And so the duckling was admitted on trial for three weeks; but no eggs came. And the tom cat was master of the house, and the hen was the lady, and always said " We and the world!" for she thought they were half the world, and by far the better half. The duckling thought one might have a different opinion, but the hen would not allow it.
" Can you lay eggs? " she asked. "No."
" Then you"ll have the goodness to hold your tongue. "And the tom cat said, "Can you curve your back, and purr, and give out sparks? "" No. "
"Then you cannot have any opinion of your own when sensible people are speaking. "The duckling sat in a corner and was melancholy; then the fresh air and the sunshine streamed in, and it was seized with such a strange longing to swim on the water, that it could not help telling the hen of it.
"What are you thinking of? " cried the hen. "You have nothing to do; that"s why you have these fancies. Purr or lay eggs, and they will pass over. ""But it is so charming to swim on the water ! " said the duckling, " so refreshing to let it close above one"s head, and to dive down to the bottom. "" Yes, that must be a mighty pleasure, truly, " quoth the hen.
" I fancy you must have gone crazy. Ask the cat about it-he"s the cleverest animal I know; ask him if he likes to swim on the water, or to dive down. I won"t speak about myself. Ask our mistress, the old woman; no one in the world is cleverer than she. Do you think she has any desire to swim, and to let the water close above her head? ""You don"t understand me, " said the duckling.
"We don"t understand you? Then pray who is to understand you? You surely don"t pretend to be cleverer than the tom cat and the old woman-I won"t say anything of myself. Don"t be conceited, child, and be grateful for all the kindness you have received. Did you not get into a warm room, and have you not fallen into company from which you have learnt something? But you are a chatterer, and it is not pleasant to associate with you. You may believe me, I speak for your good. I tell you disagreeable things, and by that one may always know one"s true friends. Only take care that you learn to lay eggs, or to purr and give out sparks! ""I think I will go out into the wide world, " said the duckling. "Yes, do go, " replied the hen.
So the duckling went away. It swam on the water, and dived, but it was slighted by every creature because of its ugliness.
Now came the autumn. The leaves in the forest turned yellow and brown; the wind caught them so that they danced about, and up in the air it was very cold. The clouds hung low, heavy with hail and snowflakes, and on the fence stoodthe raven, crying, "Croak! croak! " for mere cold; yes, it was enough to make one feel cold to think of this. The poor little duckling certainly had not a good time. One evening-the sun was just setting in his beauty-there came a whole flock of great handsome birds out of the bushes; they were dazzlingly white, with long flexible necks; they were swans. They uttered a very peculiar cry, spread forth their glorious, great wings, and flew away from that cold region to warmer lands, to fair open lakes. They mounted so high, so high! and the ugly little duckling felt quite a strange feeling as it watched them. It turned round and round in the water like a wheel, stretched out its neck towards them, and uttered such a strange, loud cry as frightened itself. Oh! it could not forget those beautiful, happy birds; and, so soon as it could see them no longer, it dived down to the very bottom; and, when it came up again, it was quite beside itself. It knew not the name of those birds, and knew not whither they were flying; but it loved them more than it had ever loved any one. It was not at all envious of them. How could it think of wishing to possess such loveliness as they had? It would have been glad if only the ducks would have endured its company- the poor, ugly creature!
And the winter grew cold, very cold! The duckling wasforced to swim about in the water, to prevent the surface from freezing entirely; but every night the hole in which it swam about became smaller and smaller.
It froze so hard that the icy covering crackled again; andthe duckling was obliged to use its legs continually to preventDrawn by Elsie J. McKissock
"There came a whole flock of great handsome birds out of the bushes. "the hole from freezing up. At last it became exhausted, and lay quite still, and thus froze fast into the ice.
Early in the morning a peasant came by; and, when he saw what had happened, he took his wooden shoe, broke the ice-crust to pieces, and carried the duckling home to his wife. Then it came to itself again. The children wanted to play with it; but the duckling thought they would do it an injury, and in its terror it fluttered up into the milk-pan, so that the milk spurted down into the room. The woman clasped her hands, at which the duckling flew down into the butter-tub, and then into the meal-barrel and out again. How it looked then! The woman screamed, and struck at it with the fire-tongs; the children tumbled over one another, in their efforts to catch the duckling. Happily the door stood open, and the poor creature was able to slip out between the shrubs into the new-fallen snow. There it lay quite exhausted.
But it would be too melancholy if I were to tell all the miseryand care which the duckling had to endure in the hard winter. It lay out on the moor among the reeds, when the sun began to shine again and the larks to sing; it was a beautiful spring.
Then all at once the duckling could flap its wings. They beat the air more strongly than before, and bore it strongly away; and, before it well knew how all this had happened, it found itself in a great garden, where the elder trees smelt sweet, and bent their long green branches down to the canal that wound through the region. Oh, here it was so beautiful, such a gladness of spring; and from the thicket came three glorious white swans. They rustled their wings, and swam lightly on the water. The duckling knew the splendid creatures, and felt oppressed by a peculiar sadness.