| The Unlikely Duckling It was a glorious and beautiful sunny day. The mother duck was perched on her nest, waiting for her eggs to hatch. "Quack, quack!" she said. It had been a plenty long enough time for them to come out of their shells, and sure enough the first ducklings began to hatch from their shells. The first two ducklings pecked their way through rather quickly, followed by the third one, then another, and another. The mother duck hatched out five of her eggs, but the sixth was still not hatched, yet. She poked and prodded, but got no answer. So, she squatted on it for two more days, and still it hadn't hatched. When it hatched on the following day, she was quite relieved, but it didn't look at all like any of her other ducklings. It was bigger than the others, decidedly different in color, had no webbing between its toes, and had a funny-looking "bill." The mother duck was very upset by this, and immediately felt guilty for not signing up for those pre-natal classes she was told about. At a loss for what to do about her youngest child, she decided to seek a professional opinion. So, she took him along with the rest of her foundlings to her family doctor, the stork. It was quite a sight to the rest of the animals in the barnyard, seeing the mother duck with five nearly-identical ducklings waddling behind her and the sixth one crouching down, hoping that he'd blend in with the others, for he already was beginning to sense that he was different from his brothers and sisters. Of course, since the mother was expecting for quite some time and everyone knew that, it was hard to pass through the barnyard without being noticed, especially by Henrietta, the hen. "My, my, my, is this your newest brood?" asked Henrietta. "They are quite a flock, they are," she clucked, as she looked them over. As she spotted the Unlikely Duckling she couldn't resist commenting, "You know, I'm not one to talk or gossip, but I just have to ask are you sure he's your son? You know what I mean? He's already taller and bigger than the rest of your kids, even though they're a few days older than he is. What will the neighbors think? And his feathers are darker-skinned, err colored than theirs, too. You just know that people will talk! Not me, of course; I pretty much keep to myself, mainly, but you have no idea how mean some people can be!" The mother duck said, "Yes, I'm sure he's mine, that much I know; as for what the neighbors think, well I'll just find out sooner or later, won't I?" And she waddled out of the barnyard and down to the stork's office. After listening to her complaints that he didn't look at all like the rest of her ducklings, the stork examined the unlikely "duckling" from beak to feet. He was baffled at what to do, but since the mother brought this "duckling" to him he figured he should come up with something, just to ease her fears. "It's his legs!" he cried, "They're much too tall. We'll chop them at the knees and make them small!" "Sounds rather drastic," replied the mother, but will it work?" |