` You are ugly , ' said the wild ducks , when they had looked him well over ; ` but , however , it is no business of ours , unless you wish to marry one of our daughters , and that we should not allow . ' And the duckling answered that he had no idea of marrying anybody , and wanted nothing but to be left alone after his long journey . So for two whole days he lay quietly among the reeds , eating such food as he could find , and drinking the water of the moorland pool , till he felt himself quite strong again . He wished he might stay were he was for ever , he was so comfortable and happy , away from everyone , with nobody to bite him and tell him how ugly he was . He was thinking these thoughts , when two young ganders caught sight of him as they were having their evening splash among the reeds , looking for their supper . ` We are getting tired of this moor , ' they said , ` and to-morrow we think of trying another , where the lakes are larger and the feeding better . Will you come with us ? ' ` Is it nicer than this ? ' asked the duckling doubtfully . And the words were hardly out of his mouth , when ` Pif ! pah ! ' and the two new-comers were stretched dead beside him . At the sound of the gun the wild ducks in the rushes flew into the air , and for a few minutes the firing continued . Luckily for himself the duckling could not fly , and he floundered along through the water till he could hide himself amidst some tall ferns which grew in a hollow . But before he got there he met a huge creature on four legs , which he afterwards knew to be a dog , who stood and gazed at him with a long red tongue hanging out of his mouth . The duckling grew cold with terror , and tried to hide his head beneath his little wings ; but the dog snuffed at him and passed on , and he was able to reach his place of shelter . ' I am too ugly even for a dog to eat , ' said he to himself . ` Well , that is a great mercy . ' And he curled himself up in the soft grass till the shots died away in the distance . When all had been quiet for a long time , and there were only stars to see him , he crept out and looked about him .
He would never go near a pool again , never , thought he ; and seeing that the XXXXX stretched far away in the opposite direction from which he had come , he marched bravely on till he got to a small cottage , which seemed too tumbledown for the stones to hold together many hours longer .
Pif days duckling evening ganders minutes moor moorland new-comers reeds