The Ugly Duckling



I read a Comment at a lady Friend’s page at Friendster today that reminded me of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling which most of you would have read as a child.

In the tale, the mother duck knew from the very beginning that one of her babies would be different from the rest... the sixth egg was large and oddly shaped. When it finally hatches that summer, she thinks the "monstrous big duckling" must be a turkey chick! Other ducks are appalled by the ugly duckling, and he is chased, pecked, and kicked aside.

When he can't stand it anymore, he runs away from the pond and heads out into the wide, increasingly cold autumn world. One day, he heard a sound of whirring wings, and up in the air he saw a flock of birds flying high. They were as bright as the snow that had fallen during the night, and their long necks were stretched southward. Oh, if only he could go with them! But what sort of companion could he be to those beautiful beings?

At last, after a hard, cold winter--and plenty of the kind of adventures no one really wants to have--the duckling sees the same flock of birds he'd seen in the sky so many months ago. He decides he will follow them, and much to his surprise, they welcome him! And when he looks for his dull, awkward reflection in the water, he sees a beautiful swan instead.

Children who feel ostracized, even for the tiniest of differences, may shed a few sympathetic tears for the ugly duckling. And no doubt, it was Andersen's wish to give them the hope of one day finding their own peaceful place.

I don't know how many of you have really appreciated the grace and beauty of a swan. In England, the swan has been a bird protected by royal decree for hundreds of years. Killing a swan is a capital offence punishable by death until recently, when the Brits abolished capital punishment. And if, like Elizabeth Link, you live in Perth, Western Australia you get to see black swans, found nowhere else in the world (except in parks and zoos, I suppose).

There comes a time in one's life when one meets a swan and you fall in love with her beauty, her grace, her charm.

Sure, she may have once been an ugly duckling, but that doesn’t now really matter, does it?