ONCE ON A FARM LONG AGO, a Mama Duck sat on her nest. “How long must I wait for my babies to hatch? I have to sit here all by myself!” But what could she do? A Mama duck must keep her eggs warm till they hatch. At last, the eggs began to crack. One yellow duckling stepped out of its shell, then another. Each little chick shook its wings. “Quack, quack!” “Look at you!” cried Mama Duck with joy. “You're all so cute!” “Quack, quack, quack!” they said with pride. “Come line up," said Mama Duck. "We will go down to the lake for your very first swim.” She counted – one, two, three, four, five. “Oh dear!” she said with a frown. “I had six eggs. I should have six ducklings.” One large egg was still in the nest. “Well!" said Mama Duck, "it looks like that big egg will take more time.” So she returned to sit on her nest again and wait some more. The next day, the big egg started to hatch! Out popped a baby boy bird. Mummy thought, “My goodness! How different this one looked!” He was much larger than the others. He was not yellow, but dark-grey all over. And after he stepped out of his egg, he also walked with a funny wobble. Children and all animals walk differently. Can you try the walk of some animals like, duck, lion, deer, elephant etc. Nice! I am sure you enjoyed that. One of the yellow ducklings pointed. “What's that? He can't be one of us!” “I have never seen such an ugly duckling!” said another. “How can you say such a thing?” said Mama Duck in a very stern voice. “You are only one day old! Your brother hatched from the very same nest as you did. Now line up. We will go to the lake for your very first swim.” All the way the other ducklings quacked, “Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!” The Ugly Duckling did not know why the other ducklings were yelling at him. He fell behind to take the last spot in line. When they got to the lake, each yellow duck jumped in and swam behind Mama Duck. When it was his turn, the Ugly Duckling jumped in too, and he started to paddle. “At least he can swim,” Mama Duck thought to herself. When the yellow ducklings got out of the water and started to play, the Ugly Duckling tried to play with his brothers and sisters. They yelled at him, “Go away! We will not play with you! You are ugly. And you walk weird!” Children, how do you think the ugly duckling felt? Yes, sad indeed. I hope you include everyone in your games. When Mama Duck was close by, she would not let them talk this way. “Be nice!” she would scold. But she was not always close by. One day, one of the yellow ducklings said to the Ugly Duckling, “You know what? You would do us a big favour if you just went away!” All of them started to quack: “Go! Go away!” “Why won’t they let me stay with them?” thought the Ugly Duckling. He hung his head down low. “They must be right. I should go.” And he flew to the other side of the lake trying to find some friends. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to play with him. ‘ ‘Go away!’ said the pig. ‘Go away!’ said the sheep. ‘Go away!’ said the cow. ‘Go away!’ said the horse. No one wanted to be his friend. Soon, it started to get cold. It started to snow! The ugly duckling found an empty barn and lived there. He was cold, sad and alone. At last, spring came. Little dots of green spotted the tree branches. Short, bright flowers popped up from the ground. “It's time for me to go back to the lake to swim again,” the ugly duckling thought. “I feel good!” said the young bird, flapping his wings. “Why, I don't think I ever felt as strong as I do right now!” Spring passed, then summer. The leaves started to change colors when one day, the Ugly Duckling heard quiet splashing sounds behind him. He turned around. A flock of beautiful birds sat on the lake. “Don't worry!” he said to the beautiful birds, holding out one of his wings. “I am leaving. I won't make trouble for you.” When he happened to glance down at the lake, he saw a reflection in the water that looked like one of those beautiful birds. Why was the bird so close to him? He jumped back. The reflection jumped back, too. Children whose reflection was that? Yes! The ugly ducklings, who had now become a swan. “What's this?” he thought, puzzled. He stretched his neck and strangely, the reflection of the beautiful bird in the lake stretched its neck, too. A little later he started to leave the lake. “Why are you leaving so soon?" called out one of the beautiful birds. "Come back!” said another. “Stay with us!” said yet another swan. “We’ll be friends.” Then, the bird who used to be the Ugly Duckling realized what had happened. He was no longer an ugly grey bird that wobbled when it walked. He had grown into a beautiful swan! Then a dark thought crossed his mind. "You only want me because I'm a swan and I look like you," said he. "That's not it at all!" said the first swan who had spoken. "We saw you all alone down here and thought you might want to join us. We don't care how birds look. Why, take a look at Pelican over there." "No one would take me for a swan," squawked Pelican. "How did you end up with them?" asked once the Ugly Duckling. "Stayed up too late the night before," shrugged Pelican. "Slept till noon. My flock took off without me. Was sure glad the swans came along when they did. Thanks, guys!" Said the second swan who had spoken, "And there's Egret." "What can I tell you?" said Egret. "I love to ride those wind currents! Then found out my entire flock was gone. By then there was no way I could catch up. If the swans didn't come along and invited me to join them, who knows where I'd be now?" Another good point. Our hero often imagined how lovely it would be to stretch out and just fly, fly, and fly some more. The bird who used to be an Ugly Duckling considered, "These birds may be beautiful to look at, but they are also beautiful inside. This is the flock for me." And so the entire flock, including their newest friend, flapped their wings together. And in one moment the flock took off into the clear blue sky. Moral: The true beauty is what is inside of our heart. No matter how you are be yourself and love yourself the way you are.