and round in the water like a wheel, stretched out his neck towards
them, and uttered a cry, so high, so strange, that he was frightened as
he heard it.

Oh! he could not forget those beautiful, happy birds; and as soon as he
could see them no longer, he dived down to the very bottom, and when he
came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the
birds were, nor where they were flying to; but he loved them more than
he had ever loved any one. He did not envy them at all. How could he
think of wishing to have such loveliness as they had? He would have been
glad if only the ducks would have let him be among them--the poor,
ugly creature!

And the winter grew so cold, so cold! The Duckling had to swim about in
the water, to keep it from freezing over; but every night the hole in
which he swam about became smaller and smaller. It froze so hard that
the icy cover sounded; and the Duckling had to use his legs all the time
to keep the hole from freezing tight. At last he became worn out, and
lay quite still, and thus froze fast in the ice.

Early in the morning a peasant came by, and found him there; he took his
wooden shoe, broke the ice to pieces, and carried the Duckling home to
his wife. Then the Duckling came to himself again. The children wanted
to play with him; but he thought they wanted to hurt him, and in his
terror he flew up into the milk-pan, so that the milk spilled over into
the room. The woman screamed and shook her hand in the air, at which the
Duckling flew down into the tub where they kept the butter, and then
into the meal-barrel and out again. How he looked then! The woman
screamed, and struck at him with the fire tongs; the children tumbled
over one another as they tried to catch the Duckling; and they laughed