關於丑小鴨的英語故事閱讀

㈠ 丑小鴨 英語原文

The Ugly Duckling

One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor when 1)a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. The ckling had never seen anything so beautiful. They were dazzlingly white with long waving necks. They were swans and uttering a peculiar cry. They spread out their magnificent broad wings and flew away from the cold regions toward warmer lands and open seas.

They 2)mounted so high, so very high, and the ugly little ckling became strangely uneasy. He circled around and around in the water like a wheel, 3)craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so 4)piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy birds and as soon as they were out of sight. He 5)cked right down to the bottom and when he came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the birds were or where』
d they flew. But all the same, he was more drawn towards them than he had ever been by any creatures before. He did not envy them in the least. How could it occur to him even to wish to be such a marvelous beauty? He wouldn』t be thankful if only the cks would have tolerated him among them, the poor ugly creature.

Early in the morning, a peasant came along and saw him, he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the ckling home to his wife. There, it soon 6)revived. The children wanted to play with it. But the ckling thought they were going to ill use him and rushed in and he frightened to the milk-pan, and the milk 7)spurted out all over the room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands. Then it flew to the butter-cask and down into the meal-tub and out again. Oh, just imagine what it looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the 8)tongs, and the children 9)tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.

By good luck, the door stood open and the ckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, thoroughly exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery had to go through ring that hard winter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the ckling was in a marsh, lying among the rushes. The larks were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, it raised its wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees were in full blossom. And the air was scentedly with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the indented shores of the lake. Oh, the spring freshness was so delicious. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a 10)thicket. With 11)rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The ckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy.

「I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces because I who am so ugly venture to approach them. But it won』t matter. Better to be killed by them than be snacked up by the cks, 12)pecked by the hens, or 13)spurned by the hen wife, or suffer so much misery in the winter.」 So he flew into the water and swam towards the stately swans. They saw him and darted toward him with ruffled feathers. 「Kill me, oh, kill me.」 said the poor creature. And bowing his head towards the water, he awaited his death. But what did he see? Reflected in the transparent water, he saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly. He was himself, a swan.

㈡ 一百字童話故事丑小鴨英文版帶翻譯

The Ugly Duckling
It was summer. A ck was sitting in her nest. Her little cklings were about to hatched.
One egg after another began to crack,but the biggest one was still there. At last, it cracked.The baby was big and ugly.
The next day,the mother ck with her family went down to the moat. One ckling jumped in after another. The big ugly one swam about with them.But the poor ckling was chased and harassed by all the cklings because he was very ugly.The cks bit him,the hens pecked him. And the girl who fed them kicked him aside.
Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild cks lived. He stayed there for two whole days.A big dog appeared close beside him,but he did not touch the ckling. "Oh,I am so ugly that even the dog won`t bite me." Sighed the ckling.
In the evening,he reached a little cottage. Because he could not lay eggs,he was driven away by the hen.
one evening,he saw some swans.He flew into the water and swam towards them. What did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly bird. He wa s himself a swan.
He said to himself,"I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly ckling."

㈢ 英語丑小鴨的故事

The Ugly Duckling

Long ago, in a farmyard many miles away, a Mother Duck sat on her nest. She was waiting for her eggs to hatch. Each day she proudly looked at them. There were six eggs, which meant six little cklings to teach to swim.

One sunny spring morning, the first egg began to crack..

\'Tap, tap, tap,\' went the ckling inside, trying to get out. Mother Duck watched as the egg cracked open and out popped a fluffy ckling.

"One," said Mother Duck proudly.

The next day, the second egg hatched and out popped another fluffy ckling.

"Two," said Mother Duck proudly.

On the third day, ckling number three hatched.

"That leaves just three," said Mother Duck.

On the fourth and fifth day, cklings number four and five hatched.

"That leaves just one," said Mother Duck, as she settled on her nest. Her cklings gathered around her.

But on the sixth day nothing happened. Nor on the seventh.

"How strange," said Mother Duck on the seventh day. "It should have hatched by now."

One of the farmyard chickens wandered by.

"Oh," she said. "You\'re still there I thought you\'d be on the pond by now."

"It\'s this last egg," said Mother Duck. "It hasn\'t hatched yet."

"Let me see," said the chicken. "Well no wonder. It looks like a goose egg to me. You\'ll be here for a long time."

"Oh dear," said Mother Duck. "I have my five little cklings to teach to swim. What shall I do? I can\'t leave it."

"Aah well," said the chicken, and she wandered off.

The goose heard that one of her eggs was in Mother Duck\'s nest.

"Is it true?" she asked, as she puffed up to the nest. "Do you have one of my eggs?"

"I think so," said Mother Duck. They both looked in the nest.

"Huh," said the goose. "That\'s not mine. It looks more like that absent-minded turkey\'s egg."

As they looked, they suddenly heard the faint tapping. The shell was breaking.

"We\'ll soon see," said the goose.

They watched and waited.

"Oh," said the goose.

"Oh, dear," said Mother Duck, as she looked at the sixth ckling. It looked most strange, it was straggly and grey where its brothers and sisters were fluffy and yellow. It was also bigger than them.

It quacked as it saw its mother.

"Well, if it\'s a turkey," said the goose, "it won\'t swim."

Mother Duck hurried her cklings to the pond. She waddled in and listened. Splash! Splish! Splosh! Splash! Splish! She turned and looked. All six cklings followed her in the water.

"Oh, well," she said. "He can swim. He is definitely not a turkey."

The sixth ckling was very good at swimming, and was soon swimming better than his brothers and sisters.

Back at the farmyard, things did not go well for the little ckling. Everyone called him an ugly ckling. The chickens laughed at him, the turkeys chased him and the geese hissed at him.

Soon even his brothers and sisters would not talk to him, but when his mother turned away, he was very sad. He decided to leave the farmyard.

One sunny morning, he walked out of the farmyard and didn\'t look back. He wandered away, looking for somewhere new to live.

When he\'d been walking a while he came to a large lake. There were some cks swimming on it.

He swam up to them.

"May I stay on this lake?" he asked.

"Of course," said the cks. "We\'ll be moving on soon. Why don\'t you join us, if you\'re on your own?"

"Thank you," said the ckling.

The ckling stayed on the lake and day by day he grew bigger. One day he looked up to see some large white birds flying gracefully over the lake.

"They\'re beautiful," he whispered, and then sighed. "I wonder who they are?"

One day the cks came to see him.

"It\'s autumn, and we\'re going now," they told him, "join us if you want to."

Some cks began to fly up to leave, but suddenly loud bangs were heard. Two of the cks fell from the sky. Others flew up in fright, and more fell as more bangs were heard.

The ckling ran and hid. He found a bush and stayed there until the noise had died down. When it was quiet he sadly left the lake and headed away over the fields.

He came to another lake and there he stayed. Winter was coming and he was alone. As the days grew colder, he found that it was harder to find food.

The one morning he woke and found that he couldn\'t move. The lake had frozen and he was stuck in the ice. The day passed and the ckling was giving up hope of being found. But late in the afternoon a man walking his dog saw him. He broke the ice, and the ckling was free. He ran across the ice and hid. He didn\'t dare to go on the ice again.

Winter passed, spring came, and the ice melted.

The ckling stretched his wings and found that they were strong enough to carry him. He flew upon and over the lake, high above the trees and fields. He should have been very happy, but he was not because he felt so lonely.

A few days later, he looked up to see the large white birds he had seen in the autumn. They looked beautiful as they landed on the lake. The ckling admired their glossy white feathers and long necks. He swan over to take a closer look at them.

"Please," he said shyly. "Will you tell me who you are. You are so beautiful and I am so ugly. I\'ve never seen anybody like you."

"Ugly," cried one of the white birds. "How silly!"

"We\'re swans," said another. "Why do you think you\'re ugly? Look at yourself in the water."

The ckling looked and caught sight of his own reflection. He gasped in surprise, for instead of seeing a fat, grey ckling he saw a swan with a long elegant neck and a bright orange bill. "I\'m like you," he cried. "I\'m a swan, too."

"Definitely," said the swan, with a smile.

"Does that mean I can stay with you, and not live alone?"

"Of course," said the swans.

At that moment two children ran down to the lake. "Ooh, look!" they cried. "The swans are back and there\'s a new one, too. Isn\'t he beautiful!"

The ugly ckling stretched his neck and ruffled his feathers with pride.

Then it was time to go flying with all of the other swans and, as the ckling took off from the lake, he could see his new beautiful reflection in the water.

㈣ 《丑小鴨》童話故事 英文版

Ugly Duckling

The countryside was lovely. It was summer. The wheat was golden and the oats were still green. The hay was stacked in the low-lying meadows. There lay great woods around the fields and meadows. There were deep lakes in the midst of the woods. In the sunniest spot stood an old mansion surrounded by a deep moat. Great leaves grew from the vines on the walls of the house right down to the water's edge. Some of the leaves were so big that a child could use them as an umbrella.

In the depths of a forest a ck was sitting in her nest. Her little cklings were about to be hatched.

At last one egg after another began to crack." Cheep, cheep!" the cklings said." Quack, quack!" said the ck. " How big the world is!" said all the young ones.

But the biggest egg was still there. And then she settled herself on the nest again.

"Well, how are you getting on?" said an old ck who came to pay her a visit." This egg is taking such a long time," answered the sitting ck."

The shell will not crack, but the others are the finest cklings. They are like their father."

"let me look at the egg which won't crack," said the old ck." You may be sitting on a turkey's egg! I have been cheated like that once. Yes. it's a turkey's egg! You had better leave it alone and teach the other children to swim."

"I will sit on it a little longer."

At last the big egg cracked. How big and ugly the baby was! " That is a very big ckling." she said, " None of the others look like that. Can he be a turkey's chick? I will soon find out. I will make him go into water."

The next day the mother ck with her family went down to the moat. She said, and one ckling jumped in after another.

The big ugly one swam about with them." No, that is no turkey," she said," Quack, quack! Now come with me and I will take you into the world. Keep close to me all the time. Be careful of the cat!" The first day passed, and everything was fine.

拓展資料：

作者簡介：

漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生(HeinzChristianAndersen1805—1875)丹麥作家。1805年4月2日生於丹麥菲英島歐登塞的貧民區。父親是個窮鞋匠，曾志願服役，抗擊拿破崙·波拿巴的侵略，退伍後於1816年病故。

當洗衣工的母親不久即改嫁。安徒生從小就為貧困所折磨，先後在幾家店鋪里做學徒，沒有受過正規教育。少年時代即對舞台發生興趣，幻想當一名歌唱家、演員或劇作家。1819年在哥本哈根皇家劇院當了一名小配角。後因嗓子失潤被解僱。從此開始學習寫作，但寫的劇本完全不適宜於演出，沒有為劇院所採用。

1822年得到劇院導演約納斯·科林的資助，就讀於斯萊厄爾瑟的一所文法學校。這一年他寫了《青年的嘗試》一書，以威廉·克里斯蒂安·瓦爾特的筆名發表。這個筆名包括了威廉·莎士比亞、安徒生自己和司各特的名字。

1827年發表第一首詩《垂死的小孩》 ，1829年，他進入哥本哈根大學學習。他的第一部重要作品《1828和1829年從霍爾門運河至阿邁厄島東角步行記》於1829年問世。這是一部富於幽默感的游記，頗有德國作家霍夫曼的文風。這部游記的出版使安徒生得到了社會的初步承認。此後他繼續從事戲劇創作。

1831年他去德國旅行，歸途中寫了旅遊札記。1833年去義大利，創作了一部詩劇《埃格內特和美人魚》和一部以義大利為背景的長篇小說《即興詩人》(1835)。小說出版後不久，就被翻譯成德文和英文，標志著作者開始享有國際聲譽。

寓意：比喻不被關注的小孩子或年輕人，有時也指剛剛出現、不為人注意的事物。丑小鴨歷經千辛萬苦、重重磨難之後變成了白天鵝，那是因為它心中有著夢想，夢想支撐著它。是金子早晚會發光。命運其實沒有軌跡，關鍵在於對美好境界、美好理想的追求。人生中的挫折和痛苦是不可避免的，要學會把它們踩在腳下，每個孩子都會有一份屬於自己的夢想，只要他們學會樹立生活目標，在自信、自強、自立中成長，通過拼搏他們會真正的認識到自己原來也可以變成「白天鵝」，也可以像丑小鴨一樣實現心中的夢想，人只要有了夢想，那麼，困難也不再是困難了。

㈤ 丑小鴨英語小故事，急啊進來

這是最符合你的版本了，如果你覺得還長了，可以對照譯文刪減一些內容：
The Ugly Duckling
One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. The ckling had never seen anything so beautiful. They were dazzlingly white with long waving necks. They were swans and uttering a peculiar cry. They spread out their magnificent broad wings and flew away from the cold regions toward warmer lands and open seas.
They mounted so high, so very high, and the ugly little ckling became strangely uneasy. He circled around and around in the water like a wheel, craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy birds and as soon as they were out of sight. He cked right down to the bottom and when he came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the birds were or where』d they flew. But all the same, he was more drawn towards them than he had ever been by any creatures before. He did not envy them in the least. How could it occur to him even to wish to be such a marvelous beauty? He wouldn』t be thankful if only the cks would have tolerated him among them, the poor ugly creature.
Early in the morning, a peasant came along and saw him, he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the ckling home to his wife. There, it soon revived. The children wanted to play with it. But the ckling thought they were going to ill use him and rushed in and he frightened to the milk-pan, and the milk spurted out all over the room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands. Then it flew to the butter-cask and down into the meal-tub and out again. Oh, just imagine what it looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the tongs, and the children tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.
By good luck, the door stood open and the ckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, thoroughly exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery had to go through ring that hard winter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the ckling was in a marsh, lying among the rushes. The larks were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, it raised its wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees were in full blossom. And the air was scentedly with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the indented shores of the lake. Oh, the spring freshness was so delicious. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a thicket. With rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The ckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy.
「I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces because I who am so ugly venture to approach them. But it won』t matter. Better to be killed by them than be snacked up by the cks, pecked by the hens, or spurned by the hen wife, or suffer so much misery in the winter.」 So he flew into the water and swam towards the stately swans. They saw him and darted toward him with ruffled feathers. 「Kill me, oh, kill me.」 said the poor creature. And bowing his head towards the water, he awaited his death. But what did he see? Reflected in the transparent water, he saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly. He was himself, a swan.
譯文：
丑小鴨
一天晚上，當太陽正在美麗的霞光中落下去的時候，有一群漂亮的大鳥從灌木林里飛出來，小鴨從來沒有看到過這樣美麗的東西。他們白得發亮，頸項又長又柔軟。這就是天鵝。他們發出一種奇異的叫聲，展開美麗的長翅膀，從寒冷的地帶飛向溫暖的國度，飛向不結冰的湖上去。
他們飛得很高--那麼高，丑小鴨不禁感到一種無名的興奮。他在水上像一個車輪似地不停地旋轉著，同時，把自己的頸項高高地向他們伸著，發出一種響亮的怪叫聲，連他自己也嚇著了。啊！他再也忘不了那些美麗的鳥兒，那些幸福的鳥兒。當他看不見他們的時候，就沉入水底；但是當他再冒到水面上來的時候，卻感到非常寂寞。他不知道那些鳥兒的名字，也不知道他們要飛去什麼地方。不過他愛他們，好像他從來還沒有愛過什麼東西似的。他並不嫉妒他們。他怎能夢想有他們那樣的美麗呢？只要別的鴨兒准許他跟他們生活在一起，他就已經很欣慰了--可憐的丑東西。
大清早，有一個農民在這兒經過。他看到了這只小鴨，就走過去用木屐把冰塊錘破，然後把它抱回家，送給他的妻子。它這時才漸漸地恢復了知覺。小孩子們都想跟它玩，不過小鴨以為他們想要傷害他。他一害怕就跳到牛奶盤里去了，把牛奶濺得滿屋子都是。女人驚叫起來，拍著雙手。這么一來，小鴨就飛到黃油盆里去了，然後飛進麵粉桶里去了，最後才爬出來。這時它的樣子才好看呢！女人尖聲地叫起來，拿著火鉗要打它。小孩們擠做一團，想抓住這小鴨。他們又是笑，又是叫！
幸好大門是開著的。他鑽進灌木林中新下的雪裡面去。他躺在那裡，徹底地筋疲力盡。要是只講他在這嚴冬所受到困苦和災難，那麼這個故事也就太悲慘了。當太陽又開始溫暖地照著的時候，他正躺在沼澤地的蘆葦里。百靈鳥唱起歌來了--美麗的春天已經來了。忽然間他舉起翅膀：翅膀拍起來比以前有力得多，馬上就把他托起來飛走了。他不知不覺地已經飛進了一座大花園。這兒蘋果樹開滿了花；空氣里飄著丁香怡人的香氣，一根長長的枝條垂到彎彎曲曲的湖岸邊。啊，這兒充滿了醉人的初春的氣息！三隻美麗的白天鵝從樹蔭里一直游到他面前來。他們輕飄飄地浮在水上，羽毛發出颼颼的響聲。小鴨認出這些高貴的鳥兒，於是心裡感到一種說不出的難過。
「我要飛向他們，飛向這些高貴的鳥兒！可是他們會把我劈碎的，因為我是這樣丑，居然敢接近他們。不過這沒有什麼關系！被他們殺死，要比被鴨子咬、被雞群啄，被看管養雞場的那個女傭人踢和在冬天受苦好得多！」於是他飛到水裡，向這些高貴優雅的天鵝游去：這些動物看到他，馬上就豎起羽毛向他游來。「請你們弄死我吧！」這只可憐的傢伙說。他把頭低低地垂到水上，只等待著死。但是他在這清澈的水上看到了什麼呢？他看到了自己的倒影。但那不再是一隻粗笨的、深灰色的、又丑又令人討厭的鴨子，而卻是--一隻天鵝！

㈥ 英語來講述丑小鴨里的故事內容,盡量短一點,

Long long ago,there was a ck,he was ugly,everyone hated him,he ran away,and finally,he became a beautiful goose.

㈦ 丑小鴨英文故事簡短

• The Ugly Duckling
  It was summer. A ck was sitting in her nest. Her little cklings were about to hatched.
  One egg after another began to crack,but the biggest one was still there. At last, it cracked.The baby was big and ugly.
  The next day,the mother ck with her family went down to the moat. One ckling jumped in after another. The big ugly one swam about with them.But the poor ckling was chased and harassed by all the cklings because he was very ugly.The cks bit him,the hens pecked him. And the girl who fed them kicked him aside.
  Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild cks lived. He stayed there for two whole days.A big dog appeared close beside him,but he did not touch the ckling. "Oh,I am so ugly that even the dog won`t bite me." Sighed the ckling.
  In the evening,he reached a little cottage. Because he could not lay eggs,he was driven away by the hen.
  one evening,he saw some swans.He flew into the water and swam towards them. What did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly bird. He wa s himself a swan.
  He said to himself,"I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly ckling."

• 譯文：夏天到了，一隻鴨子正坐在它的窩里。它的小寶寶們就要孵出來了。
  一隻又一隻的蛋開始裂開，但是最大的蛋仍然在那裡。最後，它破裂了。寶寶又大又丑。第二天，鴨媽媽帶著一家去河溝里去了。一隻又一隻的小鴨子跳了進去。這個又大又丑的鴨子在別的鴨子邊上游泳。但因為它長得很醜，不但沒有被鴨群接受，還挨啄、被排擠、被訕笑。而且在雞群中也是這樣。他因此覺得很自卑。無奈之下，丑小鴨飛過籬笆逃走了。有一次，他遇到了一隻獵狗，但那隻獵狗只是聞聞他，並沒有把他抓住。他暗自慶幸，「我丑得連獵狗也不敢咬我了！」他為自己逃生而慶幸，同時為自己長得丑而懊喪。在這以後，丑小鴨遇到了很多磨難。後來，對美好大自然、美好生活的嚮往與追求驅使著丑小鴨不再依靠別人生活。有一天，三隻美麗的白天鵝從樹陰里一直游到他面前來，小鴨認出了這些美麗的動物，於是心裡感到一種說不出的難過。小鴨感到自己要游向他們，就算他們把自己弄死也沒關系，因為他有一顆追求美的心。但他在水裡看到的是什麼呢，不再是那隻醜陋的小鴨了，而是——一隻美麗的天鵝！

㈧ 英語故事丑小鴨

The Ugly Duckling

One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor when 1)a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. The ckling had never seen anything so beautiful. They were dazzlingly white with long waving necks. They were swans and uttering a peculiar cry. They spread out their magnificent broad wings and flew away from the cold regions toward warmer lands and open seas.

They 2)mounted so high, so very high, and the ugly little ckling became strangely uneasy. He circled around and around in the water like a wheel, 3)craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so 4)piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy birds and as soon as they were out of sight. He 5)cked right down to the bottom and when he came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the birds were or where』d they flew. But all the same, he was more drawn towards them than he had ever been by any creatures before. He did not envy them in the least. How could it occur to him even to wish to be such a marvelous beauty? He wouldn』t be thankful if only the cks would have tolerated him among them, the poor ugly creature.

Early in the morning, a peasant came along and saw him, he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the ckling home to his wife. There, it soon 6)revived. The children wanted to play with it. But the ckling thought they were going to ill use him and rushed in and he frightened to the milk-pan, and the milk 7)spurted out all over the room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands. Then it flew to the butter-cask and down into the meal-tub and out again. Oh, just imagine what it looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the 8)tongs, and the children 9)tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.

By good luck, the door stood open and the ckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, thoroughly exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery had to go through ring that hard winter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the ckling was in a marsh, lying among the rushes. The larks were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, it raised its wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees were in full blossom. And the air was scentedly with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the indented shores of the lake. Oh, the spring freshness was so delicious. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a 10)thicket. With 11)rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The ckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy.

「I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces because I who am so ugly venture to approach them. But it won』t matter. Better to be killed by them than be snacked up by the cks, 12)pecked by the hens, or 13)spurned by the hen wife, or suffer so much misery in the winter.」 So he flew into the water and swam towards the stately swans. They saw him and darted toward him with ruffled feathers. 「Kill me, oh, kill me.」 said the poor creature. And bowing his head towards the water, he awaited his death. But what did he see? Reflected in the transparent water, he saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly. He was himself, a swan.