Page 23 - English Reader - 4

But the old duck just looked disapprovingly at the duckling and went away.

Except for Mother Duck, everyone seemed to dislike him. The ducks bit him, the hens
pecked him, and the girl who fed the poultry kicked him, and all because he was ugly.

Mother Duck stroked the duckling’s neck and smoothed his ruffled feathers. But she
could not stop the others from ill-treating him and they continued being mean and
nasty.

At last, when even his brothers and sisters began to peck him and laugh at him, the
duckling decided to leave his home. And one day, he ran away.

For a while it was all right. He frolicked in the
pond and played by himself. Then autumn

came. The leaves turned yellow and brown.
The air became cold and soon it began
to snow. The poor duckling was cold and
miserable.

One evening, just as the sun was setting, the
duckling saw a flock of swans. Their plumage

was dazzling white, and they had long, slender
necks. He watched in wonder as the beautiful
birds spread out their long wings, and flew
away from the cold regions to warmer countries

across the sea.
The duckling was filled with wonder for he had never seen anything

so beautiful in his life.
For a long time he could not forget those beautiful birds.

Soon it was winter and the weather became so cold that the ponds began to freeze.
The duckling had to swim round and round in the water to keep it from freezing. And,

at last, he was so exhausted that he could not move any more and he lay stiff and cold
in the ice.

Fortunately, a farmer passing by, saw him and carried the duckling home to his wife
and looked after him. Winter turned to summer and the duckling became bigger and
stronger.

One day, he decided to go out, but unfortunately, some dogs saw the duckling and
began to chase him. The duckling ran as fast as he could till he came upon a pond and
dived in.

After a while when the dogs went away and the duckling began to swim. It was a long
time since he had been in the water and he felt very happy.

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