Everybody knows the famous fable of “The Ugly Duckling”. This fable tells us not to bully others.However, now I am going to tell you the truth of this traditional story. Actually, the ugly duckling wasn’t ugly at first. He was very beautiful.
One day a mother duck laid ten eggs. Then, the baby ducks hatched. There was a duckling whose fur was soft, and white. He was the most beautiful one of all ducklings. He was very proud of himself. However, his brothers and sisters were jealous of him. And they wanted to make him feel bad.
The next day, the siblings of the beautiful duckling went into the farmhouse. They found some grey paint inside the house. Then they tricked the beautiful duckling into the house. When he stepped in, they splashed the grey paint all over him. The beautiful duckling’s body was all grey. He was shocked to see his grey fur, and wanted to wash them away. However, it didn’t work. He was still grey in colour. His brothers and sisters all laughed at him. Then, the worst thing came.
Mother duck went into the farmhouse, wondering what’s going on inside. When she saw the grey duckling, she screamed.
“Who are you? What are you doing here? What are you doing to my children? Get out! You are so ugly! Where is my beautiful duckling?”
“But mom, I am the beautiful duckling that you love!”
“Get out! I don’t know who you are. You freak!”
The beautiful duckling was so sad, and he left his family. He was lonely in the following months. He was angry, too. Then he met the swans.
The swans were swimming happily in the pond when they saw the ugly duckling. They stared at it and were wondering,”What is that strange animal?”
The ugly duckling was angry to see those stares and he lost his temper. “Enough!” He yelled. “Can all of you stop looking at me like that? I know that I am ugly! I know that I am horrible! I know that I am a freak! I know! I know! ” To his surprise, the swans were calm when hearing those words.
“My dear child,” A swan said softly. “Don’t say that. We don’t mean to laugh at you. In fact, we think that you are special. You are the cutest duck we’ve ever met.”
“Really?” The ugly duckling asked. All the swans nodded.
The ugly duckling was very glad to hear that. After that, he lived with the swans. The swans also taught him how to fly. The ugly duckling thought,”Maybe turning into grey is a blessing in disguise?”
The story ends as the ugly duckling lived happily ever after. The new moral is : Everything can be good. Maybe bad things are blessings in disguise.