The Ugly Duckling (Danish: Den grimme ælling) is a classic-contemporary story by Hans Christian Andersen about a duckling, notably
larger, clumsier and uglier than the other ducklings in his brood. The story was first published November 11, 1843 and figured in Andersen's collected New Tales (Nye Eventyr) in 1844.
Plot
The mother's first thought, seeing the odd one in the water, is "He is my own child, and he is not so very ugly after all if you look at him properly." The duckling begins in the farmyard with his family, always the last one to get anything, and always taunted and attacked for his looks, then escapes to the moor among wild ducks, witnesses the carnage among wild geese in the hunting season, escapes from becoming an old woman's pet and is all but frozen into the ice. In the spring, the duckling discovers, from seeing his reflection, that he has grown up to be a beautiful swan.
Significance
This wry and realistically told story, with its droll burlesque of petty human self-worth, is often considered a metaphor for the experience of an awkward stage in a child's growth. As a fairy tale, it is used to make children less ashamed of their differences. Its understated social moral is buried within the tale: To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg. A human parallel would concern a child who looks or acts different from the other children around him/her. With the fairy tale comes hope that those differences will result in special benefits and future greatness:
- "Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."
The Ugly Duckling has become a metaphor for anything neglected continually, or anything neglected at first, then becoming popular or good. For example: "I can't believe Sara's so accomplished now! She used to be such an ugly duckling."
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