tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they
screamed with laughter. By good luck the door stood open, and the
duckling 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 it
had to go through during that hard winter. When the sun began to shine
warmly again the duckling was in the 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 where the
apple-trees were in a full blossom, and the air was scented 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 duckling 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 be killed by them than be snapped at by the
ducks, pecked by the hens, or spurned by the henwife, 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 towards 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! It does not
matter in the least having been born in a duckyard if only you come
out of a swan's egg!

He felt quite glad of all the misery and tribulation he had gone
through; he was the better able to appreciate his good-fortune now,
and all the beauty which greeted him. The big swans swam round and
round him, and stroked him with their bills.

Some little children came into the garden with corn and pieces of
bread, which they threw into the water; and the smallest one cried
out: "There is a new one!" The other children shouted with joy: "Yes,
a new one has come!" And they clapped their hands and danced about,
running after th