“The Ugly Duckling” is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the story of a mother duck whose eggs are hatching. The last of her baby birds to hatch is a larger bird than the other ducklings, and the other birds and animals around on the farm consider it to be “ugly.” The story is associated with Andersen’s own life, and the three trials of the ugly duckling correspond to the three stages of Andersen’s life. The duckling spent the winter in a marshy pond and finally, spring arrived.
GenreChildren's Literature, Fairy Tales and Folklore
Length22 mins
Narrated byBert Stauff
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJul 29, 2025
LanguageEnglish
About the author
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen’s fairy tales, consisting of one hundred and fifty-six stories across nine volumes, have been translated into more than one hundred and twenty-five languages. They have become embedded in Western collective consciousness, accessible to children as well as presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers. Andersen’s stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films.View all by Hans Christian Andersen
