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The Ugly Duckling
The Ugly Duckling
Illustrated By: Stella Wei
Chapters
Part 1: One By One
Part 2: Unlike The Others
Part 3: Get Out!
Part 4: A New Lake
Part 5: Spring
Listen While You Read Along!
Part 1: One By One
Once on a farm long ago, a Mama Duck sat on her nest. “How
long must I wait for my babies to hatch? I have to sit here all
alone!” But what could she do? A Mama duck must keep her eggs
warm till they hatch.
At last, the eggs began to crack. One yellow duckling stepped out
of its shell, then another. They all shook their wings. “Quack,
quack!”
“Look at all of you!” cried Mama Duck with joy. “You are so cute!”
“Quack, quack, quack!” they said.
“Come line up," said Mama Duck. "We will go down to the lake for
your very first swim.” She counted – one, two, three, four, five.
“Oh dear!” she said with a frown. “I should have six ducklings!”
One large egg was still in the nest. “Well!" said Mama Duck, "it
looks like that big egg will take more time.” So she had to go sit on
her nest again and wait some more.
Part 2: Unlike The Others
The next day, the big egg started to hatch. Out stepped a baby boy
bird. My goodness! How different this one looked! He was much
larger than the others. He was not yellow, but dark-gray all
over. And he walked with a funny wobble.
One of the yellow ducklings pointed. “What is THAT? He cannot
be one of us!”
“I have never seen such an ugly duckling!” said another.
“How can you say such a thing?” said Mama Duck in a stern voice.
“You are only one day old! Your brother hatched from the very
same nest as you did. Now line up. We will go to the lake for your
very first swim.”
All the way the other ducklings quacked, “Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!” The
Ugly Duckling did not know why the other ducklings were yelling
at him. He took the last spot in the line.
When they got to the lake, each yellow duck jumped in and swam
behind Mama Duck. When it was his turn, the Ugly Duckling
jumped in too, and started to paddle. “At least he can swim,”
Mama Duck thought to herself.
When the yellow ducklings go out of the water and started to play,
the Ugly Duckling tried to play with his brothers and sisters. They
yelled at him, “Go away! We will not play with you! You are ugly.
And you walk weird!”
When Mama Duck was close by, she would not let them talk this
way. “Be nice!” she would scold. But she was not always close by.
Part 3: Get Out!
One day, one of the yellow ducklings said to the Ugly Duckling,
“You know what? You would do us a big favor if you just went
away!” All of them started to quack: “Go! Go! Go!”
“Why won’t they let me stay?” thought the Ugly Duckling. He hung
his head down low. “They must be right. I should go.”
That night, the Ugly Duckling flew over the farmyard fence. He
flew until he landed on the other side of the lake. There he met
two grown-up ducks.
“Can I please stay here for awhile?” said the Ugly Duckling. “I have
nowhere else to live.”
“What do we care?” said one of the ducks. “It's a big lake. Just
don’t get in our way.”
“Woof! Woof!” Suddenly a big hungry dog came tearing by,
chasing the two ducks. They quickly flew up in the air, and their
feathers fell down on the ground. The poor Ugly Duckling froze in
fear. The dog sniffed and sniffed at the Ugly Duckling, then turned
around and walked away. “I am too ugly even for that mean old
dog,” said the Ugly Duckling with his head hung low.
The sky turned dark. Crack! A bolt of lightning lit up the
sky. Then came a big storm, with heavy rains pouring down. In
just moments, the Ugly Duckling was soaked through and through.
A cold wind started to blow.
“Brrr!” He held both wings close to his chest. “If only there was
someplace I could dry out.”
All at once, a tiny light blinked far off in the woods. Could it be
someone’s hut?
The Ugly Duckling flew to the door. “Quack?” said he. The door of
the hut creaked open.
“What is all this noise?” said an old woman, looking right and
left. Her eyes were not that good, but she could hear. She looked
down. “Ah, a duck!” She picked up the Ugly Duckling and dropped
him inside her hut. “You can stay here, but I expect you to lay
eggs,” she said.
A tomcat and hen both crept up to the Ugly Duckling. “Who do
you think you are, coming here and taking up room by the fire?”
said the tomcat with a hiss.
“Squawk!” said the hen. “I'm the only one around here who lays
eggs.”
“Don't worry,” said the Ugly Duckling. “I am a boy duck.”
“Then why are you here?” said the tomcat. “Didn't you hear what
the old woman said?”
“Get out of here, imposter!” clucked the hen.
“Go away!" hissed the tomcat.
The door was still a bit open, so the poor Ugly Duckling slipped
out the door and back into the storm.
“No one ever wants me,” said the Ugly Duckling with a tear in his
eye.
Part 4: A New Lake
The storm ended. Finally he found another lake. Looking in the
water, the Ugly Duckling saw a reflection from above - a flock of
large birds flying by. He turned to look at them. They were the
most beautiful birds he had ever seen. Their long bodies and
slender necks winged through the sky with ease and grace. He
watched until the very last bird disappeared from view.
The Ugly Duckling stayed at the lake as the days grew
shorter. The leaves turned deep red and gold, and fell to the
ground. Winter came, setting its blanket of white snow. The cold
wind blew, and the clouds darkened.
The Ugly Duckling had to dive into holes in the ice-topped water
to find fish to eat. It was all he could do to keep paddling the water
so it wouldn't freeze around him and trap him in the lake.
“I'm so tired!” he thought. The ice got thicker and drew closer to
him.
In a moment, two giant hands swept him up. “You poor thing!”
said a farmer. He held the Ugly Duckling close to his thick warm
wool jacket. "You didn't fly south with the others?" The farmer
was carrying him someplace, but where?
The next months were lovely. Warmth from the heat of the fire
and also from the heart of the farmer. For the rest of the winter,
the farmer cared for the Ugly Duckling.
Part 5: Spring
At last, spring came. Tips of green dotted the tree branches. Short,
bright flowers popped up from the ground.
“It is time for you to go back to the lake to swim again, as you were
born to do,” said the farmer. He took the duckling back to the lake
where he had found him, and set him with care on the water.
“I feel good!” said the young bird, flapping his wings. “Why, I don't
think I ever felt as strong as I do right now!”
The spring passed, and summer. When the leaves started to
change colors again, one day the Ugly Duckling heard quiet
splashing sounds behind him. He turned around. A flock of those
same beautiful birds he had once seen winging through the sky,
had landed beside him on the lake.
“Don't worry!” he said to the beautiful birds, holding out one
wing. “I will go away. I will not make trouble for you.” He turned
to go. When he looked down at the lake, he saw a reflection in the
water that looked like one of those beautiful birds. Why was that
bird so close to him? He jumped back. The reflection jumped back,
too.
“What is this?” he wondered. He stretched his neck, and the
reflection of the beautiful bird in the lake stretched its neck, too.
“Why are you going so soon?” called out one of the beautiful
birds.
“Stay here, with us!” said another. “We’ll be friends.”
Then the bird who used to be the Ugly Duckling knew what had
happened. He was no longer an ugly gray bird that wobbled when
it walked. He had become a swan! But then he thought of
something else.
"Oh, you're only inviting me because I'm a swan and I look like
you," said he.
"That's not it at all!" said the first swan.
"Other birds fly with us that don't look anything like us," said the
second swan. "Like Pelican."
"Yep," said Pelican. Stayed up too late the night before. Slept till
noon and my flock took off without me. What can I tell you? It
happens."
"And Egret over there," said the first swan.
"It was this great windy day," said Egret. "The currents -
incredible! Tons of fun. Then I found out my flock had taken
off. By then, there was no way I could catch up."
