Once, in a quiet country place, a mother duck sat patiently upon her nest until, one by one, her little ones broke their shells. Yet the last hatchling was unlike all the rest: larger, awkward, and grey, with neither the neat shape nor the bright feathers of his brothers and sisters.

Because he seemed strange, the poor creature was mocked by the ducks, pecked by the hens, and driven away by nearly every beast he met. Even those who meant him no harm regarded him as an unfortunate thing. At length, weary of scorn, he fled into the wide world.

Through marshes, farms, bitter winds, and the long cruelty of winter he wandered alone. More than once he believed he should perish. Yet in his heart remained the memory of certain splendid white birds he had once seen flying across the autumn sky. They had filled him with a longing he could neither name nor forget.

When spring returned, the wanderer came upon a peaceful lake. There he saw those noble birds once more: swans, gliding upon the water with such grace that he resolved to approach them, though he feared they might strike him dead for his ugliness.

But when he bent his head over the clear water, he beheld his own reflection and scarcely knew it. The clumsy grey bird was gone. In his place stood a beautiful swan, strong, radiant, and full-grown.

The other swans welcomed him among them, and the children upon the shore cried out that he was the loveliest of all. Yet he felt no pride, for suffering had taught him gentleness.

Thus the creature whom all had despised discovered that he had never been ugly at all: he had merely been growing into what he was always meant to become.