This is a story they have never told me, at least, until today. But for each story, there is always another one or ones... Now you are going to be presented to the story of the pretty duckling, that one he was born and after a long time is telling a little bit more about himself. It starts like this...
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It was spring time. The mommy duck chose a place to lay her two eggs. That nook was so quiet, far from the dangers of the woods, surrounded by beautifull flowers and the landscape... perfect! In this snug retreat, she sat upon her nest, she could hear the enthusiastic birds singing with the summer approaching and the sound of the clear water flowing through a stream near the sunny corner.
A sunny day, the eggshells begin to open and one by one the ducklings come out from inside the eggs. So there he is, with a graceful air that only the most beautiful ducks can have. His eyes shine
like headlights in the dark night, their feathers, though still small,
have a yellowish, almost golden hue that reminds them of the most
precious gold, their gait is elegant, the beautiful duckling was born for
the glory. However, in the second egg something wrong happens. What had just been born had a clumsy, bland air, with its weird gait and strange noises, perhaps it was not even a duck. The mommy duck was very worried and took her newborn babies to the creek, forcing them to dive. When she saw that both of them were swimming naturally, she soon calmed down, and thought the
other one was just an "ugly" duck, but why bother if she had the prettiest
duck she had ever seen, his beauty would certainly overshadow his brother's ugliness, and make this "mistake" of nature go unnoticed.
The mommy duck was encouraged and went out for a walk with her cubs among the other animals. As expected, the pretty duckling was the highlight. 'How beautiful is your baby!', said the hen. 'What a lovely creature!', confirmed the mommy goose. The little pigs were admiring such beauty and around all the farm the animals were appreciating that dear duckling so showy.
His brother was not so lucky: 'We do not like him', said the other animals. 'He's weird, he has a grotesque way of walking, the sounds he makes are strange, bland and I think... it's not normal!'
The pretty duckling was not worried about his strange brother, but after all the other animals spoke, he began to feel ashamed to walk beside such a creature... so different.
The other duckling was growing up, alone and ill-cared, wanted to stay with others and have many friends like had the cute duckling. But he was born ugly and his punishment was to have solitude as his companion. And because he was alone, he had to learn many things on his own. From those who wanted to chase him he learned to dodge. Because no one praised him, he learned not to depend on the approval of others to be happy. Because
he had no one to help him, he learned to be strong and try again, and
again, until he figured out the right way to achieve his goals. Because he had no one to love him, he learned that he first needed to love himself and then to have love to give to someone. The other duckling decided to go out and venture out into the woods. Despised by what he loved, living or dying was just a matter of luck.
The time passed and the beautiful duckling followed his life, always surrounded by the 'best' companies. Surrounded
by the sycophants and advancing through the social circles who were
always well-disposed to receive someone of such prestige among the
various networks of friendship he frequented. Deep down, in spite of all the glamor, something bothered him. He missed the time when he was a child, and with his brother they were laughing before falling asleep. Mommy always said, 'Boys, it's late, tomorrow you're going to miss school.' He
remembered how many times he asked about the school lesson he had not
understood, but that his brother knew inside out. He
remembered how often his brother told him, 'we should not use our
strength to take advantage of the weak, but to help those within our
reach.' He
also remembered how often he felt afraid on the dark path and his
brother held on one of his wings and said, 'we are together and whatever
happens to you will happen to me.' He
did not understand why his aspect was so valued while the greatness
of his brother's soul was invisible to the eyes of other animals..
At that moment he felt an immense sadness for having moved away from his brother. He stopped and thought: 'Why do people need to be beautiful to be loved? Why can not I befriend someone who is different? Why does everyone have to follow the same pattern?', and then he decided that he should look for his brother.
There
was no shortage of people who told him that it was unnecessary: 'You're
better off without him,' he heard the most exalted. 'He only has different ideas, we do not need him here,' said the troubled men. Even so, he did not give up and insisted on seeing his brother. Many animals became angry, the pig brothers were the first to depart.
And there he went to search the woods for his brother from whom he had not heard for so long. On
the way, he learned that his brother passed near a marsh where some
ducks lived, but many of them had been killed by hunters and he found
nothing. After that, he heard of an old lady who lived in a cabin and went to see if he would hear from the other duck. Arriving there, he found a rather grumpy cat who said: 'Oh, that duck, we put him to run from here!' Soon he realized that he would not get much there. Until he heard better news. One
of the animals that lived in the woods told him about a large lake that
froze in the winter, where a peasant found a near-dead bird. His strength was renewed, but when he arrived, his brother was not there either.
Already
hopeless to find his brother and tired by the long walk, thirsty
and hungry, the beautiful duck approaches a timid lake. Spring
is beginning, and the melting snow waters the fields, making beautiful
flowers bloom and filling the streams again with life. Many birds fly and warm their wings to the heat of the sun shining strong heating all the forest. While it kills its thirst, the beautiful duck hears a familiar sound. He senses that something is coming up behind him, slowly, perhaps not to be noticed. 'Brother, is that you?', someone whispers behind the dry grass. As he turns around, he notices that there he is. 'BROTHER!', yell the two ducks who had not seen each other for a long time while running to give each other a strong hug.
The other duck was there. Finally they had found one another. The other duck had grown to become a strong, adult bird. He was still ungainly, but as always, pleasant. He kept making strange sounds, but as usual, giving the best laughs. He was still a little strange, but as always, a friend, always loving, always beautiful. The
beautiful duck, who was also a big, strong duck, managed to realize
that it is not necessary to change to follow standards, we need to be
honest with ourselves and with others. Follow our lives and help those within our reach. The
beautiful duck learned that the most important beauty cannot be seen
with the eyes, only the heart sees what is really necessary.
(20180519PTAEJ - Untold Tales)
O trabalho O Patinho Bonito de Paulo de Tarso A. Ecard Junior está licenciado com uma Licença Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial-CompartilhaIgual 4.0 Internacional.
