ange sadness.

"I will fly away to them, to the royal birds! and they will beat me,
because I, that am so ugly, dare to come near them. But it is all the
same. Better to be killed by them than to be chased by ducks, and beaten
by fowls, and pushed about by the girl who takes care of the poultry
yard, and to suffer hunger in winter!" And he flew out into the water,
and swam toward the beautiful swans: these looked at him, and came
sailing down upon him with outspread wings. "Kill me!" said the poor
creature, and bent his head down upon the water, and waited for death.
But what saw he in the clear water? He saw below him his own image; and
lo! it was no longer a clumsy dark-gray bird, ugly and hateful to look
at, but--a swan!

It matters nothing if one is born in a duck-yard, if one has only lain
in a swan's egg.

He felt quite glad at all the need and hard times he had borne; now he
could joy in his good luck in all the brightness that was round him.
And the great swans swam round him and stroked him with their beaks.

Into the garden came little children, who threw bread and corn into the
water; and the youngest cried, "There is a new one!" and the other
children shouted, "Yes, a new one has come!" And they clapped their
hands and danced about, and ran to their father and mother; and bread
and cake were thrown into the water; and they all said, "The new one is
the most beautiful of all! so young and so handsome!" and the old swans
bowed their heads before him.

Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings, for he did
not know what to do; he was so happy, and yet not at all proud, for a
good heart is never proud. He thought how he had been driven about and
mocked and despised; and now he heard them all saying that he was the
most beautiful of all beautiful birds. And the lilacs bent their
branches straight down into the water before him, and the sun shone warm
and mild. Then his wings rustled, he lifted his slender neck, and cried
from the depths of his heart:--

"I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling."

WHAT THE MOON SAW

Hear what the Moon told me:--

"I have seen a cadet promoted to be an officer, and dressing himself for
the first time in his gorgeous uniform; I have seen young girls in
bridal attire, and the prince's young bride in her wedding dress: but I
never saw such bliss as that of a little four-year-old girl whom I
watched this evening. She had go