other
bird in the world.

He was not envious of these beautiful creatures; it never occurred to
him to wish to be as lovely as they. Poor ugly creature, how gladly he
would have lived even with the ducks, had they only treated him kindly
and given him encouragement.

The winter grew colder and colder; he was obliged to swim about on the
water to keep it from freezing, but every night the space on which he
swam became smaller and smaller. At length it froze so hard that the ice
in the water crackled as he moved, and the duckling had to paddle with
his legs as well as he could, to keep the space from closing up. He
became exhausted at last and lay still and helpless, frozen fast in the
ice.

Early in the morning a peasant who was passing by saw what had happened.
He broke the ice in pieces with his wooden shoe and carried the duckling
home to his wife. The warmth revived the poor little creature; but when
the children wanted to play with him, the duckling thought they would do
him some harm, so he started up in terror, fluttered into the milk pan,
and splashed the milk about the room. Then the woman clapped her hands,
which frightened him still more. He flew first into the butter cask,
then into the meal tub and out again. What a condition he was in! The
woman screamed and struck at him with the tongs; the children laughed
and screamed and tumbled over each other in their efforts to catch him,
but luckily he escaped. The door stood open; the poor creature could
just manage to slip out among the bushes and lie down quite exhausted in
the newly fallen snow.

It would be very sad were I to relate all the misery and privations
which the poor little duckling endured during the hard winter; but when
it had passed he found himself lying one morning in a moor, amongst the
rushes. He felt the warm sun shining and heard the lark singing and saw
that all around was beautiful spring.

Then the young bird felt that his wings were strong, as he flapped them
against his sides and rose high into the air. They bore him onwards
until, before he well knew how it had happened, he found himself in a
large garden. The apple trees were in full blossom, and the fragrant
elders bent their long green branches down to the stream, which wound
round a smooth lawn. Everything looked beautiful in the freshness of
early spring. From a thicket close by came three beautiful white swans,
rustling their feathers and swimming lightly over the smooth w