The Ugly Duckling

📜 Script

NARRATOR:
In a warm farmyard, a mother duck had five eggs.
One by one, they hatched—crack! crack! crack!
Out came four yellow ducklings.

But the last egg was big and slow to open…

NARRATOR:
When it finally cracked, out came a big gray duckling.
He looked very different.

NARRATOR:
The other ducklings laughed at him.

🐤 DUCKLING (teasing):
“You’re not like us! You’re ugly!”

NARRATOR:
The gray duckling felt sad.
No one wanted to play with him.
Even the animals on the farm turned away.

NARRATOR:
So, the duckling left the farm.
He walked through the woods, the rain, and the cold.
He looked for a place to belong.

NARRATOR:
Time passed. Summer turned to fall.
Then came winter.
The duckling was all alone… cold and hungry.

NARRATOR:
One day in spring, the duckling saw a group of beautiful white birds on the pond.

They had long necks and soft white feathers.
They were swans.

He looked at them and whispered:

🪿 UGLY DUCKLING (softly):
“They are so beautiful… I wish I could be like them.”

NARRATOR:
He looked down into the water…
And saw his reflection!

He was no longer a gray duckling.
He was a swan!

🦢 SWANS:
“Come swim with us!”

NARRATOR:
The other swans welcomed him with smiles.
He was not ugly.
He was never a duckling.
He had been a swan all along.

NARRATOR (ending):
Sometimes we feel different.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t belong.

One day, we all find where we’re meant to be.

THE END.

📚 Vocabulary

1. Duckling – a baby duck

2. Swan – a large white bird with a long neck

3. Farm – a place where animals live

4. Reflection – the image you see in the water

5. Alone – by yourself, with no one else

🗣 Useful Expressions 

1. “You’re not like us!” – Said to someone who looks or acts different

2. “I wish I could be like them.” – Wanting to be like someone else

3. “Come swim with us!” – An invitation to join and play

❓ Comprehension Questions

1. 🥚 How many eggs did the mother duck have, and what was different about the last egg?

2. 🐥 How did the other ducklings treat the gray duckling?

3. 🌧 Why did the gray duckling leave the farm?

4. What did the duckling see when he looked into the water?

5. 🦢 What did the gray duckling become at the end of the story?