The Ugly Duckling

A Hans-Christian Anderson Fairy Tale

Adapted by Gabriele Sass
Copyright 2005 Gabriele Sass

Warm and sunny lay the fields
Haystacks graced the meadows
Golden corn stalks, harvest yield
Rolling hills and shadows

Cast by downy clouds so white
Passing wild blue yonder
Summer breezes warm and mild
Forest’s hidden wonder

Under burdock leaves concealed
Sat a duck upon her nest
Plucking feathers in retreat
Waiting patiently at rest

One by one her brood was hatched
Cracking eggs asunder
Mother duck beheld her batch
Little yellow wonders

But the largest egg still lay
‘Till the day was waning
Mother duck found she must stay
On her nest remaining

“Tis a turkey egg for sure,”
she was told with pity
“They can’t swim, there is no cure”
Said an old duck witty

Finally the egg did break
And a chick quite ugly
Headed quickly to the lake
Like the other ducklings

“Well, it must be one of mine”
Sighed the duck with sorrow
“Tis a drake, so he’ll be fine,
Might improve tomorrow”

But his childhood was quite cruel
Right from that first day
All the poultry called him “fool”
‘Till he couldn’t stay

Big and gray and full of fluff
Was the little guy
As one day in search of love
He took to the sky

High above the farm he flew
On the winds of fall
All the world that he once knew
Seemed so far and small

Silently he sailed the skies
Joined a flock of geese
Wild and wonderful and high
Through the autumn breeze

In a moor he came to rest
In the waning light
On its shore he made a nest
For the dusky night

Days he spend among the flock
‘Till the gun shots roar
Ended life in brutal shock
On the quiet shore

Hidden in the underbrush
Sat the bird, now all alone
Hunting dogs through moorland rushed
Fetching geese to carry home

Many days the duckling roamed
Through the countryside
Found a little wooden home
Where he hoped to hide

An old woman lived in there
With a hen and cat
Found the duckling in her care
Was a cause to chat

“Lay me eggs and you can stay
Keep me company.
If you fail, you go away
Is no loss to me”

But of course no eggs would come
From the little drake
So the woman called him dumb
Took him to the lake

Winter came and birds flew south
Flocks of ducks and geese
To their tropic winter house
On a sultry breeze

Desolate, the little bird,
Battled winter’s rage
Close to death and badly hurt
In a frozen cage

But he lived to see the spring
And the birds returning
By a river spread his wings
Careful and discerning

When just then, there came a flock
Swans of dazzling splendor
Saw the bird and stared in shock
At the white and slender

Wings he spread, angelic might
Saw his own reflection
Was a swan of brilliant white
Nature’s true perfection