"Let it alone, " said the mother; "it does no harm to any one." " Yes, but it"s too large and peculiar, " said the duck who hadbitten it; " and therefore it must be buffeted. ""Those are pretty children that the mother has there, " said the old duck with the rag round her leg. "They"re all pretty but that one; that was a failure. I wish she could alter it. ""That cannot be done, my lady, " replied the mother- duck. "It is not pretty, but it has a really good disposition, and swims as well as any other; I may even say it swims better. I think itwill grow up pretty, and become smaller in time; it has lain too long in the egg, and therefore is not properly shaped. " And then she pinched it in the neck, and smoothed its feathers. "Moreover, it is a drake, " she said; "and therefore it is not of so much consequence. I think he will be very strong; he makes his way already. "" The other ducklings are graceful enough, " said the old duck. "Make yourself at home; and, if you find an eel"s head, you may bring it to me. "And now they were at home. But the poor duckling that had crept last out of the egg, and looked so ugly, was bitten and pushed and jeered, as much by the ducks as by the chickens.
"It is too big ! " they all said. And the turkey-cock, who had been born with spurs, and therefore thought himself an emperor, blew himself up like a ship in full sail, and bore straight down upon it; then he gobbled, and grew quite red in the face. The poor duckling did not know where it should standDrawn by Elsle J. McKissock
"Blew himself up like a ship in full sail."
or walk; it was quite melancholy because it looked ugly, and was scoffed at by the whole yard.
So it went on the first day; and afterwards it became worse and worse. The poor duckling was hunted about by every one; even its brothers and sisters were quite angry with it, and said, "If the cat would only catch you, you ugly creature! " And the mother said, "If you were only far away! " And the ducks bit it, and the chickens beat it, and the girl who had to feed the poultry kicked at it with her foot.
Then it ran and flew over the fence, and the little birds in the bushes flew up in fear.
" That is because I am so ugly! "thought the duckling; and it shut its eyes, but flew on further; thus it came out into the great moor, where the wild ducks lived. Here it lay the whole night long, and it was weary and downcast.
Towards morning the wild ducks flew up, and looked at theirnew companion.
"What sort of bird are you? " they asked; and the duckling turned in every direction, and bowed as well as it could. "You are remarkably ugly! " said the wild ducks. "But that is very indifferent to us, so long as you do not marry into our family. "Poor thing, it certainly did not think of marrying, and hoped only to obtain leave to lie among the reeds and drink some of the swamp-water.
Thus it lay two whole days; then came thither two wild geese, or, properly speaking, two wild ganders. It was not long sinceeach had crept out of an egg, and that"s why they were so saucy. "Listen, comrade, " said one of them; "You"re so uglythat I like you. Will you not go with us, and become a bird of passage? Near this place in another moor, there are a few sweet, lovely wild geese, all unmarried, and all able to say "Rap!" You"ve a chance of making your fortune, ugly as you are! ""Piff! paff! " resounded through the air; the two ganders fell down dead in the swamp, and the water became blood-red. "Piff ! paff! " it sounded again, and whole flocks of wild geese rose up from the reeds. Then there was another report. A great hunt was going on. The hunters were lying in wait all round the moor, and some were even sitting up in the branches of the trees, which spread far over the reeds. The blue smoke rose up like clouds among the dark trees, and was wafted far away across the water; and the hunting dogs came splash, splash! into the swamp, and the rushes and the weeds bent down on every side. That was a fright for the poor duckling ! It turned its head, and put it under its wing; but at that moment a frightful great dog stood close by it. His tongue hung far out of his mouth, and his eyes gleamed horrible and ugly; he thrust out his nose close against the duckling, showed his sharp teeth, and,- splash, splash !-on he went without seizing it.
"Oh, Heaven be thanked! " sighed the duckling. "I am so ugly that even the dog does not like to bite me! "And so it lay quite still, while the shots rattled through the reeds, and gun after gun was fired. At last, late in the day,silence was restored; but the poor duckling did not dare to riseup; it waited several hours before it looked round, and then hastened away out of the moor as fast as it could. It ran on over field and meadow. There was such a storm raging that it was difficult to get from one place to another.
Part Ⅱ.
Towards evening the duck came to a little, miserable peasant hut. This hut was so dilapidated that it did not know on which side it should fall; and that"s why it remained standing. The storm whistled round the duckling in such a way that the poor creature was obliged to sit down; and the tempest grew worse and worse. Then the duckling noticed that one of the hinges of the door had given way, and the door hung so slanting that the duckling could slip through the crack into the room. This it did.
Here lived a woman with her tom cat and her hen. The tom cat, which she called Sonny, could arch his back and purr, he could even give out sparks; but, for that, one had to stroke his fur the wrong way. The hen had quite little, short legs, and therefore she was called Chickabiddy-shortshanks; she laid good eggs, and the woman loved her as her own child.
In the morning the strange duckling was at once noticed, and the tom cat began to purr, and the hen to cluck.
"What"s this? " said the woman, and looked all round; but she could not see well, and therefore she thought the duckling was a fat duck that had strayed. "This is a rare prize, " she said. "Now I shall have duck"s eggs. I hope it is not a drake. We musttry that. "