And he lay quite still, while the shot rattled through the rushes, and bang after bang echoed through the air.

It was not till late in the day that all became quiet; but the poor youngster did not yet venture to rise, but waited several hours before he looked about him, and then hastened out of the marsh as fast as he could go. He ran across fields and meadows, till there arose such a storm that he could scarcely get on at all.

Towards evening he reached a wretched little cottage, that was in such a tumble-down condition, that if it remained standing at all, it could only be from not yet having made up its mind on which side it should fall.

The inmates of the cottage were a woman, a tom-cat, and a hen. The tom-cat, whom she called her darling, could raise his back and purr; and he could even throw out sparks, provided he were stroked against the grain. The hen had small, short legs, for which reason she was called Henny Shortlegs; she laid good eggs, and her mistress loved her as if she had been her own child.

Next morning, they perceived the little stranger, when the tom-cat began to purr, and the hen to cluck. 'What's that?' said the woman looking round. Not seeing very distinctly, she mistook the duckling for a fat duck that had lost its way. Why, this is quite a prize!' added she; 'I can now get duck's eggs, unless indeed it be a drake! We must wait a bit and see.'

So the duckling was kept on trial for three weeks; but no eggs were forthcoming. The tom-cat and the hen were the master and mistress of the house, and always said : 'We and the world'—for they fancied themselves to be the half, and by far the best half too, of the whole universe. The duckling thought there might be two

opinions on this point; but the hen would not admit of

any such doubts.

'Can you lay eggs?' asked she.

'No.'

'Then have the goodness to hold your tongue.' And the tom-cat inquired: Can you raise your or purr, or throw out sparks?'

'No.'

back,

'Then you have no business to have any opinion at all, when rational people are talking.'

The duckling sat in a corner very much out of spirits, when in came the fresh air and the sunshine, which gave him such a strange longing to swim on the water, that he could not help saying so to the hen.

'What's this whim?' said she that comes of being idle. If you could either lay eggs or purr, you would not indulge in such fancies.'

But it is so delightful to swim about on the water!' observed the duckling, and to feel it close over your head when you dive down to the bottom.'

A great pleasure, indeed,' quoth the hen. You must be crazy, surely! Only ask the cat-for he is the wisest creature I know-how he would like to swim on the water, or to dive under it. To say nothing of myself, just ask our old mistress, who is wiser than anybody in the world, whether she'd relish swimming and feeling the waters close above her head.'

'You can't understand me!' said the duckling.

'We can't understand you? I should like to know who could. You don't suppose you are wiser than the tom-cat and our mistress-to say nothing of myself? Now, look to it, and mind that you either lay eggs, or learn to purr and emit sparks.'

E

'I think I'll take my chance, and go abroad into the wide world,' said the duckling.

'Do,' said the hen.

And the duckling went forth, and swam on the water, and dived beneath its surface; but he was slighted by all other animals on account of his ugliness.

Autumn had now set in. The leaves of the forests had turned first yellow, and then brown; and the wind caught them up, and made them dance about. It began to be very cold in the higher regions of the air, and the clouds looked heavy with hail and flakes of snow; while the raven sat on a tree, crying: 'Caw! caw!' from sheer cold; and you began to shiver, if you merely thought about it. The poor duckling had a bad time of it! One evening, just as the sun was setting in all its glory, there came a whole flock of beautiful birds from a large grove. The duckling had never seen any so lovely before." They were dazzlingly white, with long, graceful necks; they were swans. They uttered a peculiar cry, and then spread their magnificent wings, and away they flew from the cold country, to warmer lands across the open sea. They rose so high-so high, that the ugly duckling felt a strange sensation come over him. He turned round and round in the water like a wheel, stretched his neck up into the air towards them, and uttered so loud and strange a cry, that he was frightened at it himself. Oh! never could he again forget those beautiful, happy birds; and when they were quite out of sight, he dived down to the bottom of the water, and when he once more rose to the surface, he was half beside himself. He knew not how these birds were called, nor whither they were bound; but he felt an affection for them, such as he had never yet experienced for any living creature. Nor did he even

presume to envy them; for how could it ever have entered his head to wish himself endowed with their loveliness? He would have been glad enough if the ducks had merely suffered him to remain among them— poor ugly animal that he was!

But it would be too painful to tell of all the privations and misery that the duckling endured during the hard winter. He was lying in a marsh, amongst the reeds, when the sun again began to shine. The larks were singing, and the spring had set in, in all its beauty.

The duckling now felt able to flap his wings; they rustled much louder than before, and bore him away most sturdily; and before he was well aware of it, he found himself in a large garden, where the apple-trees were in full blossom, and the fragrant elder was steeping its long, drooping branches in the waters of a winding canal. Oh, how beautiful everything looked in the first freshness of spring! Three magnificent white swans now emerged from the thicket before him; they flapped their wings, and then swam lightly on the surface of the water. The duckling recognised the beautiful creatures, and was impressed with feelings of melancholy peculiar to himself. 'I will fly towards those royal birds-and they will strike me dead for daring to approach them, so ugly as I am! But it matters not. Better to be killed by them, than to be pecked at by the ducks, beaten by the hens, pushed about by the girl that feeds the poultry, and to suffer want in the winter.' And he flew into the water, and swam towards these splendid swans, who rushed to meet him with rustling wings, the moment they saw him. 'Do but kill me!' said the poor animal, as he bent his head down to the surface of the water, and awaited his doom. But what did he see in the clear stream? Why,

his own image, which was no longer that of a heavylooking dark-gray bird, ugly and ill-favoured, but of a beautiful swan! It matters not being born in a duckyard, when one is hatched from a swan's egg!

He now rejoiced over all the misery and the straits he had endured, as it made him feel the full depth of the happiness that awaited him. And the large swans

swam round him, and stroked him with their beaks.

Some little children came into the garden, and threw bread-crumbs and corn into the water; and the youngest cried There is a new one!' The other children were delighted too, and repeated: Yes, there is a new one just come !' And they clapped their hands, and capered about, and then flew to their father and mother, and more bread and cake were flung into the water; and all said: 'The new one is the prettiest. young, and so lovely!' And the elder swans bowed

before him.

So

He then felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings. He did not himself know what to do. He was more than happy, yet none the prouder; for a good heart is never proud. He remembered how he had been pursued, and made game of; and now he heard everybody say he was the most beautiful of all beautiful birds. Even the elder-bush bent its boughs down to him in the water, and the sun appeared so warm, and so mild! He then flapped his wings, and raised his slender neck, as he cried, in the fulness of his heart: 'I never dreamed of such happiness while I was an ugly duckling!'