The World of Fairy Tales. The Ultramarine Book / Мир волшебных сказок. Синяя книга. Книга для чтения на английском языке

Отрывок из книги

One lovely spring day, a Mother Duck laid on her nest, keeping her eggs warm. She was a little bit bored sitting on her nest all day long. At last one eggshell after another began to crack open. Soon she had eight fluffy little yellow ducklings. All ducks around said how pretty they were! Only one big egg left and she should sit on and wait when it hatched. At last the big egg cracked and the young creature scrambled out. He was a large grey bird! The Ugly Duckling was so different from the others.

The next day was sunny and warm and Mother Duck took her children for a swim on the pond. All the ducklings swam merrily along with her – even the Ugly Duckling. The kind mother noticed how gracefully he swam along. The other ducks on the pond soon started to tease and peck him and even his brothers and sisters tried to chase him away. So the Ugly Duckling kept away from them. When their mother taught them to swim and dive under the water to catch insects, he always lagged behind. He was very unhappy.

.....

The Ugly Duckling felt a little sad because he could never be so beautiful. He looked down into the water and saw a beautiful white swan just like the others. What a miracle! He was no longer a clumsy duckling but a graceful swan.

The next day the swallow came to say goodbye to Thumbelina.

.....