STORY-TELLING 



5568 



STORY-TELLING 



the girl who had to feed the poultry kicked at 

 him with her foot. 



Then he 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 he shut his eyes, but flew on 

 farther ; and so he came out into the great moor, 

 where the Wild Ducks lived. Here he lay the 

 whole night long, he was so tired and sad. 



Toward morning the Wild Ducks flew up, and 

 looked at their new mate. 



"What sort of a one are you?" they asked ; and 

 the Duckling turned about to each, and bowed 

 as well as he could. "You are really very ugly !" 

 said the Wild Ducks. "But that is all the same 

 to us, so long as you do not marry into our 

 family." 



Poor thing ! he certainly did not think of mar- 

 rying, and only dared ask leave to lie among 

 the reeds and drink some of the swamp water. 



There he lay two whole days ; then came 

 thither two Wild Geese, or more truly, two Wild 

 Ganders.' It was not long since each had crept 

 out of an egg, and that's why they were so saucy. 



"Listen, comrade," said one of them. ' "You're 

 so ugly that I like you. Will you go with us, and 

 become a bird of passage? Near here is another 

 moor, where there are a few sweet, lovely Wild 

 Geese, all unmarried, and all able to say 'Quack !' 

 You've a chance of making your fortune, ugly 

 as you are." 



"Piff ! paff !" sounded through the air ; and 

 both the Ganders fell down dead in the reeds, and 

 the water became blood red. "Piff ! paff !" it 

 sounded again, and the whole flock of Wild Geese 

 flew up from the reeds. And then there was 

 another report. A great hunt was going on. 

 The gunners lay around in the moor, and some 

 were even sitting up in the branches of the trees, 

 which spread far over the reeds. The blue smoke 

 rose like clouds in among the dark trees, and 

 hung over the water ; and the hunting dogs came 

 splash, splash ! into the mud, and the rushes 

 and reeds bent down on every side. That was 

 a fright for the poor Duckling. He turned his 

 head to put it under his wing ; and at that very 

 moment a frightful great dog stood close by the 

 Duckling. His tongue hung far out of his mouth, 

 and his eyes glared horribly. He put his nose 

 close to the Duckling, showed his sharp teeth, 

 and splash, splash ! on he went without seiz- 

 ing it. 



"Oh, Heaven be thanked !" sighed the Duck- 

 ling. "I am, so ugly that even the dog does not 

 like to bite me !" 



And so he lay quite quiet, while the shots rat- 

 tled through the reeds and gun after gun was 

 fired. At last, late in the day, all was still ; but 

 the poor little thing did not dare to rise up ; he 

 waited several hours still before he looked 

 around, and then hurried away out of the moor 

 as fast as he could. He ran on over field and 

 meadow ; there was a storm, so that he had hard 

 work to get away. 



Towards evening the Duckling came to a peas- 

 ant's poor little hut ; it was so tumbled down 

 that it did not itself know on which side it 

 should fall ; and that's why it stood up. The 

 storm whistled around the Duckling in such a 

 way that he had to sit down to keep from blow- 



ing away ; and the wind blew worse and worse. 

 Then he noticed that one of the hinges of the 

 door had given way, and the door hung so slant- 

 ing that he could slip through the crack into the 

 room ; and that is what he did. 



Here lived an old woman, with her Cat and 

 Her Hen. And the Cat, whom she called Sonnie, 

 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 small, 

 short legs, and therefore she was called Chicka- 

 biddy Shortshanks ; she laid good eggs, and the 

 woman loved her as her own child. 



In the morning they noticed at once the strange 

 Duckling, and the Cat began to purr and the Hen 

 to cluck. 



"What's this?" said the woman, and looked all 

 around ; but she could not see well, 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 must try that." 



And so the Duckling was taken on trial for 

 three weeks, but no eggs came. And the Cat was 

 master of the house, and the Hen was the lady, 

 and always said "We and the world !" for they 

 thought they were half the world, and by far the 

 better half. It seemed to the Duckling that one 

 might have another mind, but the Hen would not 

 allow it. 



"Can you lay eggs?" 



"No." 



"Then will you hold your tongue !" 



And the Cat said, "Can you curve your back, 

 and purr, and give out sparks?" 



"No." 



"Then you will please have no opinion of your 

 own when sensible folks are speaking!" 



And the Duckling sat in a corner and was in 

 low spirits ; then he began to think of the fresh 

 air and the sunshine ; and he was seized with 

 such a strange longing to swim on the water that 

 he 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. Lay eggs, or purr, and they will 

 pass over." 



"But it is so charming to swim in the water," 

 said the Duckling, "so nice to feel it go over one's 

 head, and to dive down to the bottom !" 



"Yes, that's a fine thing, truly," said the Hen. 

 "You are clean gone crazy. Ask the Cat about 

 it he's the cleverest thing I know ask him if 

 he likes to swim in the water, or to dive down : I 

 won't speak about myself. Ask our mistress 

 herself, the old woman ; no one in the world 

 knows more than she. Do you think she wants 

 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 Cat and the woman I won't 

 say anything of myself. Don't make a fool of 

 yourself, child, and thank your Maker for all the 

 good you have. Are you not come into a warm 

 room, and have you not folks about you from 

 whom you can learn something? But you are 

 a goose, and* it is not pleasant to have you about. 

 You may believe me, I speak for your good. I 



