wings: they beat the air
more strongly than before, and bore it strongly away; and before it well
knew how all this happened, it found itself in a great garden, where the
elder trees smelt sweet, and bent their long green branches down to the
canal that wound through the region. Oh, here it was so beautiful, such
a gladness of Spring! and from the thicket came three glorious white
swans; they rustled their wings, and swam lightly on the water. The
Duckling knew the splendid creatures, and felt oppressed by a peculiar
sadness.

"I will fly away to them, to the royal birds! and they will kill me,
because I, that am so ugly, dare to approach them. But it is of no
consequence! Better to be killed by _them_ than to be pursued 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 it flew out into the
water, and swam toward the beautiful swans: these looked at it, and came
sailing down upon it with outspread wings. "Kill me!" said the poor
creature, and bent its head down upon the water, expecting nothing but
death. But what was this that it saw in the clear water? It beheld its
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.

It felt quite glad at all the need and misfortune it had suffered, now
it realized its happiness in all the splendor that surrounded it. And
the great swans swam around it, and stroked it 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 joyously: "Yes, a new one has arrived!" 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 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. He
thought how he had been persecuted and despised; and now he heard them
saying that he was the most beautiful of all birds. Even the elder tree
bent its branches straight down into the water before him, and the sun
shone warm and mild. Then his wings rustled, he lifted his slender neck,