The ugly Duckling                          

 The country was lovely; it was summer. In the shade of great leaves which formed a secluded  shelter near a farmhouse, a duck was sitting on her nest. Her little ducklings were just about to be hatched, but she was nearly tired of sitting, for it had  lasted a long time. At last one egg after another began to crack. Cheep, cheep, they said. All the  chicks had come to life, and were poking their heads out. How big the world is,  said all the young ones. Do you imagine this is the whole world? Said the mother. It stretches a long way on the other side of the garden, right into the parson’s field. I suppose you Are all here now? And she  got up. No, I declare I have not got you all yet. The biggest egg is still there; how long is it going  to last? And then she settled herself on the nest again. At last the big egg cracked. Cheep, cheep, said the young one and tumbled out; how big and ugly he was. The duck looked at him. That is a monstrous big duckling, she said. None of the others looked like that; can he be a turkey chick? Well, we shall soon see if he swims. So the mother duck with her whole family went down to the water. Splash, into the water she sprang. Quack, quack, she said, and one duckling plumped in after the other. Even the big ugly gray one swam about with them. No, that is no turkey, the mother duck said. See how beautifully he uses his legs and how erect he holds himself; he is my own chick. After all, he is not so bad when you come to look at him properly. Then they went  into the duchyard. Use your legs, said she, mind you quack properly and bend your necks to the old duck there. She is the grandest of  them all . They did as they were bid, but the other  ducks round about looked at them and said, quite loud, Just look there. Now we are to have that tribe, just as if there were not enough of  us already, and, oh dear. How ugly that duckling is. We won’t stand him, and a duck flew near him at once and bit him in the neck. They are handsome children, said the old duck, all good looking except this one. It’s a pity you can’t make him over again. He is not handsome , said the mother duck., but he is a good creature , and he swims as beautifully as the others. She patted  his neck  and stoked him down. Besides, he  is a drake, said she, so it does not matter so much. I believe  he will be very strong, and I don’t doubt but he will make his way in the world. After that they felt quite  at home. But the poor duckling who had been the last to come out of the shell, and who  was  so ugly, was bitten, pushed  about, and made fun of by the ducks and the hens; and the girl who fed them kicked him aside. Matters grew worse and worse. At least  even his mother said, I wish to goodness you were miles away. So he ran off and flew right over  the hedge. Then he came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived; he was so tired and miserable that he stayed there the whole night. In the morning the wild ducks flew up to inspect their new comrade. What sort of creature are you? They inquired. You are frightfully ugly, but that does not matter to us, so long as you  do not marry into our family. Poor fellow, he had no thought of marriage; all he wanted  was permission to lie among the bushes and drink a little of the marsh water. He stayed there two  whole days. Then he hurried away from the marsh as fast as he could. Toward night he reached a poor little cottage; it was such a miserable hovel that it couldnot make up its mind which way to fall, and so it remained standing. He saw that the door had fallen off one hinge and hung so crookedly that he could creep into the house through the crack, and by this means he made his way into the hut’s one small room. An old woman lived there  with her cat and her hen. In the morning the strange duckling was discovered immediately, and the cat began  to purr and the hen to cluck. They let the duckling sit in the corner, but they had no use for his opinion on any subject. Soon he began  to think of the fresh air and the sunshine; uncontrollable longing seized  him to float on the water, and at last he could not help telling the hen about it. What on earth possesses you? She asked. You have nothing to do ; that is why you get these freaks into your head. Lay some eggs or take to purring, and you will get over it. I think I will go out into the wide world, said the duckling. Oh, do so by all means, said the hen. So away went the duckling. He floated on the water and ducked underneath I, but he was looked at askance by every living creature for his ugliness. Now the autumn came on. One evening, just as the sun was setting in wintry splendor, a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. They were dazingly white swans with long waving necks; uttering a peculiar cry, they spread their magnificent broad wings and flew away from the cold  regions to warmer lands and open seas. The ugly little duckling craned his neck up into the air after them. Then  he uttered  a shriek so piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by it himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful, happy birds. He did not know what they were, but he was more drawn toward them than he had ever been to any creatures before. The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling was obliged to swim about in the water to keep it from freezing, but every night the hole in which he swam got smaller and smaller; at least he was so weary that he could move no more, and he froze fast into the ice. Early in the morning a peasant came along and saw him; he hammered a hole in the ice with his heavy wooden  shoe, and carried the duckling home to his wife. There he soon revived. The children wanted to play with him, but the duckling was frightened and rushed in his fright into the milk pan, and the milk spattered all over the room. Then he flew into the butter cask, and down into the meal tub and out again. Just imagine what he looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tired to hit him with the tongs, and the children tumbled over one another trying to catch him. By good luck the door stood open, and the duckling flew out among the bushes and new-fallen snow, and lay there exhausted. But it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery he had to go through during that hard winter. When the sun shone warmly again, the duckling was in the marsh, lying among the rushes. All at once he raiaed his wing, and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was he found himself in a large garden with a lovely lake. Just in front of him he saw three beautiful swans; with rustling feathers they swam lightly over the water. The duckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy. I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces, because I am so ugly. Better  be killed by them than snapped by ducks, and pecked at and spurned at by all. So he flew into the water and swam toward the stately swans; they saw him and darted toward him with uffled feathers. Kill me, oh, kill me, said the poor creature, bowing his head toward the water. But what did he see reflected in the clear water? He saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy , dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly;he was himself a swan. The big swans swam round and round him stroked him with their bills. Soon little children came into the garden with corn and pieces of bread, which they threw into the water, and the smallest one cried out, There is a new on. And they clapped their hands and danced about. The new swan felt quite shy, and hid his head under his wing. He thought of how he had been pursued and scorned , and now he heard  them all say that he was the most beautiful of all beautiful birds. He rustled his feathers and raised his slender neck aloft, saying with exultation in his heart, I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling.