good. I tell you disagreeable things, and by that one may
always know one`s true friends! Only take care that you learn to lay eggs, or
to purr, and give out sparks!"
"I think I will go out into the wide world," said the Duckling.
"Yes, do go," replied the Hen.
And so the Duckling went away. It swam on the water, and dived, but it
was slighted by every creature because of its ugliness.
Now came the autumn. The leaves in the forest turned yellow and brown;
the wind caught them so that they danced about, and up in the air it was very
cold. The clouds hung low, heavy with hail and snow-flakes, and on the fence
stood the raven, crying, "Croak! croak!" for mere cold; yes, it was enough to
make one feel cold to think of this. The poor little Duckling certainly had
not a good time. One evening - the sun was just setting in his beauty - there
came a whole flock of great, handsome birds out of the bushes; they were
dazzlingly white, with long, flexible necks; they were swans. They uttered a
very peculiar cry, spread forth their glorious great wings, and flew away from
that cold region to warmer lands, to fair open lakes. They mounted so high, so
high! and the ugly Duckling felt quite strangely as it watched them. It turned
round and round in the water like a wheel, stretched out its neck towards
them, and uttered such a strange, loud cry as frightened itself. O! it could
not forget those beautiful, happy birds; and so soon as it could see them no
longer, it dived down to the very bottom, and when it came up again, it was
quite beside itself. It knew not the name of those birds, and knew not whither
they were flying; but it loved them more than it had ever loved any one. It
was not at all envious of them. How could it think of wishing to possess such
loveliness as they had? It would have been glad if only the ducks would have
endured its company - the poor, ugly creature!
And the winter grew cold, very cold! The Duckling was forced to swim
about in the water, to prevent the surface from freezing entirely; but every
night the hole in which it swam about became smaller and smaller. It froze so
hard that the icy covering crackled again; and the Duckling was obliged to use
its legs continually to prevent the hole from freezing up. At last it became
exhausted, and lay quite still, and thus froze fast into the ice.
Early in the morning a peasant came by, and when he saw what had
happened, he took his wooden shoe, broke the ice-crust to pieces, and
carried the Duckling home to his wife. Then it came to itself again. The
children wanted to play with it; but the Duckling thought they wanted to hurt
it, and in its terror fluttered up into the milk-pan, so that the milk
spurted down into the room. The woman clasped her hands, at which the Duckling
flew down into the butter-tub, and then into the meal barrel and out again.
How it looked then! The woman screamed, and struck at it with the fire -
tongs; the children tumbled over one another in their efforts to catch the
Duckling; and they laughed and they screamed! - well it was that the door
stood open, and the poor creature was able to slip out between the shrubs into
the newly-fallen snow - there it lay quite exhausted.
But it would be too melancholy if I were to tell all the misery and care
which the Duckling had to endure in the hard winter. It lay out on the moor
among the reeds, when the sun began to shine again and the larks to sing: it
was a beautiful spring.
Then all at once the Duckling could flap its wings: they beat the air
more strongly than before, and bore it strongly away; and before it well knew
how all this happened, it found itself in a great garden, where the elder -
trees smelt sweet, and bent their long green branches down to the canal that
wound through the region. O, here it was so beautiful, such a gladness of
spring! and from the thicket came three glorious white swans; they rustled
their wings, and swam lightly on the water. The Duckling knew the splendid
creatures, and felt oppressed by a peculiar sadness.
[Hear Ugly Duckling]
I will fly away to them.
"I will fly away to them, to the royal birds; and they will beat me,
because I, that am so ugly, dare to come near them. But it is all the same.
Better he killed by them than to be pursued by ducks, and beaten by fowls, and
pushed about by the girl who takes care of the poultry yard, and to suffer
hunger in winter!" And it flew out into the water, and swam towards the
beautiful swans: these looked at it, and came sailing down upon it with
outspread wings. "Kill me!" said the poor creature, and bent its head down
upon the water, expecting nothing but death. But what was this that it saw in
the clear water? It beheld its own image; and, lo! it was no longer clumsy
dark-gray bird, ugly and hateful to look at, but a - swan!
It matters nothing if one is born in a duck-yard, if one has only lain
in a swan`s egg.
It felt quite glad at all the need and misfortune it had suffered, now it
realized its happiness in all the splendor that surrounded it. And the great
swans swam round it, and stroked it with their beaks.
Into the garden came little children, who threw bread and corn into the
water; and the youngest cried, "There is a new one!" and the other children
shouted joyously, "Yes, a new one has arrived!" And they clapped their hands
and danced about, and ran to their father and mother; and bread and cake were
thrown into the water; and they all said, "The new one is the most beautiful
of all! so young and handsome!" and the old swans bowed their heads before
him.
Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings, for he did
not know what to do; he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He thought how
he had been persecuted and despised; and now he heard them saying that he was
the most beautiful of all birds. Even the elder-tree bent its branches
straight down into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and mild. Then
his wings rustled, he lifted his slender neck, and cried rejoicingly from the
depths of his heart, -
"I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling!"
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