“Quack! Quack! Quick!” she said, and they all quickly hurried the best they could and looked all around under the green leaves. Their mother let them look around as much as they wanted because green is good for the eyes.
“How big the world is!” all the ducklings said because they had quite a different amount of room now than when they were in the egg.
“Do you think this is the whole world?” asked their mother. “It stretches way down on the other side of the garden, right into the minister’s field! But I’ve never been there. You’re all here, aren’t you?” And she got up. “No, I don’t have all! The biggest egg is still lying there. How long is this going to take? I’m getting tired of this!” And she lay down again.
“How’s it going?” asked an old duck who came to visit.
“The one egg is taking much too long,” said the duck who was lying there. “It won’t hatch! But look at the others! They’re the most beautiful ducklings I’ve seen. They all look like their father, that beast! He hasn’t come to visit me.”
“Let me see the egg that won’t hatch,” said the old duck. “You can be sure it’s a turkey egg. I was fooled like that one time too, and I had a lot of trouble and care with those children because they’re afraid of water, let me tell you. I couldn’t get them in. I quacked and snapped, but it didn’t help! Let me see the egg. Yes, it’s a turkey egg. Just leave it lying there and go teach the others to swim.”
“I’ll just sit here a little bit longer,” said the duck. “Since I’ve sat here this long, I can just as well sit a little longer.”
“Suit yourself,” said the old duck, and she left.
Finally the big egg cracked. “Peep, peep!” said the chick and tumbled out. He was so big and ugly. The duck looked at him. “That is one big duckling!” she said. “None of the others look like that. Can it be that it’s a turkey chick? Well, we’ll soon find out about that. He’s going in the water if I have to kick him in myself!”
The next day the weather was lovely. The sun was shining on all the green burdock leaves. The mother duck with her whole family went down by the canal. Splash! She jumped into the water. “Quack, quack, quick” she said, and one duck after another plopped in. The water covered their heads, but they came up right away and floated very nicely. Their legs paddled instinctively, and they were all in the water, even the ugly gray chick was swimming along.
“No, that’s no turkey,” she said. “Look how nicely he uses his feet, how straight he holds himself. It’s my own child! In reality he’s really quite attractive when you look closely at him. Quack, quack, quick! Come with me, and I’ll take you into the world and introduce you in the hen yard, but stay close to me so no one steps on you and watch out for the cats.”
They went into the hen yard. It was terribly noisy there because there were two families fighting over an eel head, but in the end the cat got it.
“See, that’s the way of the world,” said the mother duck and licked her beak because she had also wanted the eel head. “Now shake a leg,” she said. “Hurry over and curtsey deeply to that old duck over there. She is the most distinguished of them all. She has Spanish blood. That’s why she’s so stout, and notice that she has a red cloth around her leg. That’s extremely wonderful, and the greatest recognition a duck can have. It means so much. It means they’ll never get rid of her, and she’ll be recognized by animals and people—Hurry up!—Not pigeon-toed! A properly raised duckling places his feet far apart, like father and mother. All right, now duck from the neck and say ‘Quack!’”
And so they did, but the other ducks around looked at them and said quite loudly, “So, now we’ll have another set, as if there weren’t enough of us already! And ugh, how ugly that one duckling is! We won’t tolerate him!”—And right away a duck flew over to him and bit him in the neck.
“Leave him alone,” his mother said. “He’s not doing anything to anyone.”
“No, but he’s too big and too odd,” said the duck who had bitten him. “So he has to be bullied.”
“Those are lovely children mother has,” said the old duck with the cloth around her leg. “All pretty, except that one, who isn’t a success. I would wish she could make it over again.”
“It can’t be done, Your Highness,” said the mother duck. “He isn’t attractive, but he has a wonderful disposition and swims as beautifully as the others, maybe even better. I think he’ll grow more attractive, or maybe with time he’ll get a little smaller. He was in the egg too long, and so he didn’t get the correct shape.” Then she picked at his neck and smoothed him out. “And he’s a drake after all,” she said, “so it doesn’t matter so much. I think he’ll be strong and make a splash in the world.”
“The other ducklings are lovely,” said the old duck. “Make yourselves at home, and if you find an eel head, you may bring it to me!”
And they made themselves at home.
But the poor duckling who had been last out of the egg and who looked so dreadful was bitten, pushed, and made fun of, by both the ducks and the chickens. “He’s too big,” they all said, and the turkey rooster, who was born with spurs and thought he was an emperor, blew himself up like a clipper ship under full sail, went right up to him, gobbled at him, and turned red in the face. The poor duckling didn’t know whether he was coming or going, and was very sad because he was so ugly. Indeed, he was the laughing stock of the entire hen yard.
That’s how it went the first day, and later it became worse and worse. The poor duckling was chased by all of them. Even his siblings were mean to him and said continually, “if only the cat would take you, you nasty fright!” and his mother said, “I just wish you were far away.” The ducks bit him, the chickens pecked him, and the girl who fed the animals kicked at him with her foot.
Then he ran and flew over the hedge. The small birds in the bushes flew up in the air in fright. “It’s because I’m so ugly,” thought the duckling and closed his eyes, but he ran off anyway and came out to the big marshes where the wild ducks lived. He lay there the whole night, tired and sorrowful.
In the morning the wild ducks flew up and looked at the new comrade. “What kind of a fellow are you?” they said, and the duckling turned from side to side and greeted everyone as best he could.
“You’re remarkably ugly,” said the wild ducks, “but it doesn’t matter to us, as long as you don’t marry into our family.”—Poor thing! He wasn’t thinking of getting married, only hoped he would be allowed to lie in the rushes and drink some of the marsh water.
He lay there for two whole days. Then two wild geese came, or rather two ganders, for they were both males,
