On a beautiful Island, where wildlife was everywhere you looked, lived a family of ducks. The family was soon expecting little duckling eggs to hatch any day now. Mother duck was growing restless and was ready to adventure with her young. She couldn’t imagine how beautiful her babies would be, how marvelous it would be to finally introduce them into the big world. Suddenly, one by one eggs started shaking, and slowly little beaks were appearing out of the eggs. “ Everyone hurry! Gather around! The time has finally come!” the mother duck exclaimed.


As they all examined the ducks and listened to their quacking, they suddenly realized that all but one egg had hatched. This brought great worry to the mother duck. “ Why has it not hatched yet honey?” she asks her husband. Not showing much concern, he replies, “ I’m sure it is just a dead egg, those happen.” Not satisfied with that answer, the mother duck proceeds to sit on the egg until night falls. As the sun starts to rise the next morning, the shaking of the egg beneath her awakens the mother. She decided not to call anyone over, for she didn’t want to be made fun of if perhaps the shaking was a false birth of the duckling. As time passes, she notices the egg cracking, and slowly but surely there is a baby duckling emerging from the egg- shell.


Examining the duckling, she sees just how beautiful this duckling truly is. She knows he is not like the others, for his quack is breath taking and his markings are like no other she’s seen before. The moment she met eyes with him, she beckoned all the others to come join her. “Come now, all of you! He’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before!” the mother quacked. The other ducklings joined their brother and knew that they couldn’t compare to him. Although he was different, he didn’t think differently of his siblings, for he had thought that maybe he wasn’t beautiful, that he was different and would not be accepted.


As time went on, they began to swim and flap their wings and start to really explore the ground they walked on. But as time went on, they older ducks began to notice that not only was he different looking than the others, but also he was much more developed. He could do things that the others tried very hard to do, but couldn’t find the skill or strength to succeed in doing it. One night, when all the duckling had settled in, mother and father walked together and thought about their children. “ I must say I truly believe all of our children are beautiful, but something about that one is magnificent.” Said the father. The mother duck knew this already of course, but she felt as if she was betraying her other children by saying one is more special than the other. Ignoring to discuss this more, they walked back to their children and slowly dozed off.


The next day, they decided to travel towards the forest. They had to be cautious because there were occasionally duck hunters. The ducklings were getting to the age where they knew where they were and what they were doing. They no longer needed to be watched quite as closely. As they ventured further into the forest, the beautiful duckling became more adventurous and curious about where they were going.

The mother and father duck kept telling their ducklings they were almost to their destination as they grew restless. As they kept walking, the ducklings started to ask the other duckling why it was that he was so much more special than they were. “ I don’t know, i don’t think of myself as different than you guys.” They looked at him as if he were stupid or something. They asked him, “ Do you not see the difference from you and us? We are not the same, you have been given something we could never dream of having. True Beauty.” The duckling stopped for a second and thought to himself. He started to question if he was really like them and if he belonged in their family. Before he could carry on with his thoughts, he heard his mother exclaim that they had arrived at their destination.

Slowly walking towards the unusual surroundings they all were very confused of why they had come to this very place. They had arrived at a very calm and peaceful animal farm. It wasn’t their home, but it had animals just like them. It had a pond for the ducklings to safely play in, the sun shined on the farm and there was life everywhere. The parents told the ducklings the basic rules and warned them once, “ Don’t go to far, there are dangers around here such as the birds that fly free and the occasional guard dog.” “Meet back here at dawn.” Demanded their father.

The ducklings went their own ways, each with a partner. Everyone but the beautiful duckling. No one walked with him, who would want to meet new animals and be compared to something beautiful? They all played and quacked safely and the one duckling went by himself towards the barn. He cautiously walked in through a wooden opening being aware of any dogs like his parents said. He went in the hay, played in the mud, met the pigs and geese and no one once mentioned his amazing beauty. He felt accepted he was having the time of his life. He then ventured further into the barn and found this one compartment where he found a mother duck who looked just like him.

Not saying anything, the ducking slowly entered the compartment and examined the creature. She had been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. As he was walking he stepped on a twig, the sound from the snapping twig attracted the mothers attention towards the duckling. She looked very confused, for he looked like one of her own but she knew she had never seen him before. The duckling asks her, “ Why are you sitting in here all alone? It’s so beautiful outside.” She looks at him and finally says “ Well hello, i did not see you there. I would love to be out in the sun, but i am missing an egg and i am very worried for where it could be.” The duckling felt for her and asked if maybe he could help her find her egg.

The mother says, “ That would be wonderful! But i think i may have just found my last duckling. I believe that with your beauty and markings, you may be my lost child.” The duckling is speechless, he does not know what to think. He has not had a very long life, but what he knows for now is that he has another family. He knows that he hatched not far from here. The mother duck says “I believe that when i was sitting on you when you were an egg, along with your other siblings, you may have slipped out from beneath me and rolled down that grassy hill that you see and landed with that other family of ducklings.” He slowly realizes that she might be right, maybe that’s why his “siblings” had been judging him for being different.

It all makes sense to the duckling and he is united with his real true duckling brothers and sisters. He sees just how beautiful they all are, that he looks just like his family and that he is no longer different. As dawn appears he stays with his real family and his thought to be mother sees the ducklings around him and that he fits in and it all makes sense to her now, she knows that he is where he should be and as she walks away, she gives him a loving smile. The mother duckling is over joyed to have her whole family together at last, the other ducklings are accepting to their brother and as night falls they all close their eyes and sleep. Their mother watches them with a peaceful look on her face and they all live happily ever after.