It was a bright summer afternoon. Mother duck found a lovely spot under a tree by the pond to lay her eggs. She laid five eggs. Suddenly, she noticed that one of the eggs was different from the other eggs. She got a little worried.
She waited for them to hatch. One fine morning, at last, one after another, the eggs began to crack. Peep, peep, they said. All the eggs had come alive, and the ducklings were poking their heads out into the big world. All broke except one.
Oh, what sweet babies I have! What a lucky mother I am! But what happened to the fifth one? The duck was worried.
This last egg is taking such a long time. She sat on the egg and gave it all the warmth that it could give. This would be the most beautiful duckling of all, since this is taking so much time to hatch.
One fine morning, when the egg broke, there came out an ugly gray-colored duckling. Peep, peep. This duckling was different from its other siblings. Peep, peep. It was very big and rather ugly.
Peep, peep. None of my other ducklings look like that. This one is perhaps ugly.
The mother duck was surprised to see her and was very sad. Mother hoped that one day she would become just like her siblings. But days went by, and the duckling remained ugly.
All her brothers and sisters made fun of the duckling, and they would not play with him. The duckling was very sad. You are ugly. Look at that ugly little thing on the earth. Yeah, go away.
You're so ugly. We will not play with you, you ugly monster. They all laughed at him. The ugly duckling was really sad.
The ugly duckling went to the pond and looked at his reflection in the pond. Nobody likes me. I'm so ugly. The duckling decided to leave the family and go somewhere deep into the woods. The duckling wandered all alone in the deep forest.
Soon, when winter came by, there was snow all around. The duckling was sad, and he shivered with cold, but couldn't find any food to eat or a warm place to be in. He went to a family of ducks. They rejected him. You are an ugly cat.
Who is this ugly fellow? He went to stay in the hen's house. There, the hens pecked him.
him with their beaks, so he ran away. He met a dog on the way. The dog saw him and went away. The ugly duckling thought to himself, I'm so ugly that even the dog doesn't want to eat me. The ugly duckling sadly started wandering in the woods again.
There he met a peasant who took him home to his wife and children. But even there he was troubled by the cat that lived there. So he left the peasant's house. Soon it was spring.
Everything was fresh and green once again. Walking and walking, he saw a river. He was so happy to see the water again. He went close to the river where he saw a beautiful swan swimming. He fell in love with her.
The duckling was ashamed of himself and bowed his head low. When he bent his head, he saw his own reflection in the water and was astonished. He wasn't ugly anymore.
He had turned into a handsome young swan. Now he realized why he looked different from his siblings. Because he was a swan and they were ducks. He married the beautiful swan that he had fallen in love with and lived happily ever after.