The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen (2024)


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The Ugly Duckling was written by Hans Christian Andersen(1805-1875), and was translated from the Danish byM. R. James (1862-1936) as part of hisHans Andersen Forty-Two Stories (1930).

Title: Hans Andersen Forty-Two Stories — The Ugly Duckling
Author: Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875)
Translator: James, Montague Rhodes (1862-1936)
Date of first publication: 1930
Place and date of edition used as base for this ebook:London: Faber and Faber, 1953
Date first posted: 2 February 2009
Date last updated: 2 February 2009
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #252

This ebook was produced by: David T. Jones, Mark Akrigg& the Online Distributed Proofreading Teamat http://www.pgdpcanada.net

by

Hans Christian Andersen

(from _Hans Andersen Forty-Two Stories_ [1930],translated by M. R. James)

It was very pleasant out in the country. It was summer time, the cornwas yellow, the oats green, the hay was stacked down in the greenmeadows, and there the stork walked about on his long red legs andtalked Egyptian. He had learnt the language from his mother. Round thefields and meadows there were large woods and within them deep lakes:indeed, it was pleasant out in the country. Full in the sunshine, anold manor house stood, surrounded by a deep moat, and from the base ofthe walls right down to the water great dock plants grew--so tall thata little child could stand upright under the largest of them. It wasas lonely in among them as in the thickest wood; and there a Duck wassitting on her nest. She had got to hatch out her little Ducklings,but by this time she was well nigh tired out, they took so long aboutit, and she had very few callers. The other Ducks preferred swimmingabout the moat to coming up and sitting under a dock-leaf to chat withher.

At last, one egg after another cracked, and said: "Pip! pip!" All theegg-yolks had come to life and were sticking their heads out.

"Quack, quack!" said she, and they said it too, as well as they could,and looked all round them beneath the green leaves; and their motherlet them look as much as they liked, for green is good for the eyes.

"What a big place the world is," said all the young ones: for to besure they had a great deal more room now than when they lay in theegg.

"Do you suppose this is all the world?" said their mother; "why, itstretches out far beyond the other side of the garden, right into theparson's field--but I've never been there. You're all there, Isuppose?" and she got up. "No, that's not all; there lies the biggestegg still. How long will it take? I'm really almost sick of it," andwith that she sat down again.

"Well, how goes it?" asked an elderly Duck who came to call on her."Oh, this one egg takes a dreadful long time," said the sitting Duck;"it won't break. But just you look at the others! They are thesweetest Ducklings I've ever seen; they're all just like their wretchof a father, who never comes to see me."

"Let me look at the egg that won't hatch," said the old Duck; "you maybe sure that's a turkey's egg. I was made a fool of once that way, andI had my share of trouble and anxiety with the young ones, I can tellyou, for they are afraid of the water. I couldn't get them to go in! Iquacked and I pecked, but it was no good. Let me see the egg. Ah, yes,that's a turkey's egg; you just let it lie and teach the rest toswim."

"Oh, I'll just sit on it a bit longer," said the Duck. "As I've sat solong, I may as well give it a Whitsun week!"[1] "Just as you please,"said the old Duck, and walked off.

At last the big egg opened. "Pip! pip!" said the young one, scramblingout; he was very big and ugly. The Duck looked at him: "That's afearfully big Duckling, that is," she said. "None of the others looklike that. I suppose it can't be a turkey poult! Well, we'll soon see;into the water he shall go, if I have to kick him out myself."

Next day the weather was perfectly delicious: the sun shone all overthe green docks, and the mother Duck and all her family came out, anddown to the moat. Splash! Into the water went she. "Quack, quack!" shesaid, and one Duckling after another plumped in. The water went overtheir heads, but they were up again in a moment and swam beautifully.Their legs worked of themselves, and now they were all out in thewater, and even the ugly grey one was swimming with them. "No, no,that's no turkey," she said. "Look how nicely he uses his legs, andhow well he holds himself up. That's my own child! He's really quitehandsome if you look at him properly. Quack, quack! Come along with meand I'll take you out into the world and introduce you to theduck-yard, but mind and keep close to me so that nobody can tread onyou, and do look out for the cat."

So they went into the duck-yard. There was a terrible commotion there,for two families were quarrelling over an eel's head--which the catgot after all.

"Look, that's the way the world goes," said the mother Duck--her beakwatering a little, for she would have liked the eel's head herself."Now then, use your legs," she said; "mind and look alive, and stoopyour necks to the old Duck over there, she's the most distinguishedperson here; she's of Spanish descent, so she's something special, andyou see she's got a red rag round her leg. That is an extraordinarilysplendid thing, the greatest distinction any duck can have; it meansthat people can't do without her, and she must be recognized byanimals and men alike. Now then, look alive! Don't turn your toes in!A duckling that's properly brought up keeps its legs wide apart, likefather and mother. Look here! Now then! Make a bow and say quack."

So they did; but the other ducks round them looked at them and said,quite loud, "Look there! Now we've got to have all this mob on the topof us, as if there weren't enough of us already; and poof! what anobject that duckling is! We can't stand him"; and a duck rushed at himand bit him in the neck.

"Let him be," said his mother; "he isn't doing any harm." "Yes, buthe's too big and odd altogether," said the duck who had bitten him;"so he's got to be smacked."

"Those are pretty ducklings that mother has," said the old Duck withthe rag on her leg; "all quite pretty except that one. He hasn't beena success; I could wish the mother would alter him."

"That can't be done, your grace," said the mother Duck. "He's nothandsome, but he has a really good disposition, and swims as nicely asany of the rest, even better, I venture to say. I believe he will growhandsome, or perhaps in time he will grow even somewhat smaller; hehas lain too long in the egg, and so has not acquired a proper shape."And she picked at his neck and smoothed him down. "Besides, he's adrake," she went on, "so it doesn't matter quite so much. He has, Ibelieve, a good constitution and will win through in the end."

"The other ducklings are charming," said the old lady. "Well, makeyourselves at home, and if you happen to find an eel's head, you canbring it to me."

So they made themselves at home: but the poor Duckling who had comelast out of the egg and looked so ugly, was bitten and buffeted andmade to look a fool by the hens and the ducks alike. "He's too big,"they all said; and the turkey cock, who was born with spurs, andconsidered himself an emperor on the strength of it, blew himself uplike a ship under full sail and went straight at the Duckling,gobbling and getting quite red in the head. The poor Duckling didn'tknow where to stay or which way to go, he was so miserable at beingugly and the butt of the whole duck-yard.

That was the first day, and as time went on it got worse and worse.The wretched Duckling was chased about by everybody, and even hismother and sisters were nasty to him, and kept saying: "I wish the catwould get you, you ugly devil." And his mother said: "I wish you'd getright away"; and the ducks bit him and the hens pecked him, and themaid who had to feed the creatures kicked at him. So he ran away, andflew over the fence. The little birds in the bushes shot up in the airin a fright. "That's because I'm so ugly," the Duckling thought, andshut his eyes, but ran on all the same, till he got out into the widemarsh where the wild-duck lived; and there he lay all night, for hewas very tired and very unhappy.

In the morning the wild-duck flew up and caught sight of their newcomrade. "What sort of a chap are you?" they asked; and the Ducklingturned to this side and that and greeted them as well as he could."You're precious ugly," said the wild-ducks; "but that doesn't matterto us as long as you don't marry into our family." Poor wretch! Hewasn't thinking much about marrying, as long as he could be allowed tolie among the reeds, and drink a little marsh water. There he lay twowhole days, and then came a pair of wild geese (or rather wildganders, for they were both he's): they hadn't been hatched out verylong, and so they were particularly lively. "Here, mate," they said,"you're so ugly I quite like you. Will you come along and be amigrant? Close by in another marsh there's some sweet pretty wildgeese--all young ladies that can say Quack. You're so ugly you couldmake your fortune with them." At that moment there was a Bang! Bang!and both the wild geese fell dead among the reeds, and the water wasstained blood red. Another bang! bang! and whole flights of geese flewup from the reeds, and there was yet another bang! a great shoot wasafoot. The sportsmen were all round the marsh, some even sitting upamong the branches of trees that stretched out over the reeds. Theblue smoke drifted like clouds, in among the dark stems, and hung farout over the water. The dogs went splash! splash! into the mud, andthe reeds and rushes swayed hither and thither; it was terrible forthe wretched Duckling, who was bending his neck to get it under hiswing, when all at once, close to him, there was a fearful big dog withhis tongue hanging right out of his mouth and his eyes shininghorribly. He thrust his muzzle right at the Duckling and showed hissharp teeth--and then--splash! Off he went without seizing him.

"Oh, thank goodness," sighed the Duckling; "I'm so ugly, even the dogdoesn't like to bite me!" But there he lay perfectly still while theduck shots rattled in the reeds and gun after gun banged out. It waswell on in the day before all was quiet, but the unhappy bird darednot get up even then. He waited several hours yet, before he lookedabout him, and then he hurried away from the marsh as fast as ever hecould, running over fields and meadows, and such a wind got up that hehad hard work to get along. Towards evening he was near a poor littlecottage, so crazy was it that it didn't know which way to tumble down,so it remained standing. The wind howled so fiercely round theDuckling that he had to sit down on his tail to keep facing it, and itgrew worse and worse. Then he noticed that one hinge of the door wasgone, and it hung so crooked that he could slip indoors through thecrack, and so he did.

Here lived an old woman with a cat and a hen. The cat, whom she calledSonny, could set up his fur and purr, and also throw out sparks, butfor this he had to be stroked backwards. The Hen had very short littlelegs, and was consequently called "chicky short legs". She laid goodeggs, and the woman was as fond of her as of a child of her own.

Next morning the strange Duckling was noticed at once, and the catbegan to purr, and the Hen to cluck. "What's the matter?" said the oldwoman, looking all about her. But her sight wasn't good, so she tookthe Duckling for a fat duck that had strayed away. "That's a splendidcatch," she said: "now I can have duck eggs, if only it isn't a drake!We must make sure of that." So the Duckling was taken in on approvalfor three weeks, but no eggs came.

The Cat was the gentleman of the house and the Hen the lady, and theyalways talked of "we and the world"; for they considered that theywere half the world, and much the best half. It seemed to the Ducklingthat some people might think differently, but this the Hen could nottolerate.

"Can you lay eggs?" she asked. "No! Then will you kindly hold yourtongue."

And the Cat said: "Can you put up your fur, or purr, or give outsparks? No! Then you've no call to have an opinion when sensiblepeople are talking."

So the Duckling lay in a corner and was in the lowest spirits. Hebegan to think of the fresh air and sunshine, and such a strangelonging to swim in the water came on him that he could not helptelling the Hen.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked. "You've nothing to do, that'swhy you get these fancies; you just lay some eggs, or purr, andthey'll pass off." "But it is so delicious to float on the water,"said the Duckling; "so lovely to get it over your head and dive rightdown to the bottom."

"Oh yes, most delightful, of course!" said the Hen. "Why, you'reabsolutely mad! Ask the Cat--he's the cleverest man I know--whether heenjoys floating on the water or diving down; I say nothing of myself.Why, ask your mistress, the old woman; there's no one in the worldcleverer than her--do you suppose she wants to go swimming and gettingthe water over her head?"

"You don't understand me," said the Duckling.

"Well, if we don't understand you, who is going to understand you,pray? You'll never be cleverer than the Cat and the woman, to saynothing of me. Don't give yourself airs, child, but thank your Makerfor all the kindness people have done you. Don't you live in a warmroom among company you can learn something from? But there! You're arubbishy thing, and there's little entertainment in your company. Youmay take it from me! I mean well by you, and I'm telling you hometruths, and that's how people can see their true friends. Now just dotake pains to lay eggs, or learn to purr or else give sparks."

"I think I'll go out into the wide world," said the Duckling.

"Very well, do," said the Hen.

So the Duckling went off and swam on the water and dived into it; buthe was looked down upon by all the creatures because of his ugliness.

Autumn now came on: the leaves of the wood turned brown and yellow,the wind caught them and made them dance about, and above the skylooked cold, where the clouds hung heavy with hail and snow, and onthe fence the raven perched and cried "Caw! Caw!" for the mere cold.Indeed, it regularly gave you the shivers to think of it. The unhappyDuckling had a very hard time.

One evening, when there was a lovely sunset, a whole flock ofbeautiful great birds rose out of the bushes. The Duckling had neverseen any so handsome. They were brilliantly white, with long supplenecks. They were swans, and they uttered a strange sound and spreadtheir splendid long wings and flew far away from the cold region towarmer lands, and unfrozen lakes. They mounted so high, so high thatthe ugly little Duckling was strangely moved; he whirled himself roundin the water like a wheel, he stretched his neck straight up into theair after them and uttered such a loud cry, so strange, that he wasquite frightened at it himself. Oh, he could not forget thosebeautiful birds, those wonderful birds! And the moment they were outof sight he dived right down to the bottom of the water, and when hecame up again he was almost beside himself. He didn't know what thebirds were called or which way they were flying, but he loved them ashe had never loved anything yet. He was not envious of them--how couldit enter his mind to wish for such beauty for himself--he would havebeen happy if even the ducks had let him into their company--poor uglycreature.

The winter grew very very cold: the Duckling was obliged to swim abouton the water to keep it from freezing quite over, but every night thehole he swam in became smaller and smaller. It froze so hard that theice cracked again; the Duckling had always to be moving about to keepthe water open, till at last he was tired out and sat still, and wasfrozen fast in the ice.

Early in the morning a labourer came that way, saw him, went on theice and with his wooden shoe broke it up and carried the Duckling hometo his wife, and there he was brought to life again. The childrenwanted to play with him, but he thought they meant to hurt him, and inhis fright he dashed right into the milk-pan and made the milk splashout into the room. The woman screamed and threw up her hands. Then heflew into the butter-tub and after that into the meal-bin and outagain. Goodness, what a sight he was! The woman screamed out and hitat him with the tongs, and the children tumbled over one anothertrying to catch him, laughing, calling out--by good luck the doorstood open, and out he rushed into the bushes, on the new fallen snow,and there he lay almost in a swoon.

But it would be too sad to tell of all the hardships and miserieswhich he had to go through in that hard winter. When the sun beganonce more to shine out warm and the larks to sing, he was lying amongthe reeds in the marsh, and it was the beautiful spring. Then all atonce he lifted his wings, and they rustled more strongly than before,and bore him swiftly away; and before he knew it he was in a spaciousgarden where were apple trees in blossom, and sweet-smelling lilacshung on long green boughs right down to the winding moat. Oh, it waslovely here, and fresh with spring; and straight in front of him, outof the shadows, came three beautiful white swans with rustling plumagefloating lightly on the water. The Duckling recognized the splendidcreatures, and a strange sorrowfulness came over him.

"I will fly to them, these royal birds, and they will peck me to deathbecause I, who am so ugly, dare to approach them; but it doesn'tmatter; it's better to be killed by them than to be snapped at by theducks and pecked at by hens and kicked by the servant who looks afterthe poultry-yard, and suffer all the winter." So he flew out into theopen water and swam towards the stately swans, and they saw him andhastened with swelling plumage to meet him. "Yes, kill me," the poorcreature said, bowing his head down to the water, and waited fordeath. But what did he see in the clear water? He beheld his ownimage, but it was no longer that of a clumsy dark grey bird, ugly andrepulsive. He was a swan himself.

It doesn't matter in the least whether you are born in the duck-yard,if only you've lain in a swan's egg.

It really delighted him now to think of all the hardships andadversities he had suffered, now he could rightly discern his goodfortune and all the beauty that greeted him. The great swans swamround him and caressed him with their bills. Some little children nowcame into the garden and threw bread and corn into the water, and thesmallest of them cried: "There's a new one!" And the others called outin delight: "Yes, there's a new one come!" They clapped their handsand danced about and ran to their father and mother. More bread andcake was thrown into the water, and everyone said: "The new one is thehandsomest of all; how young and beautiful he is!" And the elder swansbowed before him.

At that he felt quite ill at ease, and covered his head with hiswings, and knew not what to do. He was more than happy, and yet notproud, for a good heart is never puffed up. He thought how persecutedand depressed he had been, yet now he heard everyone saying he was themost beautiful of all beautiful birds. And the lilacs bowed theirbranches down to the water, and the sun shone warm and pleasant, andhis plumage ruffled, and he raised his slender neck, and from hisheart he said joyfully: "Such happiness I never dreamed of when I wasthe Ugly Duckling."

FOOTNOTE:


[1]This needs a note, for the gist of which I have to thankkind friends in Denmark. 'Whitsun week' is meant to render'Dyrehavstid', which should be 'Dyrehavsbakketid'. Dyrehavsbakken is aplace of amusement near Klampenborg, which used to have a 'season'from Midsummer Day (June 24), to the feast of the Visitation (July2).


[End of _The Ugly Duckling_ by Hans Christian Andersen, from _HansAndersen Forty-Two Stories_, translated by M. R. James]

The Ugly Duckling,
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