It was a summer afternoon. A Mother Duck was waiting for her eggs to hatch. She was getting impatient, “How long will these eggs take to hatch?”
Finally, one after the other, the eggs began to hatch with a pop and peep! Little golden heads came out crying, “Quack, quack!”
Suddenly, the largest egg cracked open. The Mother Duck was surprised. It was the ugly duckling! He had huge feet and a broad beak. ‘Is this really my baby?’ the Mother Duck wondered.
All his brothers and sisters made fun of the ugly duckling. They did not play with him. But the Mother Duck loved him like she loved the others. Still, the ugly duckling was very sad.
One day, the Mother Duck took all her ducklings for a swim. She hoped that one day the ugly duckling would look like his siblings. The ugly duckling saw his reflection in the water.
‘I am so ugly! That’s why no one likes me,’ the duckling thought. Disappointed, the ugly duckling ran away from home.
He wandered alone through the deep forest. At last, he reached a swamp where wild ducks lived. They
also mocked him, “You are ugly; you cannot live here. Go away!”
He went away. Suddenly, he heard the dogs barking. The dogs were with the hunters. Hearing this, the ugly
ducking hid among the tall grass. Soon, they went away and ugly duckling ran as fast as he could.
He ran and reached a cottage at the end of the forest. There, an old woman lived with her cat and hen. She
thought that the duckling would give eggs, so she let him stay.
After a few days, the old woman found that the ugly duckling did not lay eggs. The woman threw him out
of the cottage. The ugly duckling was all alone. As it was winter, he shivered with cold.
A farmer saw him and feeling pity for him, took him home. The farmer’s children were happy to see him and wanted to play with him. But the duckling was scared and thought that they would make fun of him.
One day, the ugly duckling tripped over a pail of milk in the kitchen. The milk spread all over the floor. The farmer’s wife was furious and chased him out of the house.
The duckling went back to the swamp and struggled to survive in the long winter. Time passed and the snow melted away. It was spring and the ugly duckling had also grown up.
The ugly duckling flew high and landed by a lovely lake. He was surprised to see the most beautiful and graceful birds ever, the swans.
One of the swans approached the duckling and said, “You are so beautiful!” The ugly duckling was shocked. He looked at his reflection in the water.
He was no longer ugly. He had beautiful snowy white feathers. He had grown into the most beautiful swan. He lived happily with the other swans!
