The Ugly Duckling

"Ugly Duckling" is from a series of Classic Tales. It has been adapted from Hans Christian Andersen and is brought to you in Audio, Video, and Text by the Reading Klub.

On a small farm in the countryside, a Mama Duck laid a clutch of eggs. While sitting on the nest, she asked herself, “How long must I wait for my babies to hatch?”. I have been just sitting here with not much to do. But what could she do? A Mama duck must keep her eggs warm till they hatch.

After a few days, at last, the eggs began to hatch.

Mama duck was anxiously waiting for the first glimpse of her babies.

One after another, the eggs started to hatch and out popped five fluffy yellow ducklings. They all shook their wings and started quacking, Mama duck also welcomed them in the same manner, “Quack, quack!”.

As she was gathering them for their first swim in the nearby lake, she was surprised to see that the sixth egg which appeared to be different from the others didn’t hatch yet. Her happiness turned into sadness as she had to spend some more time in the nest and wait for the last egg to hatch.

She didn’t have to wait too much as the last egg started to hatch the next day.

A strange-looking bird with gray feathers, a long neck, and large feet came out.

The mother duck was shocked and embarrassed by her odd-looking offspring and was ashamed to have it in her brood. She called it an "ugly duckling."

The other ducklings would make fun of the ugly duckling and would exclude him from their games, causing him to feel even more isolated and lonely. Day by day, the ugly duckling would wander off by himself, wishing he could be accepted and loved like his brothers and sisters.

When Mama Duck was close by, she would not let them talk in this way. “Be nice!” she would scold. But she was not always close by.

As time passed, the ugly duckling grew bigger and stronger, but he remained an outcast in his own family. One day, one of the yellow ducklings asked him to go away.

Heartbroken, the ugly duckling decided that he couldn't take the ridicule anymore and left the farm, determined to find a place where he belonged.

The ugly duckling traveled far and wide, encountering all sorts of animals, but he couldn't find anywhere that he fit in. He was tired, cold, and hungry, but he kept moving forward.

While traveling, he came across two ducks. He asked them, whether he can be a part of their family. They answered you are a strange-looking bird and you don't belong with us. Suddenly, he heard a noise of “Woof! Woof!”, a big hungry dog came tearing by, chasing the two ducks, and ripping them apart. The poor Ugly Duckling froze in fear. The dog sniffed him but turned away.

He got further depressed thinking that “I am too ugly even for the big hungry dog”.

One day, as he was wandering through a forest, he came across a beautiful swan. He looked at the swan in awe, and the swan stared back at him with curiosity. The ugly duckling told the swan about his journey and how he was searching for a place to call home.

To his surprise, the swan replied, "But my dear, you are a swan, just like me!"

The ugly duckling was shocked and confused, but the swan explained that he had been born into the wrong family and had been mistreated because he was different.

Overwhelmed with joy, the ugly duckling looked at his reflection in the pond and realized that he had indeed grown into a beautiful swan. He had finally found a place where he belonged and was accepted for who he was.

The other swans welcomed him with open wings, and he spent the rest of his days swimming in the pond, basking in the sun, and feeling loved and happy.

From that day on, the ugly duckling knew that true beauty comes from within and that it's not about how you look on the outside, but how you feel about yourself on the inside.