The Ugly Duckling
Classical Stories · No. 76 — Hatched in the wrong nest, and what the spring revealed.
- Classical Stories
- 35 min
- Ages 8–13
- 7 chapters
About this audiobook
In a farmyard, a duck's eggs hatch — all but one, larger than the rest, which finally opens to reveal a big, grey, ungainly chick. Because he looks different, he is pecked and mocked by the ducks, chased by the hens, scorned by the farmyard, until he runs away. Alone, he wanders through a hard world and a bitter winter — turned out by wild geese, frightened by hunters, nearly frozen, taken in and then driven off again — always the odd one, always alone, believing himself simply too ugly to belong anywhere. Then spring arrives, and he sees a flock of beautiful swans and, longing, approaches them ready to be rejected once more — and bends to the water, and finds in his own reflection not an ugly duckling but a swan.
Why it's worth a listen
A large grey bird hatches among ducklings and is mocked for being different by everyone he meets, through a long, cold, lonely winter — until spring comes and he sees his own reflection among a family of swans and understands at last what he was all along. Andersen's tender, hopeful story about not fitting in, and about becoming who you always were.
A question to keep
When you don't fit in anywhere, is something wrong with you — or are you simply in the wrong place?
Chapters
- Introduction
- The Last Egg in the Nest
- The Hard Ways of the Yard
- Into the Great Wild Marsh
- The Cottage and the Cold
- The Luminous Strangers
- A Question to Keep