THE UGLY DUCKLING
Assalammualaikum and a very good morning to the honourable
judges, teachers and my fellow contestants. I’m standing here today to
tell you an inspiring story entitled ‘The Ugly Duckling’.
One delightful summer day, near a pool, a duck sat on her nest,
waiting for her eggs to hatch.
A shell cracked. Then one after another, the sweet creatures
hatched. When the largest egg did not break, the mother duck became
worried.
A nosy old duck paid her a visit and said, “This one must be a
turkey’s egg. Just leave it.”
At last, the largest egg cracked and out jumped a large duckling.
“How ugly! No doubt this is a turkey’s child. If you put it in the
water, it will never learn to swim,” the old duck said.
As it was such a sunny day, the mother duck decided to take her
family for a swim.
She jumped into the water, and the little ducklings followed her,
splashing about. The ugly duckling also jumped in and paddled along
happily with his family.
“Oh,” said the mother, relieved, “this is my child.” She took the
children to show the animals in the farmyard. “See children, spread your
legs wide apart like this, and say ‘quack’,” she instructed.
The little birds did as they were told, but the other ducks and
chickens spotted the odd-looking duckling and pecked at his neck.
“Go away, you ugly duckling!” Even his brothers and sisters made
fun of him and said, “We don’t want you, you ugly thing!”
As the poor duck was being bitten, and pushed and teased by
everyone, mother duck was sad.
Looking at her sad face, the poor duckling said to himself, “Oh, she
wishes I would go away.”
So he ran away to find a place where people would not make fun of
him.
When the storm of autumn came, the duckling could find no food
around him. All he could see were dried dead leaves. But he did not give
up walking. He walked and walked until finally he found a hut.
At his knock, an old woman came out and greeted him nicely. She
gave him warm soup and said, “You can stay here as long as you want,
my dear.”
The duckling had to leave even this snug place soon, because a
nasty cat and a hen lived there. “Can you lay eggs? PAK PAK”. “Can you
catch a mouse? MEOW” they asked him.
They thought they were as important as half of the world. The
duckling realized that he was no use and decided to leave.
The duckling left the hut and walked further. It was already winter
and snowflakes were falling from the sky. In the evening, he saw a large
flock of beautiful birds swimming on a lake.
“I’ve never seen anything like them before. I wish I was born to be
such a lovely bird,” thought the duckling and went into the water.
He was so tired from walking all day that he fell asleep in the water.
It was dreadful for the poor little duckling to live alone in the cold
winter.
“Come here, duckling. It’s cold out there,” called a field mouse. His
hole was warm and cozy, and was full of food. The duckling thanked him
and decided to spend the winter here. He told himself, “Spring will bring
better luck.”
Before long, spring came to the world.
The duckling could see the warm sun shining on the water.
“The sun feels so nice!”
The duckling, in his joy, flapped his wings.
And then, what happened to him was so surprising… he saw his
reflection on the water.
“I look like the royal bird!”
Yes, the ugly duckling was a beautiful swan.
So, from the story, we can conclude that we mustn’t be let down
easily as patient is virtue. With that, I end my story. Thank you for lending
me your ears.
