The Ugly Duckling
After a mother duck's eggs hatch, one of the ducklings is perceived by his brothers as an ugly little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from those around him. He wanders from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen tease and taunt him mercilessly, and once again he sets off alone.
The duckling sees a flock of migrating wild ducks. He is delighted and excited but cannot join them because he is too young, ugly, and unable to fly. When winter arrives, a farmer finds and carries the freezing duckling home but he is frightened by the farmer's noisy children and flees the house. The duckling spends a miserable winter alone outdoors, mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over.
The duckling, now having fully grown and matured, cannot endure a life of solitude and hardship anymore. He decides to throw himself at a flock of swans, feeling that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he had been not a duck but a beautiful swan all this time. The flock takes to the air, and he spreads his wings to take flight with the rest of his new family.
In reviewing the author Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life by biographer Jens Andersen, British journalist Anne Chisholm writes "Andersen himself was a tall, ugly boy with a big nose and big feet, and when he grew up with a passion for the theater, he was cruelly teased and mocked by other children."
Sadly in real life there is no happy ending.
After a mother duck's eggs hatch, one of the ducklings is perceived by his brothers as an ugly little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from those around him. He wanders from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen tease and taunt him mercilessly, and once again he sets off alone.
The duckling sees a flock of migrating wild ducks. He is delighted and excited but cannot join them because he is too young, ugly, and unable to fly. When winter arrives, a farmer finds and carries the freezing duckling home but he is frightened by the farmer's noisy children and flees the house. The duckling spends a miserable winter alone outdoors, mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over.
The duckling, now having fully grown and matured, cannot endure a life of solitude and hardship anymore. He decides to throw himself at a flock of swans, feeling that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he had been not a duck but a beautiful swan all this time. The flock takes to the air, and he spreads his wings to take flight with the rest of his new family.
In reviewing the author Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life by biographer Jens Andersen, British journalist Anne Chisholm writes "Andersen himself was a tall, ugly boy with a big nose and big feet, and when he grew up with a passion for the theater, he was cruelly teased and mocked by other children."
Sadly in real life there is no happy ending.
