Early in the morning, a peasant, who was passing by, saw what had happened. He
broke the ice in pieces with his wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to
his wife. The warmth revived the poor little creature; but when the children
wanted to play with him, the duckling thought they would do him some harm; so
he started up in terror, fluttered into the milk-pan, and splashed the milk
about the room. Then the woman clapped her hands, which frightened him still
more. He flew first into the butter-cask, then into the meal-tub, and out
again. What a condition he was in! The woman screamed, and struck at him with
the tongs; the children laughed and screamed, and tumbled over each other, in their
efforts to catch him; but luckily he escaped. The door stood open; the poor
creature could just manage to slip out among the bushes, and lie down quite
exhausted in the newly fallen snow.
It would be very sad, were I to relate all the misery and privations which the
poor little duckling endured during the hard winter; but when it had passed, he
found himself lying one morning in a moor, amongst the rushes. He felt the warm
sun shining, and heard the lark singing, and saw that all around was beautiful
spring. Then the young bird felt that his wings were strong, as he flapped them
against his sides, and rose high into the air. They bore him onwards, until he
found himself in a large garden, before he well knew how it had happened. The
apple-trees were in full blossom, and the fragrant elders bent their long green
branches down to the stream which wound round a smooth lawn. Everything looked
beautiful, in the freshness of early spring. From a thicket close by came three
beautiful white swans, rustling their feathers, and swimming lightly over the
smooth water. The duckling remembered the lovely birds, and felt more strangely
unhappy than ever.
"I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will
kill me, because I am so ugly, and dare to approach them; but it does not
matter: better be killed by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens,
pushed about by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with hunger in the
winter."
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