So he walked sadly down to a sheltered pool and dived to the very bottom , and tried to think it was the greatest happiness he could dream of . But , all the same , he knew it was n't ! And every morning it grew colder and colder , and the duckling had hard work to keep himself warm . Indeed , it would be truer to say that he never was warm at all ; and at last , after one bitter night , his legs moved so slowly that the ice crept closer and closer , and when the morning light broke he was caught fast , as in a trap ; and soon his senses went from him . A few hours more and the poor duckling 's life had been ended . But , by good fortune , a man was crossing the river on his way to his work , and saw in a moment what had happened . He had on thick wooden shoes , and he went and stamped so hard on the ice that it broke , and then he picked up the duckling and tucked him under his sheepskin coat , where his frozen bones began to thaw a little . Instead of going on his work , the man turned back and took the bird to his children , who gave him a warm mess to eat and put him in a box by the fire , and when they came back from school he was much more comfortable than he had been since he had left the old woman 's cottage . They were kind little children , and wanted to play with him ; but , alas ! the poor fellow had never played in his life , and thought they wanted to tease him , and flew straight into the milk-pan , and then into the butter-dish , and from that into the meal-barrel , and at last , terrified at the noise and confusion , right out of the door , and hid himself in the snow amongst the bushes at the back of the house . He never could tell afterwards exactly how he had spent the rest of the winter . He only knew that he was very miserable and that he never had enough to eat . But by-and-by things grew better . The earth became softer , the sun hotter , the birds sang , and the flowers once more appeared in the grass . When he stood up , he felt different , somehow , from what he had done before he fell asleep among the reeds to which he had wandered after he had escaped from the peasant 's hut . His body seemed larger , and his wings stronger . Something pink looked at him from the side of a hill . He thought he would fly towards it and see what it was . Oh , how glorious it felt to be rushing through the air , wheeling first one way and then the other ! He had never thought that flying could be like that !
The XXXXX was almost sorry when he drew near the pink cloud and found it was made up of apple blossoms growing beside a cottage whose garden ran down to the banks of the canal .
duckling fire first hours left meal-barrel morning night reeds right