Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, A Reader for the Fourth Grade · Chapter 10The Ugly Duckling
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TIME: one summer morning. PLACE: the farmyard of the Moor Farm.
[MADAM DUCK enters the farmyard with her new brood of DUCKLINGS. The other fowls approach.]
TURKEY (showing displeasure). A new brood of ducks! Look you all—a new brood of ducks!
GRAY GANDER (also displeased). As if there were not enough of us here already!
WHITE GOOSE (likewise displeased). True enough,—I can scarce find a corner for my afternoon nap!
RED ROOSTER. It seems to me, Madam Duck, that you should not have brought us a new brood this summer.
MADAM DUCK. What is that you are saying?
TURKEY. It seems to all of us, madam, that there is no room here for a new brood.
PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN. Friends, be just. Madam Duck has a perfect right to bring her ducklings here. Besides, the children are quite pretty.
MADAM DUCK. They are beautiful! You shall all see that for yourselves. Come, children, into a row with you!
[The Ducklings form themselves into a row. The Ugly Duckling is last.]
MADAM DUCK. Legs wide apart! Toes out! Now speak prettily to my old friends.
DUCKLINGS (all but the last). Quack! Quack!
MADAM DUCK. There now—are they not charming?
GRAY GANDER (looking down row). Why, yes, they all seem graceful enough—here—wait a moment! Does that last one there belong to you?
[All the fowls look at the last Duckling.]
MADAM DUCK. Oh yes! He is larger than the others and perhaps not so pretty, but—
TURKEY (interrupting). Make no excuses for him, madam. We can see for ourselves what he is.
GRAY GANDER. In all my life I never saw anything so ugly!
WHITE GOOSE. He is neither duck nor goose!
PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN. Nor duck nor chick!
TURKEY. I'd be 'shamed to have a turkey look like that!
RED ROOSTER. I'd allow no hen of mine to claim him!
MADAM DUCK. Come now, come now, friends. The poor child is not pretty, but he is good, and he can swim even better than the others.
TURKEY. That he can swim well is nothing to me!
RED ROOSTER. Nor to me! He should be driven out, I say!
MADAM DUCK. Let him alone; he is not doing any harm.
FIRST DUCKLING. But, mother, no one will look at us if he stays with us!
MADAM Duck (thoughtfully.) Now perhaps it may turn out that way.
SECOND DUCKLING. I'll not walk about with him!
THIRD DUCKLING. Nor I!
MADAM DUCK. Well, well! He must be uglier than I thought!
FIRST DUCKLING. Besides, dear mother, he will not quack.
MADAM DUCK. What is this? Did he not quack but just a moment ago?
SECOND DUCKLING. He turned his toes out, but quack he would not.
THIRD DUCKLING. 'T is true, dear mother.
MADAM DUCK (to the Ugly Duckling). Quack! Quack now—at once!
[The Ugly Duckling tries to quack, but chokes. The fowls laugh and jeer at him.]
GRAY GANDER. Ha, ha! There's a "quack" for you!
WHITE GOOSE. Ha, ha!
PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN. Ha, ha!
RED ROOSTER. Ha, ha!
TURKEY. Ha, ha!
MADAM DUCK (angrily). Once more I tell you—quack!
[The Ugly Duckling tries again; chokes.]
ALL FOWLS. Ha, ha, ha, ha!
UGLY DUCKLING (weeping). I'm sorry—I'd quack if I could.
MADAME DUCK. Ah, if you were only far away!
FIRST DUCKLING. I wish the cat would eat you!
SECOND DUCKLING. I wish the swans would kill you!
WHITE GOOSE. And they will when they see him—you may be sure of that.
GRAY GANDER (nodding). Aye, they'll not suffer such an ugly creature to swim in the brook!
RED ROOSTER. We must drive him off—that's clear!
(Running at the Ugly Duckling.)
Come now, out with you!
PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN (pecking Duckling). Out with you!
UGLY DUCKLING. Mother, save me!
MADAM DUCK. Call not on me!
GRAY GANDER (striking Duckling with his wings). Out with you!
UGLY DUCKLING (running to Ducklings). Brothers, sisters, save me!
FIRST DUCKLING. Come not to us!
SECOND DUCKLING. We'll not save you!
THIRD DUCKLING. Away with you!
TURKEY. At him, hens to peck him! At him, geese to beat him! At him, all of you!
[They all rush upon the Ugly Duckling, who escapes them, running out of the farmyard into the moor.]
TIME: the next winter. PLACE: the Peasant's cottage.
[The PEASANT enters the cottage, carrying the UGLY DUCKLING.]
PEASANT. See what I'm bringing you!
WIFE. Why, 't is a duckling—half frozen, too!
PEASANT. I found him frozen in the pond. I had to break the ice to get him out.
ELIZABETH. Give him to me, father. I will put him behind the stove.
PEASANT (giving Duckling to Elizabeth). That's a good child.
WIFE. Handle him tenderly, daughter.
ELIZABETH (taking off her shawl). He shall lie upon my shawl. You poor, dear, ugly little duckling!
[She places the Duckling upon the shawl behind the stove, near the CAT and HEN.]
PEASANT. 'T is the duckling I told you of!
WIFE. The one you saw on the pond yesterday?
PEASANT. Aye, and the day before, and all winter long, for that matter. Yesterday I saw him try to join the wild ducks on the river, but they drove him back to the pond.
ELIZABETH. Poor duckling! The pond was freezing then!
PEASANT (nodding). Then he tried to find a place among the rushes on the moor, but the birds drove him from there.
ELIZABETH. Why did they all treat him so, father?
PEASANT. I do not know, unless it is because he is so ugly.
WIFE. Come now to dinner, father—Elizabeth. By the time we have finished, our duckling will be warmed and awake.
[They go into the kitchen. The Duckling stirs and looks about.]
HEN. Can you lay eggs?
DUCKLING (politely). No, madam.
CAT. Can you set up your back?
DUCKLING. No, dear sir.
CAT. Can you purr?
DUCKLING (frightened). No.
HEN. Then you can't stay here.
DUCKLING. Do not drive me out, I pray you!
CAT. Will you learn to purr?
HEN. And to lay eggs?
DUCKLING (sadly). Alas, I can do nothing but swim.
CAT. Swim! Well, I must say that is very queer.
DUCKLING. Oh, no, dear sir! It is most pleasant when the waters close over your head and you plunge to the bottom.
CAT. Plunge to the bottom, indeed! I'd never think of doing such a silly thing!
HEN. Nor I!
CAT. 'T is clear you can't remain here.
DUCKLING. Where am I to go?
CAT. Go lie in the rushes. The birds flew south this morning.
DUCKLING. I shall starve there.
CAT. It would really be a good thing for you if I should eat you.
DUCKLING. I'd thank you to do so, dear sir.
HEN. Eat him, since he is so willing. He is too ugly to live.
CAT (turning away). I can't, he is too ugly to eat.
(To the Duckling.)
Come, out with you!
HEN (running at him). Yes, yes! Out with you! Out with you!
[They push the Duckling out of the door into the snow.]
DUCKLING. Alas! What shall I do? Where shall I go? Why was I made so ugly that every one despises me!
TIME: the next spring. PLACE: the brook on the Moor Farm.
[The UGLY DUCKLING sits on the hill of a MOLE near the brook which winds through the Moor Farm.]
MOLE (from the mole hill). Will you please move? I wish to come out.
DUCKLING (rising quickly). Why, 't is a mole hill I've been sitting on!
(The Mole comes out from the hill.)
I'm sorry, friend Mole, I didn't notice your hill.
MOLE. Who are you?
DUCKLING. Madam Duck of this farm is my mother.
MOLE. That can't be! You are no duck.
DUCKLING. Yes, but I am. Only, I am uglier than any duck in the world.
MOLE. You have not the voice of a duck. You do not speak with the quack of which they are so proud. And then, if you are truly a duck, why are you not with your family?
DUCKLING. They drove me out last summer because I was ugly and could not quack.
MOLE. Then why have you come back?
DUCKLING. To let the swans kill me.
MOLE. What! To let them kill you?
DUCKLING. I would rather be killed by those beautiful birds than pecked by the hens, beaten by the geese, or starved with hunger in the winter.
MOLE. Perhaps you are not so ugly now as you were then.
DUCKLING. I have not looked at myself in the water since spring came and took the ice away. But I know well enough how dark and badly formed I am. The swans will kill me if I dare to approach them.
[A noise is heard in the distance.]
MOLE. They are coming! Go, while there is yet time.
DUCKLING. There is no place to go to. All winter long I was driven from moor to moor. I could not make a friend—I no longer wish to live.
[The SWANS are seen swimming down the brook.]
MOLE. They are here! Do not go to them, I pray you!
DUCKLING (shaking head). Farewell!
[He flies to the water and swims toward the Swans. They see him and rush to meet him with outstretched wings.]
DUCKLING. Kill me! Kill me!
FIRST SWAN. Kill you! Why, we have come to welcome you, beautiful stranger.
SECOND SWAN. We saw you from afar, and came to meet you.
THIRD SWAN. We are so happy to have you with us!
[Enter several CHILDREN.]
FIRST CHILD. See, there is a new swan!
SECOND CHILD (calling). Father, mother, come! There is another swan!
[Enter the FATHER and MOTHER.]
FATHER. What were you calling?
THIRD CHILD. A new swan has come! Look!
MOTHER. I see him! He is beautiful!
FATHER. He is very young, but he is the most beautiful of all!
FOURTH CHILD. See how the others stroke him with their beaks!
MOTHER. They are showing him how glad they are to have him with them. See how they swim around him and how gently they touch him!
FATHER. I have never seen anything so pretty. How happy the new swan is! See how he rustles his feathers! See how proudly he curves his slender neck!
FIRST CHILD. And see how he looks at himself in the water!
SECOND CHILD. Let's get bread and cake for him!
THIRD CHILD. Yes, yes!
FOURTH CHILD. Yes, yes!
[The Children run off, followed by the Father and Mother.]
MOLE (going into his hill). 'T was not so bad after all—not to have the family quack!