Fractured Fairytale by Daniel Lock

Hello everyone! My name is Darren Duck.  You can call me D. DUCK!  I am here to tell you the prequel to the fairytale ‘The Ugly Duckling”.

Once upon a time, while I was still an egg, my mother accidentally kicked me down the hill and I fell into a Mother Hen’s nest!  Mothers, during my time, were really irresponsible.  They did not care for their children!  Hey, come on, why couldn’t she just chase after me?  Was that so difficult?  OK, let’s get back to the story.  So, I, a duck at birth was hatched in a hen’s nest.  What was I to do when my first word was ‘Quack! Quack!’ instead of ‘Chirp! Chirp!’?  The chicks, which were hatched together with me laughed hysterically.  At first I thought that they were laughing at a joke, then I realized that I was the joke!  Not only did I speak in an odd manner, I also looked strangely different from my ‘siblings’.  My beak was flat and blunt, unlike my brothers’, which were sharp and pointy.  I could never wash off the grey patches on my feathers.  I admired my brothers’ clean creamy yellow feathers.  Mine were ruffled and looked dirty all the time.  Oh! How my brothers made jokes on my appearance, especially my big webbed feet.  The teasing continued for 12 months!  Imagine the sufferings I went through! 

When I was 12 months and one day old, I saw some beautiful swans swimming at the lake.  Surprisingly, one of the swans took an interest in me.  It was love at first sight and we got married immediately.  You must be thinking how can a duck marry a swan?  Well, have you forgotten?  THIS IS A FAIRYTALE!  ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!  Even a donkey can marry a dragon! 

Anyway, I was happy beyond words when I went home one day and found out that wifey had laid six eggs, one more than the usual five.  Lo and behold!  As fate would have it, the extra egg dropped out of the nest and rolled down the hill!!!  Dear wifey could not chase after the egg because the other eggs were going to hatch and she couldn’t leave her nest and my legs were too short to chase after the rolling egg speeding down the hill.  Now I know why my mother did not chase after me. 

So, that’s how the story of ‘The Ugly Duckling” came about.  My swan-duck son while still an egg had rolled into a duck’s nest.