* * * * *

MADAM DUCK.
FIRST DUCKLING.
SECOND DUCKLING.
THE UGLY DUCKLING.
THIRD DUCKLING.
TURKEY.
GRAY GANDER.
WHITE GOOSE.
PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN.
RED ROOSTER.

* * * * *

[MADAM DUCK _enters the farmyard with her new brood of_ DUCKLINGS. _The
other fowls approach._]

TURKEY (_showing displeasure_). A new brood of ducks! Look you all--a new
brood of ducks!

GRAY GANDER (_also displeased_). As if there were not enough of us here
already!

WHITE GOOSE (_likewise displeased_). True enough,--I can scarce find a
corner for my afternoon nap!

RED ROOSTER. It seems to me, Madam Duck, that you should not have brought
us a new brood this summer.

MADAM DUCK. What is that you are saying?

TURKEY. It seems to all of us, madam, that there is no room here for a new
brood.

PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN. Friends, be just. Madam Duck has a perfect right to
bring her ducklings here. Besides, the children are quite pretty.

MADAM DUCK. They are beautiful! You shall all see that for yourselves.
Come, children, into a row with you!

[_The Ducklings form themselves into a row. The Ugly Duckling is last._]

MADAM DUCK. Legs wide apart! Toes out! Now speak prettily to my old
friends.

DUCKLINGS (_all but the last_). Quack! Quack!

MADAM DUCK. There now--are they not charming?

GRAY GANDER (_looking down row_). Why, yes, they all seem graceful
enough--here--wait a moment! Does that last one there belong to you?

[_All the fowls look at the last Duckling._]

MADAM DUCK. Oh yes! He is larger than the others and perhaps not so pretty,
but--

TURKEY (_interrupting_). Make no excuses for him, madam. We can see for
ourselves what he is.

GRAY GANDER. In all my life I never saw anything so ugly!

WHITE GOOSE. He is neither duck nor goose!

PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN. Nor duck nor chick!

TURKEY. I'd be 'shamed to have a turkey look like that!

RED ROOSTER. I'd allow no hen of mine to claim him!

MADAM DUCK. Come now, come now, friends. The poor child is not pretty, but
he is good, and he can swim even better than the others.

TURKEY. That he can swim well is nothing to me!

RED ROOSTER. Nor to me! He should be driven out, I say!

MADAM DUCK. Let him alone; he is not doing any harm.

FIRST DUCKLING. But, mother, no one will look at us if he stays with us!

MADAM Duck (_thoughtfully._) Now perhaps it may turn out that way.

SECOND DUCKLING. I'll not walk about with him!