“I will sit on it a little longer; I have sat so long already that I may as well go on till the Midsummer Fair comes round.”
“Please yourself,” said the old duck, and she went away.
At last the big egg cracked. “Cheep, cheep!” said the young one and tumbled out; how big and ugly he was! The duck looked at him.
“That is a monstrous big duckling,” she said; “none of the others looked like that; can he be a turkey chick? well, we shall soon find that out; into the water he shall go, if I have to kick him in myself.”
Next day was gloriously fine, and the sun shone on all the green dock leaves. The mother duck with her whole family went down to the moat.
Splash, into the water she sprang. “Quack, quack!” she said, and one duckling plumped in after the other. The water dashed over their heads, but they came up again and floated beautifully; their legs went of themselves, and they were all there, even the big ugly gray one swam about with them.
“No, that is no turkey,” she said; “see how beautifully he uses his legs and how erect he holds himself; he is my own chick! after all, he is not so bad when you come to look at him properly. Quack, quack! Now come with me and I will take you into the world, and introduce you to the duckyard; but keep close to me all the time, so that no one may tread upon you, and beware of the cat!”
Then they went into the duckyard. There was a fearful uproar going on, for two broods were fighting for the head of an eel, and in the end the cat captured it.
“That’s how things go in this world,” said the mother duck; and she licked her bill, for she wanted the eel’s head for herself.
“Use your legs,” said she; “mind you quack properly, and bend your necks to the old duck over there! She is the grandest of them all; she has Spanish blood in her veins and that accounts for her size, and, do you see? she has a red rag round her leg; that is a wonderfully fine thing, and the most extraordinary mark of distinction any duck can have. It shows clearly that she is not to be parted with, and that she is worthy of recognition both by beasts and men! Quack now! don’t turn your toes in, a well brought up duckling keeps his legs wide apart just like father and mother; that’s it, now bend your necks, and say quack!”