VERY OLD SPARROW. Do you know, stranger bird, that, with these crumbs, you
have brought us in all one loaf?

[_Our Sparrow drops the crust for the others. At once it changes into_
INGÉ. _The birds fly away frightened._]

INGÉ. Ah! Now I understand. The loaf had to be made up, crumb by crumb.

[_The_ WICKED ELF _suddenly appears._]

WICKED ELF. Come, pretty maid, come to the Elf Hill!

INGÉ. No, no! I will not!

WICKED ELF. But we have such pretty things to tell you!

INGÉ. I care not for your pretty things! I go to fetch wood for my mother.
I go to walk in the mud if need be. Away with you! I'll have none of you!
Away, away, I say!




THE UGLY DUCKLING


SCENE I

TIME: _one summer morning_.