丑小鸭

It was a lovely summer in the countryside. A mother duck was busy hatching eggs. Finally, the eggs began to crack. Little ducklings came out one by one. But one big egg was still lying there. The mother duck sighed and sat down on it again.

Several days later, a duckling came out of the egg. He was large and ugly. “ Is this my baby?“ the mother duck was confused. " Is that a turkey's egg?” The mother duck took the ducklings to the river. Everyone was swimming around, including the ugly duckling. The mother duck relaxed and smiled. " He is not a turkey, he is my child. I‘ll call him Ugly Duckling. ”

One day, an old duck came to see the ducklings. When she saw Ugly Duckling, she said to the mother duck, " This one is ugly. What a shame! ” “ Madam, he's not handsome, but he’s a good boy，“ the mother duck said.

One day, the mother duck took her kids to a chicken farm. The ducklings and chickens soon became friends, but no one wanted to play with Ugly Duckling. They laughed at him and gave him leftovers to eat. Ugly Duckling felt very sad.

As time went by, things got even worse. No one wanted to stay with Ugly Duckling. Finally even his mother began to dislike him. Poor Ugly Duckling ran off and soon came to a marsh where some wild ducks lived. But the wild ducks wouldn't talk to him, either.

Two wild geese found poor Ugly Duckling. " Would you like to fly away with us?" they asked. Ugly Duckling wanted to. But before he could reply, the two wild geese were shot dead by hunters. Hearing the shots, the wild ducks flew off at once. Ugly Duckling hid himself in the reeds.