It was lovely summer weather in the country. The golden corn, the green oats, and the haystacks piled up in the meadows looked beautiful. The stork walking about on his long red legs chattered in the Egyptian language. In a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farm-house close by a deep river, and from the house down to the water side grew great burdock leaves. In this snug retreat sat a duck on her nest, watching for her young brood to hatch.
At length one shell cracked, and then another, and from each egg came a living creature that lifted its head and cried, "Peep, peep." "Quack, quack," said the mother, and then they all quacked as well as they could. "How large the world is," said the young ducks. "Do you imagine this is the whole world?" asked the mother. "Wait till you have seen the garden."
"One egg is not hatched yet," said the duck to an old visitor. "Let me see the egg," said the old duck. "I have no doubt it is a turkey's egg. Take my advice, leave it where it is."
"I think I will sit on it a little while longer," said the duck.
At last the large egg broke, and a young one crept forth crying, "Peep, peep." It was very large and ugly. The duck stared at it. "It is very large and not at all like the others," she exclaimed.
On the next day the weather was delightful, and the mother duck took her young brood down to the water. "Quack, quack," cried she, and one after another the little ducklings jumped in. The ugly duckling was also in the water swimming with them.
"Oh," said the mother, "that is not a turkey; how well he uses his legs! He is my own child. Quack, quack! come with me now, I will take you into grand society, and introduce you to the farmyard, but you must keep close to me."
When they reached the farmyard, there was a great disturbance. "See, children, that is the way of the world," said the mother duck. The ducklings did as they were bid, but the other ducks stared. "Look, here comes another brood," they said, "and what a queer looking object one of them is!" and then one flew out and bit him in the neck.
"Let him alone," said the mother; "he is not doing any harm."
"Yes, but he is so big and ugly," said a spiteful duck, "and therefore he must be turned out."
The poor duckling, who had crept out of his shell last of all, was bitten and pushed and made fun of, not only by the ducks, but by all the poultry. So it went on from day to day till it got worse and worse. The poor duckling was driven about by every one; even his brothers and sisters were unkind to him. So at last he ran away.
"They are afraid of me because I am ugly," he said. So he closed his eyes, and flew still farther, until he came out on a large moor, inhabited by wild ducks.
In the morning, the wild ducks stared at their new comrade. "You are exceedingly ugly," said the wild ducks, "but that will not matter if you do not want to marry one of our family."
After he had been on the moor two days, there came two wild geese. "Listen, friend," said one, "you are so ugly, that we like you very well. Will you go with us, and become a bird of passage?"
"Pop, pop," sounded in the air, and the two wild geese fell dead among the rushes. It was the sportsmen. How they terrified the poor duckling! A large terrible dog passed quite near him but went into the water without touching him. "Oh," sighed the duckling, "how thankful I am for being so ugly; even a dog will not bite me."
He ran over field and meadow till he reached a poor little cottage and slipped inside. A woman, a tom cat, and a hen lived there. The duckling was allowed to remain on trial for three weeks, but there were no eggs. Now the tom cat was the master of the house, and the hen was mistress.
"Can you lay eggs?" she asked. "No." "Then have the goodness to hold your tongue." "Can you raise your back, or purr, or throw out sparks?" said the tom cat. "No." "Then you have no right to express an opinion."
The duckling felt a great longing for a swim on the water. "What an absurd idea," said the hen. "You have nothing else to do, therefore you have foolish fancies."
"But it is so delightful to swim about on the water," said the duckling.
"We don't understand you?" said the hen. "I advise you to lay eggs, and learn to purr as quickly as possible."
"I believe I must go out into the world again," said the duckling.
So the duckling left the cottage. Autumn came, and then winter. The winter grew colder and colder; he was obliged to swim about on the water to keep it from freezing. He became exhausted at last, and lay still and helpless, frozen fast in the ice.
Early in the morning, a peasant saw what had happened. He broke the ice and carried the duckling home. The warmth revived him; but when the children wanted to play with him, the duckling thought they would do him some harm and fluttered about in terror, making a great mess before escaping back into the snow.
When the hard winter had passed, he found himself lying one morning in a moor. He felt the warm sun shining, and heard the lark singing. Then the young bird felt that his wings were strong, and rose high into the air. He found himself in a large garden. From a thicket close by came three beautiful white swans.
"I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill me, because I am so ugly... but it does not matter: better be killed by them..."
Then he flew to the water, and swam towards the beautiful swans. The moment they espied the stranger, they rushed to meet him with outstretched wings.
"Kill me," said the poor bird; and he bent his head down to the surface of the water, and awaited death.
But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan.
To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg. The great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.
Into the garden presently came some little children. "See," cried the youngest, "there is a new one;" and the rest were delighted. "The new one is the most beautiful of all."
Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wing. He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."