The Duck That Couldn't Swim
by Kathryn Taylor
It was a rainy spring morning when Mother Mallard waddled back to her newest clutch of eggs. She had found a quick breakfast of a few bugs, and some grain the farmer had thrown out that morning. She noticed there was a new, strange egg in her nest. She had not laid it. It was larger than all of the other eggs.
"Oh, well," she said to herself, "an egg is an egg."
She then carefully situated herself upon the nest in such a manner as to warm all under her charge. Little did Miss Mallard know, that the farmer
himself had placed a turkey egg in her nest while she was away. For some reason, Miss Gobble had no interest in sitting for days on a lumpy and hard bed of eggs, and the farmer wanted some new turkeys.
Time quickly passed for Mother Mallard, and soon the eggs beneath her began to jostle and crack. All, but three of the eggs hatched little yellow and brown ducklings, and one gangly, pointy beaked, bug-eyed creature that chattered nonsense from his first breath.
"Oh, Mother, what is wrong with our poor dear brother?", the four ducklings asked their mother.
"I'm not quite sure what to make of him, children, but he is your brother, so you must be kind to him," she responded.
Mother Mallard named each of her children. Their names were Dick, Harry, Marty, Grace, and Little Tom. Mother Mallard took her young babies out scavenging for food. She searched for food while the little ducklings stayed close and mimicked their mother. But, not Little Tom Turkey.
"What's this?", he jabbered as he ran to the left. "What's that?!", he exclaimed as he ran to the right.
Peck. Peck. Peck. Little Tom pecked at the dirt. Little Tom pecked at the barn. He pecked at a rock. He even pecked on his brothers and sister.
"He's hurting us, he's hurting us!!!", cried the ducklings.
"I'm hungry and I can't find any food!!", wailed Little Tom louder.
Flustered, Mother Mallard tried to calm all of her children. She set the ducklings in search of food again and, this time, stayed very closed to
little Tom and carefully pointed out tasty morsels for him to eat.
Day after day, the ducklings grew more skilled at scavenging, but not Tom. Each day was like the first and Mother Mallard had to be very, very patient as she helped Tom find his food. Mother Mallard fell into their nest every night in pure exhaustion.
After a week or two, Mother Mallard took all of her children down to the pond for swimming lessons.
"Follow me, my little Bobbers," Mother called as she glided with ease onto the water. Dick, Harry, Marty and Grace slid right in behind her. Little Tom, much bigger than the others now, ran headlong into the water.
Kersplash!!
"Yahooey!!", yelled Tom. "Look at me! Look at me! I can swim better than all of you."
Tom paddled and paddled. The others watched and were so proud
of Little Tom. Tom was quickly tiring. He began sinking. Frantically, he
paddled harder. He kept sinking.
"Mother, Mother!", he cried, trying to reach her.
"Swim for shore, Tom!! Swim for shore!", she yelled to him.
He was almost up to his neck now, getting farther and farther from shore.
Splash! Just as he was going under, a human boy scooped him out of the water.
"Stupid turkey!", the boy muttered as he dropped Little Tom roughly onto dry land. The farmer's family had been watching the whole ordeal and walked away laughing.
Little Tom was crushed. He slowly walked away, feathers soaked and ego drenched. The ducklings were ashamed of Little Tom and Mother Mallard didn't know what to do. The whole barnyard was abuzz about the Mallard family. Few had kind words to say about Mother Mallard. And, to make matters much worse, Miss Gobble strutted up at that moment, with her beak in the air and arrogantly stated, "See! They are not worth hatching. Too much time, too much work, and no thanks for it at all."
Later that night, all were cozy, dry, and snuggled in around Mother Mallard. All the ducklings were asleep, but not Little Tom. He gazed up at his mother and sadly declared, "I think I am the way I am because you are not the one who laid me."
Tears instantly rolled down Mother Mallard's bill. Placing her wing over
his awkward body, she softly said, "You are right, Little Tom. I did not
lay you, and you are different. But.... I did hatch you. It took Miss
Gobble one day to lay you. But, It took me over a month of commitment and self-sacrifice to watch over you, to keep you warm, and to turn you
everyday. Since then, I have been teaching you all you need to know to
survive. And when I did that for you, love grew in my heart that made you
my own. You may never be a perfect duck, but you will always be the best Tom. I love you, Little Tom Turkey."
"I love you too, Mother Mallard," Tom whispered as he yawned, stretched out his gangly legs, and drifted off to sleep.
The End
