retty
sight? Come, we must go to tell mother.

SCENE IV

TIME: _one month later_.
PLACE: _same as_ SCENE III.

* * * * *

OUR SPARROW.
THE VERY OLD SPARROW.
THE OLD SPARROW.
THE YOUNG SPARROW.
THE VERY YOUNG SPARROW.
THE WICKED ELF.

* * * * *

[_All the_ SPARROWS _except Our Sparrow sit on the stone wall._]

YOUNG SPARROW. I say the stranger should be driven away!

VERY YOUNG SPARROW. So say I!

OLD SPARROW. The stranger is a sparrow, but still not a sparrow.

VERY OLD SPARROW. And yet she is only different by a tuft of white
feathers.

YOUNG SPARROW. And such a tuft! For all the world like a loaf of bread!

VERY YOUNG SPARROW. I'd think it shame to carry such on _my_ head!

OLD SPARROW. I fear 't will shame us all to have this stranger about.

VERY OLD SPARROW. And yet we are not ashamed to eat the crumbs this
stranger brings.

OLD SPARROW. Well, 't is true she has been most kind.

VERY OLD SPARROW. 'T is a hard winter! Shall we drive away the one who
finds food where we find none?

YOUNG SPARROW. And calls us every time!

VERY YOUNG SPARROW. And never eats till we have come!

VERY OLD SPARROW. I've kept in mind the crumbs she has found us. Now, how
many do you think?

OLD SPARROW. I cannot say, for I did not think to notice.

VERY OLD SPARROW. There only lacks two or three now of being a loaf.

OTHER SPARROWS (_greatly surprised_). A loaf?

VERY OLD SPARROW (_nodding_). A loaf.

VERY YOUNG SPARROW. Here comes the stranger now!

OLD SPARROW. She brings a crust!

[OUR SPARROW _flies up with a crust in its bill._]

OUR SPARROW. Come, friends, 't is for all of you!

VERY OLD SPARROW. Do you know, stranger bird, that, with these crumbs, you
have brought us in all one loaf?

[_Our Sparrow drops the crust for the others. At once it changes into_
INGE. _The birds fly away frightened._]

INGE. Ah! Now I understand. The loaf had to be made up, crumb by crumb.

[_The_ WICKED ELF _suddenly appears._]

WICKED ELF. Come, pretty maid, come to the Elf Hill!

INGE. No, no! I will not!

WICKED ELF. But we have such pretty things to tell you!

INGE. I care not for your pretty things! I go to fetch wood for my mother.
I go to walk in the mud if need be. Away with you! I'll have none of you!
Away, away, I say!

THE UGLY DUCKLING

SCENE I

TIME: _one summer morning_.
PLACE: _the farmyard of the Moor Farm_.