A Story for All Ages
Once there was a duck that met an alligator, just as the duck was trying to land on the slough. Just as the alligator snapped up, delighted to have dinner come to it, the duck winged backward, trying to get away. And get away the duck did, but not before the alligator’s teeth crushed one webbed foot. Ever after, the duck limped around, muttering “Unlucky Duck, Unlucky Duck, Unlucky Duck.” Ever after, the alligator lurked around the surface of the slough, waiting for another duck. All the while the alligator hummed to itself, “Lucky Gator, Lucky Gator, Lucky Gator.”
Muttering all the while “Unlucky Duck, Unlucky Duck, Unlucky Duck” the duck came upon some sightseers who were tossing bread into the slough (even though they knew they were not supposed to do this.) The duck snapped up bits of bread as fast as it could. But a moorhen was also swimming right then and it grabbed one tiny piece of bread and swam off to its floating nest to enjoy the feast. The duck was furious to have missed this bit of bread, and quacked even more loudly, “Unlucky Duck, Unlucky Duck, Unlucky Duck!” Meanwhile, the moorhen cackled, “Lucky Hen! Lucky Hen! Lucky Hen!”
The duck built a nest and settled down on it, grumbling about how unlucky it was to have to sit the nest. But after many weeks of this grumbling, duck felt one egg move, then another. “Oh no!” thought the duck! “This is a terrible time! Why, it might rain! Night will come in a few hours! I’ll have to feed the ducklings!” One shell cracked and one duckling came out. Duck quacked, “I’m so unlucky! The other ducklings have not arrived!” As the pace of hatching quickened, Duck was too busy to think about luck at all. And when night did come and all the ducklings were hatched and under Duck’s wings, as the Duck and all the ducklings went to sleep, all Duck could say over and over again was “Lucky Duck. Lucky Duck. Lucky Duck.”
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