Ugly Duckling

There once was an ugly duckling

With feathers all stubby and brown

And the other birds said in so many words

Get out of town

Get out, get out, get out of town

And he went with a quack and a waddle and a quack

In a flurry of eiderdown

That poor little ugly duckling

Went wandering far and near

But at every place they said to his face

Now get out, get out, get out of here

And he went with a quack and a waddle and a quack

And a very unhappy tear

All through the wintertime he hid himself away

Ashamed to show his face, afraid of what others might say

All through the winter in his lonely clump of wheat

Till a flock of swans spied him there and very soon agreed

You're a very fine swan indeed!

A swan? Ae a swan? Ah, go on!

And he said yes, you're a swan

Take a look at yourself in the lake and you'll see

And he looked, and he saw, and he said

I am a swan! Wheeeeeeee!

I'm not such an ugly duckling

No feathers all stubby and brown

For in fact these birds in so many words said

The best in town, the best, the best

The best in town

Not a quack, not a quack, not a waddle or a quack

But a glide and a whistle and a snowy white back

And a head so noble and high

Say who's an ugly duckling?

Not I!

Not I!