The Ugly Duckling

NARRATOR: On a beautiful summer day, a family of ducks is taking a swim while another is enjoying a
stroll by the bank. But one duck is sitting on her eggs among the tall leaves.

MOTHER DUCKLING: I wonder when my babies are going to come out. They are taking so long to hatch!
It is so lonely, no one has the time to visit me.

NARRATOR: But Mommy duck didn’t have to wait too long. Soon the eggs started cracking and the little
ducklings started taking small unsteady steps out of the shells.

3 BABY DUCKLINGS: Quack quack, quack quack.

MOTHER DUCKLING: Oooh, my babies are so beautiful! Now come and line up here all of you.
One..Two..Three..Four…Five..Hey, there should be one more.

NARRATOR: Mother duck looked around, and saw one egg which had not yet hatched

MOTHER DUCKLING: I think I will have to sit again on this egg till it hatches. It seems pretty large.

NARRATOR: Soon the last egg hatched, but the duckling that crept out was large and ugly.

MOTHER DUCKLING: This little fellow doesn’t look like his brothers and sisters.

NARRATOTR: The next day, Mother Duck leads her brood to the water.

MOTHER DUCKLING: Oh! I am proud today that my ducklings are swimming so well! And how well the
youngest one is swimming.

Come on kids, that’s enough for today. We must get to the farm before it turns dark.

NARRATOR: The duck family makes its way to the farmhouse, where there are lots of other ducks.

DUCK 1: What is that strange looking creature doing here?

DUCK 2: The other ducklings are so cute but this one is so big and ugly.

DUCK 3: He is ugly. We don’t want him here.

MOTHER DUCKLING: That’s not a nice thing to say.

He is still small, and I’m sure he will grow up to be beautiful too.

NARRATOR: But the other ducklings continued to bully and make fun of the ugly duckling.

MOTHER DUCKLING: I hope the ducklings stop this nonsense.

I can’t bear to see that poor child looking so sad.

NARRATOR: But as days went by, things started becoming worse for the ugly duckling. Wherever he
went, everyone was mean to him.

DUCK 1: Have you ever seen anything uglier than this?

DUCK 3: Uff! Seeing this creature in the morning, my day will also be as ugly as he is.
DUCK 2: Ha..Ha…he seems to be getting uglier by the day.

NARRATOR: The Ugly Duckling just wanted to hide somewhere and cry. Even his brothers and sisters
were rude to him.

BABY DUCKLING 1: Don’t come near us.

BABY DUCKLING 2: Go away!

BABY DUCKLING 3: I wish the cat comes and takes you.

NARRATOR: Mother Duck was very sad to see everyone treat the ugly ducking so badly.

UGLY DUCKLING: Nobody wants to talk to me or play with me because I am ugly. I will run away from
here.

NARRATOR: So the ugly duckling flew over the fence of the farmyard, and continued flying till he
spotted a large moor. He decided to spend the night there.

UGLY DUCKLING: I am so tired. I think I will spend the night here.

NARRATOR: Next morning, the ugly duckling woke up to the sound of loud quacking. He opened his eyes
and saw a flock of wild ducks.

DUCK 4: Who are you? What are you doing here?

UGLY DUCKLING: Can I please stay here for a while? I have nowhere to go.

DUCK 4: You are ugly….(a long pause) Stay here, but don’t get in our way.

NARRATOR: The Ugly Duckling stayed on the moor for a few days. He felt lonely, but no one bullied him
or hurt him because of his looks.

One morning, the duckling heard a noise like a big bang. He lay still, too scared to move. When he finally
lifted his head and looked around, all the other ducks had fled.

The ugly duckling also fled from the moor as fast as it could. It flew as fast as its young wings would take
him. However, suddenly there was thunder and lightning, scaring the little duckling.

UGLY DUCKLING: Brrr. I am so wet and cold. That cottage there looks warm, maybe I can take shelter
there.

NARRATOR: The cottage belonged to an old lady, who lived with with her tomcat and hen, who found
the duckling the next morning.

***Cluck cluck, meow meow

OLD LADY: What is happening here? Why are you making so much noise? What is this we have here?

Looks like a duck, though a very ugly one. I know what I will do. I will keep it with me and wait for it to
lay eggs. Then I will have eggs from my hen and from this duck too.

Ah, but I do hope this is a duck and not a drake.

CAT: Hey you, don’t you get scared when you see your face in the mirror? Look at me. My coat is so
silky. Look at my whiskers, so long and beautiful. The mistress says my walk is so graceful.

HEN: You are such a loser. You cannot even lay an egg! Look at my eggs, such lovely big and brown ones.

NARRATOR: The ugly duckling continued to be lonely. He would sit in front of the window looking at the
small pond outside.

UGLY DUCKLING: How I wish I could swim in that pond. It used to be so nice when I swam in the cool
water back home.

HEN: Are you mad? The mistress is not going to let you go. You have a safe house, what more do you
want? Behave yourself and don’t anger the mistress, the cat, or even me. Want to swim, indeed!

NARRATOR: The ugly duckling felt very, very sad, wondering what to do.

UGLY DUCKLING: I know this place is safe, but I feel like a prisoner here, being punished by not being
allowed to swim.

I want to swim – I want to be free to swim and fly as I please.

I have to escape from here somehow.

NARRATOR: So one night, the duckling quietly crept out of the cottage and went in search of a new
home. Soon he found a beautiful lake where he could swim and dive.

UGLY DUCKLING: Ahhhhh!

(Splash) This is such a lovely place. It feels so good to swim after so long. I hope the other animals and
birds here are friendly so I don’t have to move away from here also.

NARRATOR: But alas, here too the other animals did not want to be friends with the ugly duckling.

UGLY DUCKLING: Why does everybody keep avoiding me? Just because I am ugly, it doesn’t mean
everyone has to be mean! No one wants to play with me or even talk to me!

NARRATOR: So life continued in this miserable way for the ugly duckling. Soon, the seasons changed.
Autumn set in, and the colour of the leaves changed from red to orange and then gold. Winter followed.

The forest turned white, and a very cold wind set in. The dark clouds made the duckling feeling even
more gloomy and sad, so the duckling decided to go to the lakeside. And what a lovely sight he saw
there!

UGLY DUCKLING: What are these beautiful birds? I don’t think I have seen them before. How beautifully
they spread their large wings! It looks like they are not flying but just gliding through the sky.

NARRATOR: Though the winter grew colder and colder, the duckling continued to swim despite the
freezing water, and then finally took refuge in some bushes. Finally, it was spring again. Plants started
sprouting and the sun peeped down from the sky. The duckling was so happy that it was becoming
warm again.

UGLY DUCKLING: Everything around me has become so beautiful. My wings have also become strong
and I can now swim in the pond close by.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, the duckling once again saw the same beautiful birds that he had seen at the
start of spring, and quickly ran and hid behind some bushes.

UGLY DUCKLING: Those birds are so beautiful. I better not go near them, or they too will make fun of
me.

I am so scared that they might even kill me!

I am so tired of being picked on by everybody, first the ducklings at the farm, my own brothers and
sisters, the hen and tomcat at the cottage, and everybody else.

I wish I had never been born!

(Sob sob sob.)

NARRATOR: The duckling went to a quiet spot on the lake where nobody could see him. He was very,
very sad, and big fat tears rolled down its face.

Suddenly, the duckling saw its own reflection in the lake, and couldn’t believe its eyes!

For staring at him in the clear water below was his own reflection, no longer a dark, grey bird, ugly and
repulsive to look at. Instead, he had turned into a graceful and beautiful swan.

The ugly duckling had transformed into a beautiful swan!!

All the other swans came to greet the newcomer, and stroked his neck with their beaks.

Finally, the ugly little thing was accepted and loved by his new friends, to whom he belonged, the
beautiful and graceful swans.

A family with two children came to see the swans swimming.

BB BOY: Look, there is a new one. Father, mother, come here, there is another swan. A new one has
arrived.”

BB GIRL: The new one is the most beautiful of all.

Oh, he is so young and pretty!

NARRATOR: The swan did not know how to react to so much praise. He felt shy and tried to hide his
face. After being mocked and taunted and bullied for so long, he couldn’t believe he was being
appreciated and accepted! And he was actually being called beautiful!

UGLY DUCKLING: I never dreamt that I would see a day when someone would call me beautiful!

I wish I had received the same love and affection when I was the little and ugly creature, I wouldn’t have
spent such a sad childhood.
Why do people treat others according to their looks?

That is so, so sad!

***Most everyone was mean to the ugly duckling. They called him names and made fun of him. Do you
think this made him feel good? Was it easy for him to be patient when this happened?

Sometimes it is hard to be patient with others who are different than us. Do you think things
would be easier if everybody was the same?

Different people have different ways of seeing things. We can learn very important lessons by
talking and listening to people who are different than we are. And remember, today’s ugly duckling can
be tomorrow’s beautiful swan.***