Unit 8 Section B 1b

The Ugly Duckling

Once upon a time, there was a mother duck. She had six little ducklings. Five of the ducklings were small and yellow, but the last duckling was big and grey. “He doesn’t look like us! What an ugly duckling!” the other ducklings said. “That’s not nice!” said Mother Duck. “He’s still a duck like us!”

At the river, the ugly duckling swam well, just like all the other ducklings. But the other ducklings still laughed at him and told him to go away. It made the poor duckling very sad, so he decided to search for a new home. He met many other birds, but all of them thought that he was ugly too. They did not want him to live with them.

One day, the duckling met a cat and a hen. “May I stay with you?” he asked hopefully. But the two animals said no. They did not like him because he could not purr or lay eggs!

Some days later, the ugly duckling came to a lake. There, he saw three beautiful swans with long necks and white feathers. “I wish I looked like you!” he cried. “My friend, you do look like us! Look in the water!” one of the swans said. The duckling looked down, and to his surprise, he saw that he was a beautiful white swan too!