put up your back and purr?' said the tom-cat.

"'No.'

"'Well, then, you ought to have no opinion of your own, where
sensible people are speaking.'

"And the duck sat in the corner, and was very sad; when suddenly it
took it into its head to think of the fresh air and the sunshine;
and it had such an inordinate longing to swim on the water, that it
could not help telling the hen of it.

"'What next, I wonder!' said the hen, 'you have nothing to do, and
so you sit brooding over such fancies. Lay eggs, or purr, and
you'll forget them.'

"'But it is so delightful to swim on the water!' said the duck--'so
delightful when it dashes over one's head, and one dives down to
the very bottom.'

"'Well, that must be a fine pleasure!' said the hen. 'You are
crazy, I think. Ask the cat, who is the cleverest man I know, if he
would like to swim on the water, or perhaps to dive, to say nothing
of myself. Ask our mistress, the old lady, and there is no one in
the world cleverer than she is; do you think that she would much
like to swim on the water, and for the water to dash over her
head?'

"'You don't understand me,' said the duck.

"'Understand, indeed! If we don't understand you, who should? I
suppose you won't pretend to be cleverer than the tom-cat, or our
mistress, to say nothing of myself? Don't behave in that way,
child; but be thankful for all the kindness that has been shown
you. Have you not got into a warm room, and have you not the
society of persons from whom something is to be learnt? But you are
a blockhead, and it is tiresome to have to do with you. You may
believe what I say; I am well disposed towards you; I tell you what
is disagreeable, and it is by that one recognises one's true
friends.'

"'I think I shall go into the wide world,' said the duckling.

"'Well then, go!' answered the hen.

"And so the duck went. It swam on the water, it dived down; but was
disregarded by every animal on account of its ugliness.

"One evening--the sun was setting most magnificently--there came a
whole flock of large beautiful birds out of the bushes; never had
the duck seen any thing so beautiful. They were of a brilliant
white, with long slender necks: they were swans. They uttered a
strange note, spread their superb lon