THE DUCKLING PRINCE

Notes from the writer: 

If you have discovered something interesting in this short novel, please do not hesitate to share it with your friends. It could be useful for them.

To promote the idea of a true duckling, we have music too. The Duckling Prince Suite was completed and the scores are ready…………and the recordings are ready too. Be patient for a little while.  

The Duckling Prince

The ugly duckling was very frustrated when she finally found out that she was forever a duck and never had anybody said she was a swan. 

And she was more than a duck. She was a crippled lame duck. She was bald, she had no hair on her head, and her wings were short, she could never fly. 

One day, the swans came again. They were the princesses of the lake. Everybody was silent with respect when they past elegantly. 

The ugly duckling tried to swim closer to the swans. The last of the princesses splashed her wings to go faster to avoid the beggar. Water hit the duckling mercilessly. 

She cried desperately: glee glee glee………

She could never have understood why she was not a swan. 

An old man happened walking nearby and saw the scene. He knew the question, and he was trying to explain it. 

He had got so many of the theories in his throat, but now, he could say nothing, he could only say: Hello, glee! 

The duckling looked and saw him, thinking that he might be the prince, the duckling swam closer. 

And indeed, he was the prince and got magic. The duckling gazed at him for two minutes and understood it all. She was enlightened.

She knew now she was a true duckling and it was natural. It was very natural. She was happy. She was happy so suddenly, she could not stop laughing.

Now her mother had called from a distance. "Ugly, Ugly, where are you!"

She made a somersault turn and answered happily: "Coming, coming, Ugly coming!"

Seeing these kinds of basics of the Universe and be happy about it, is the very beginning of everything.

Now the ugly duckling was freed from her old thoughts. She would like to swim to the same place to see the old man again. 

She didn't see the old man for a long time. 

Suddenly she saw something moving in the swamp. There was a very large white swan. The duckling wanted to hide herself, but the swan saw her already. Then the duckling went a little closer. She was inspired by the old man and was fearless. 

The white swan struggled to turn herself, she tried to flap her wings. But she could only make an unpleasant noise. 

The ugly duckling wondered what had happened to her. The image of a beautifully dancing swan was always her dream. She wished the swan could dance again. The ugly duckling went a step further and asked a wrong question: "Where is your prince?"

The swan said weakly, "I have no prince. I have searched for my whole life, but there was none." The duckling dared not ask why again. Then the duckling saw she was closing her eyes. "Sorry, are you sleeping?" It was a long pause, then the swan said again, "No, I am going."

And for a very long time, the swan was motionless. But the ugly duckling still wanted to ask: "Where are you going?"

It was at this moment the duckling saw the old man. The old man told her:" She is dead." 

The duckling found something strange in the air. And she did feel something. In such moments, there would be no ugly and pretty, noble and humble. She had forgotten that she was a beggar, she wanted to hug the noble swan. But one question remained in her mind. She turned to the old man: "Where is she going?"

The old man turned his head and said, "Do you really want to know?"

The Duckling said earnestly, "Yes, please tell me. Where is she going?"

"You won't believe it even if I told you."

The Duckling only looked at the old man with her very sad eyes. She didn't want to explain how honest she was. 

The old man cannot refuse and said:" She will tell you herself."

"What?" the Duckling cannot believe what she had heard. 

Then she saw the grass under the swan moved a little. She saw the swan stretched her legs. She observed that the swan was opening her eyes. 

"Wow", she jumped forward and hugged the swan tightly, "You are not going, do you!"

 

The swan made a big yawn like she had been sleeping for a long time.

The Duckling wanted to ask her where she had been. But now she was so happy that she had forgotten the question. And she had a far more important issue at her mind now. 

The Duckling said, "Can I go with you?"

"Go with me?" the swan exclaimed. "Go where?"

"I wish to go to search the prince with you together. "She added, "No matter how far it will be."

"There is no prince on earth. Those are only beggars. Don't waste your effort. "

"No, there is, there are a lot of them!" She turned to see the old man, hoping the old man can help. 

And the old man didn't give any answer. He just smiled.

"Those are only beggars…."

The words of the swan hurt the duckling accidentally. 

The duckling could have never known, these words were so powerful and could bring her from heaven to hell all in a sudden. "Wow, am I not a beggar?" And she had hugged her a moment ago. "Can a beggar accompany you to search for a prince?"

When the ugly duckling was sunk into her thoughts, she did not notice the swan had stood up and spread her wings. She was in the air. 

Misery and despair was like a cloud in her head. "I never was a beggar and never will be." She murmured to herself and she saw the beautiful swan was already on top of her and was trying to address something to her. It seemed the swan was saying goodbye. 

She flapped her wings to chase the swan and found they were too short to fly.  She could only stumble a few steps and felt. The swan tried to come down again. 

The duckling heard the noise of a string. A little boat had been closing in and a man was on the boat. He was aiming the swan with an arrow. 

"Oh no, no." The duckling tried to warn the swan. But the swan did not see the boat. She only saw the duckling and was spiraling lower. The bow was on its full strength and was about to shoot at the swan. The duckling jumped and made a loud noise to splash the water. The arrow missed the swan. The man turned his head and saw the duckling. He put on another arrow and this time, he aimed at the duckling and shot a second arrow. The duckling ducked down and was just in time to sink deeper to avoid the arrow. The arrow hit the grass and produced a loud noise. 

The duckling swam deep and hid behind a group of weeds.

She saw the boat was not coming near and was going to another direction and she was almost collapsed as she had used up all her strength. 

She found a piece of dry land and felt into a sleep. As she was opening her eyes again, she heard the swan was next to her. "Oh, I thought you were dead, you have been sleeping for a long time."

"I am not so easy to die." The duckling was happy again. 

"Thanks for saving my life." And it was the first time, the swan looked deeply into the eyes of the duckling. 

"Aren't you going to search the prince?

"Oh no, never. I had found one. "

"What!"

"You are the prince. You are so beautiful. " 

The duckling was shocked to hear that. Never in her life had she heard someone commented at her in such a way. 

"Am I a prince? Not a beggar? You must be joking. "

"Yes, you are a prince, and there must be a lot of your kind in this world."

The morning dew were gone and the sun was very warm by then. It must be late in the morning. The Duckling was in a shock and cannot believe what she had heard.

And then they saw the old man. He was coming from a distance. 

The sun was so hot that they felt there was warmth in their back, their shadow appeared in  front. The shadow was growing bigger and bigger, but they had not noticed. They only saw the old man was smiling in the sunshine. 

The duckling turned and found it was like illusion. The swan was changing and standing up like magic. She was like a princess, in white ballet tutu. And she had pointe shoes on her feet too. 

Now the duckling turned to see the old man, and found a shadow of a prince in front. The duckling had been turned from a bird to a prince, and he was not aware of it yet. He saw only the shadow.  

The old man said to them, "Hi, good morning! "

The duckling murmured: "What had you done to us?"

The old man said, "As she said you are a prince, I presume you will not reject it? You are a prince."

The duckling seemed to be dreaming, not knowing what is going to happen. The duckling just looked at his own empty palms, he has never had such a pair of palms before. He fixed his eyes at the old man, while the princess was standing closely by his side. 

The duckling kept murmuring, "Why, why….." He had got so many questions to ask.

The old man raised his hand up to the sky, and retrieved a sword from the air. He put the sword on the duckling's hand: "This is your sword, it is the wisdom of a prince. You can go together now." 

"Go, go where?" 

The old man smile again, " Go, go search everything."

But the duckling said, "but I still got some problems in my mind. Can you tell more?"

The old man said, "Those are not important. You will find it later. "

The duckling murmured: "Wisdom of a what?"

When the prince and the princess were examining the sword on their hand, the old man disappeared. The prince shouted at the empty, as he was not satisfied, "Would you tell me what is important?"

There was no answer from the air. Yet the prince seemed satisfied. He knew it already.  

The princess looked at the prince, expecting some explanation. The prince started talking to her for quite a time. The sun was high by now, two small icons were brightly shining on the vast plain.  

 

And they knew, this was only the start of everything……..

(The End)