SWANS.

* * * * *

[_The_ UGLY DUCKLING _sits on the hill of a_ MOLE _near the brook which
winds through the Moor Farm._]

MOLE (_from the mole hill_). Will you please move? I wish to come out.

DUCKLING (_rising quickly_). Why, 't is a mole hill I've been sitting on!

(_The Mole comes out from the hill._)

I'm sorry, friend Mole, I didn't notice your hill.

MOLE. Who are you?

DUCKLING. Madam Duck of this farm is my mother.

MOLE. That can't be! You are no duck.

DUCKLING. Yes, but I am. Only, I am uglier than any duck in the world.

MOLE. You have not the voice of a duck. You do not speak with the quack of
which they are so proud. And then, if you are truly a duck, why are you not
with your family?

DUCKLING. They drove me out last summer because I was ugly and could not
quack.

MOLE. Then why have you come back?

DUCKLING. To let the swans kill me.

MOLE. What! To let them kill you?

DUCKLING. I would rather be killed by those beautiful birds than pecked by
the hens, beaten by the geese, or starved with hunger in the winter.

MOLE. Perhaps you are not so ugly now as you were then.

DUCKLING. I have not looked at myself in the water since spring came and
took the ice away. But I know well enough how dark and badly formed I am.
The swans will kill me if I dare to approach them.

[_A noise is heard in the distance._]

MOLE. They are coming! Go, while there is yet time.

DUCKLING. There is no place to go to. All winter long I was driven from
moor to moor. I could not make a friend--I no longer wish to live.

[_The_ SWANS _are seen swimming down the brook._]

MOLE. They are here! Do not go to them, I pray you!

DUCKLING (_shaking head_). Farewell!

[_He flies to the water and swims toward the Swans. They see him and rush
to meet him with outstretched wings._]

DUCKLING. Kill me! Kill me!

FIRST SWAN. Kill you! Why, we have come to welcome you, beautiful stranger.

SECOND SWAN. We saw you from afar, and came to meet you.

THIRD SWAN. We are so happy to have you with us!

[_Enter several_ CHILDREN.]

FIRST CHILD. See, there is a new swan!

SECOND CHILD (_calling_). Father, mother, come! There is another swan!

[_Enter the_ FATHER _and_ MOTHER.]

FATHER. What were you calling?

THIRD CHILD. A new swan has come! Look!

MOTHER. I see him! He is beautiful!

FATHER. He is very young, but he is the most beautiful of all!

FOURTH CHILD. See how the oth