The poor ugly duckling looks very different from the other ducklings. His duck family tease him
The Ugly Duckling
Best Loved Tales for Africa
and make him feel unwanted even though he simply wants to be loved and belong. So he runs away and sets off on a long and lonely journey.
Retold by Sindiwe Magona Illustrations by Natalie Hinrichsen
Will he ever be loved and accepted for who he is?
Retold by Sindiwe Magona Illustrations by Natalie Hinrichsen
Read aloud, read together, read alone, read forever!
The Ugly Duckling
9 781770 098237
FR
NG
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Best Loved Tales for Africa
PROMO T
ICA
PR O
REA
Growing a love of reading
LY UD
G IN
Jacana
ISBN 978-1-77009-823-7 www.jacana.co.za
IN S O UTH
A
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The Ugly Duckling
Retold by Sindiwe Magona Illustrations by Natalie Hinrichsen
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For Nkosazana Sindiwe Magona For Aidan Natalie Hinrichsen
First published by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd in 2010 10 Orange Street Sunnyside Auckland Park 2092 South Africa (+27 11) 628-3200 www.jacana.co.za © Text: Sindiwe Magona, 2010 © Images: Natalie Hinrichsen, 2010 Series Editor: Carole Bloch All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-77009-823-7 Set in ITC Stone Informal Std 14/22pt Printed and bound by Ultra Litho (Pty) Limited, Johannesburg Job no. 001245 See a complete list of Jacana titles at www.jacana.co.za
Printed on Sappi Triple Green Print Matt 250g/m² and 170g/m² donated by Sappi. Triple Green paper is produced from sustainable resources (bagasse - post agricultural sugar cane waste and renewable forestry fibre) and is recyclable and biodegradable.
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O
nce upon a time there was a duckling who lived on a wide open vlei with his family.
He was a sad little duck because nobody seemed to like him, not even his own brothers and sisters.
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A big tear rolled down the little duckling’s cheek. ‘Ugly duckling! Ugly duckling! That is what everybody calls me. Nobody loves me in the whole wide world!’ he sobbed. ‘That’s not true, darling! Mama loves you!’ Mama Duck smiled at her last-hatched chick. He was a strange little fellow. But he was still her baby and she loved him with all her heart.
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‘My goodness!’ said Papa Duck. ‘This chick is always hungry. If we don’t watch him, there won’t be any food left for the others.’ Once again, the little duckling felt unloved. He grew faster than his sisters and brothers and he ate too much!
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The birds on the wide open vlei teased the ugly duckling too. ‘You’re not fluffy and yellow like your brothers and sisters,’ whispered the spiteful blue crane.
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er than the rest,’ laughed
‘You’re bigg
the haughty black coot. ‘You’re ugly!’ they all said together.
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No one ever cuddled the little ugly duckling and he felt very lonely.
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But when he ate, he forgot that he was lonely. So he ate and ate and ate. And he grew bigger and bigger and
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bigger.
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One day the ugly duckling felt so miserable that a single tear fell from one eye. Trying to stop more tears from falling, he looked down. Then, he saw his reflection. He gasped! It looked rippled and wrinkly on the waves.
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The next day, he saw a flock of big, white birds with long, graceful necks and wide, wide wings. They were beautiful swans.
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Winter was coming and they were flying off to the summer sunshine and blue skies over the sea. ‘Oh, how magnificent they are,’ thought the ugly duckling. ‘I wish I was beautiful like them.’
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