ry with it, and said, "If the cat would only catch
you, you ugly creature!" And the mother said, "If you were only far
away!" And the ducks bit it, and the chickens beat it, and the girl who
had to feed the poultry kicked at it with her foot.

Then it ran and flew over the fence, and the little birds in the bushes
flew up in fear.

"That is because I am so ugly!" thought the Duckling; and it shut its
eyes, but flew no farther; thus it came out into the great moor, where
the Wild Ducks lived. Here it lay the whole night long; and it was weary
and downcast.

Toward morning the Wild Ducks flew up, and looked at their new
companion.

"What sort of a one are you?" they asked; and the Duckling turned in
every direction, and bowed as well as it could. "You are remarkably
ugly!" said the Wild Ducks. "But that is very indifferent to us, so long
as you do not marry into our family."

Poor thing! It certainly did not think of marrying, and only hoped to
obtain leave to lie among the reeds and drink some of the swamp-water.

Thus it lay two whole days; then came thither two Wild Geese, or,
properly speaking, two wild ganders. It was not long since each had
crept out of an egg, and that's why they were so saucy.

"Listen, comrade," said one of them. "You're so ugly that I like you.
Will you go with us, and become a bird of passage? Near here, in another
moor, there are a few sweet lovely wild geese, all unmarried, and all
able to say, 'Rap!' You've a chance of making your fortune, ugly as you
are!"

"Piff! paff!" resounded through the air; and the two ganders fell down
dead in the swamp, and the water became blood-red. "Piff! paff!" it
sounded again, and whole flocks of wild geese rose up from the reeds.
And then there was another report. A great hunt was going on. The
hunters were lying in wait all round the moor, and some were even
sitting up in the branches of the trees, which spread far over the
reeds. The blue smoke rose up like clouds among the dark trees, and was
wafted far away across the water; and the hunting dogs came--splash,
splash!--into the swamp, and the rushes and the reeds bent down on every
side. That was a fright for the poor Duckling! It turned its head, and
put it under its wing; but at that moment a frightful great dog stood
close by the Duckling. His tongue hung far out of his mouth and his eyes
gleamed horrible and ugly; he thrust out his nose close against the
Duckling, showed his sharp teeth, and