“I’ve been so ugly my whole life,” he said. “How is this possible?”

“We all have an awkward phase when we’re young,” the swan said. “But without it, we’d never grow our wings.”

The swan formerly known as the Ugly Duckling lived with the other swans for the rest of his life. At the end of every year, when his family flew south for the winter, he made a point to fly over his old farm so all the animals could see him. The Ugly Duckling they had mistreated was soaring at heights they could never reach.

The End