Next to a meadow side cottage was a small lake. By the lake was a small ravine that was home to a soon to be family of ducks. The mother duck was fatigued and exhausted from sitting on the nest for a long time. "Crack crack!" the eggs started hatching. "Ahhhhh finally done" she thought. But there was one last egg. She sighed. She sat back down until it cracked. The creature that emerged was pretty ugly! It was larger than the others and had grayish black feathers. The mother was a little surprised, but was determined to go on with her life. She went into the lake with all the ducklings following along quacking. All of them could naturally swim so, therefore the ugly one, (we"ll call him Bob) was not a turkey chick. After a nice swim, the ducks went in to the duck yard where poor, poor Bob was made fun of and harassed. .
"He has never done any thing to you! You leave him alone!" said the mother duck. (We"ll call her Betsy-sue.) Bob decided, at his wits end, to run away. He ran into the ravine and did not stop till he collapsed at the edge of a rather small pond. There he saw some feral ducks. They agreed to let him stay just as long as he didn't decide to marry into the family. .
Months passed and Bob decided to become wild and move around from place to place. One day in the autumn, Bob came to a small body of water. In that body of water was a beautiful sight, three heavenly birds with feathers as white as snow. The water was a clear, irregularly shaped pane of glass. The heavenly birds flew away. Bob, captivated by their sheer beauty followed them to a pond garden. Respecting their beauty, he bowed down in front of them, wanting to die, since Bob was soooo ugly. What he saw in the waters reflection surprised him, he was a Swan! One of those beautiful birds! .
He couldn't believe he spent half his life hiding and worrying about how he looked.