o the very bottom, and when he
came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the
birds were, nor where they were flying to; but he loved them more than
he had ever loved any one. He did not envy them at all. How could he
think of wishing to have such loveliness as they had? He would have been
glad if only the ducks would have let him be among them--the poor,
ugly creature!

And the winter grew so cold, so cold! The Duckling had to swim about in
the water, to keep it from freezing over; but every night the hole in
which he swam about became smaller and smaller. It froze so hard that
the icy cover sounded; and the Duckling had to use his legs all the time
to keep the hole from freezing tight. At last he became worn out, and
lay quite still, and thus froze fast in the ice.

Early in the morning a peasant came by, and found him there; he took his
wooden shoe, broke the ice to pieces, and carried the Duckling home to
his wife. Then the Duckling came to himself again. The children wanted
to play with him; but he thought they wanted to hurt him, and in his
terror he flew up into the milk-pan, so that the milk spilled over into
the room. The woman screamed and shook her hand in the air, at which the
Duckling flew down into the tub where they kept the butter, and then
into the meal-barrel and out again. How he looked then! The woman
screamed, and struck at him with the fire tongs; the children tumbled
over one another as they tried to catch the Duckling; and they laughed
and they screamed!--well was it that the door stood open, and the poor
creature was able to slip out between the bushes into the newly-fallen
snow--there he lay quite worn out.

But it would be too sad if I were to tell all the misery and care which
the Duckling had to bear in the hard winter. He lay out on the moor
among the reeds, when the sun began to shine again and the larks to
sing; it was a beautiful spring.

Then all at once the Duckling could flap his wings: they beat the air
more strongly than before, and bore him stoutly away; and before he well
knew it, he found himself in a great garden, where the elder-trees stood
in flower, and bent their long green branches down to the winding canal,
and the lilacs smelt sweet. Oh, here it was beautiful, fresh, and
springlike! and from the thicket came three glorious white swans; they
rustled their wings, and sat lightly on the water. The Duckling knew the
splendid creatures, and felt a str