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

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.

When the ducklings could swim well enough, their mother took them to visit the ducks who lived on the other side of the pond. She swam across the water with the nine little ducklings paddling behind her in a long line. As usual the Ugly Duckling was at the very back. When the ducks saw him they started to laugh at him. So the poor creature ran away and hid in some reeds.

Soon it grew dark. The Ugly Duckling wanted his mother but he couldn't understand where to go. Tired, cold and hungry he came to a small hut. Inside was a kind old lady with a cat and a hen. The nice lady was very sorry for a poor creature and let him stay with them.

The cold days came and passed. Soon the sun shone and the birds started to sing. It was spring again!

One day he saw some swans flying in the blue sky They were so beautiful with their great white wings.

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.

Once upon a time there was a woman whose dearest wish was to have a child of her own. One day she decided to ask an old witch for help.

The witch gave her a magic seed and explained that it would grow into a flower. One day the flower opened and there was a little girl not bigger than her thumb. The happy woman decided to call her Thumbelina.

She was a very happy little girl. All day long she played on her mother's table. At night she slept in a tiny bed. This bed was made from a polished walnut shell but one night a terrible thing happened. An old ugly toad kidnapped her and imprisoned her on a lily pad in the middle of a river. The toad wanted a beautiful wife for her ugly son. A kind fish took pity on Thumbelina and bit through the lily stem. The lily pad floated freely down the stream away from the terrible toad.

Suddenly a big beetle saw the tiny Thumbelina and decided to fly off with her. He was very proud of Thumbelina and decided to show his pretty prize to his friends. They didn't like her and said that she was ugly because she didn't have any feelers. At once the beetle lost interest in her and pushed her away. Thumbelina lived alone in the great wood. She ate berries and drank the dew on the leaves. In winter she was cold, hungry and without shelter.

A kind old mouse found Thumbelina and invited her to stay in her house. She was sure that Thumbelina would be a good wife for her old friend Mr. Mole. One day Thumbelina found a dead swallow in one of the dark passages of the mouse's house. Suddenly she noticed that the swallow was still breathing. She brought some water for the bird and started to look after him.