Once upon a time . . . down on an old farm, lived a duck family, and Mother Duck had been sitting on a clutch of new eggs. One nice morning, the eggs hatched and out popped six chirpy ducklings. But one egg was bigger than the rest, and it didn't hatch. Mother Duck couldn't recall laying that seventh egg. How did it get there? TOCK! TOCK! The little prisoner was pecking inside his shell.

"Did I count the eggs wrongly?" Mother Duck wondered. But before she had time to think about it, the last egg finally hatched. A strange looking duckling with gray feathers that should have been yellow gazed at a worried mother. The ducklings grew quickly, but Mother Duck had a secret worry.

"I can't understand how this ugly duckling can be one of mine!" she said to herself, shaking her head as she looked at her lastborn. Well, the gray duckling certainly wasn't pretty, and since he ate far more than his brothers, he was outgrowing them. As the days went by, the poor ugly duckling became more and more unhappy. His brothers didn't want to play with him, he was so clumsy, and all the farmyard folks simply laughed at him. He felt sad and lonely, while Mother Duck did her best to console him.

"Poor little ugly duckling!" she would say. "Why are you so different from the others?" And the ugly duckling felt worse than ever. He secretly wept at night. He felt nobody wanted him.

"Nobody loves me, they all tease me! Why am I different from my brothers?"

Then one day, at sunrise, he ran away from the farmyard. He stopped at a pond and began to question all the other birds. "Do you know of any ducklings with gray feathers like mine?" But everyone shook their heads in scorn.

"We don't know anyone as ugly as you." The ugly duckling did not lose heart, however, and kept on making inquiries. He went to another pond, where a pair of large geese gave him the same answer to his question. What's more, they warned him: "Don't stay here! Go away! It's dangerous. There are men with guns around here!" The duckling was sorry he had ever left the farmyard.

Then one day, his travels took him near an old country woman's cottage. Thinking he was a stray goose, she caught him.

"I'll put this in a hutch. I hope it's a female and lays plenty of eggs!" said the old woman, whose eyesight was poor. But the ugly duckling laid not a single egg. The hen kept frightening him:

"Just wait! If you don't lay eggs, the old woman will wring your neck and pop you into the pot!" And the cat chipped in: "Hee! Hee! I hope the woman cooks you, then I can gnaw at your bones!" The poor ugly duckling was so scared that he lost his appetite, though the old woman kept stuffing him with food and grumbling: "If you won't lay eggs, at least hurry up and get plump!"

"Oh, dear me!" moaned the now terrified duckling. "I'll die of fright first! And I did so hope someone would love me!"

Then one night, finding the hutch door ajar, he escaped. Once again he was all alone. He fled as far away as he could, and at dawn, he found himself in a thick bed of reeds. "If nobody wants me, I'll hide here forever." There was plenty a food, and the duckling began to feel a little happier, though he was lonely. One day at sunrise, he saw a flight of beautiful birds wing overhead. White, with long slender necks, yellow beaks and large wings, they were migrating south.

"If only I could look like them, just for a day!" said the duckling, admiringly. Winter came and the water in the reed bed froze. The poor duckling left home to seek food in the snow. He dropped exhausted to the ground, but a farmer found him and put him in his big jacket pocket.

"I'll take him home to my children. They'll look after him. Poor thing, he's frozen!" The duckling was showered with kindly care at the farmer's house. In this way, the ugly duckling was able to survive the bitterly cold winter.

However, by springtime, he had grown so big that the farmer decided: "I'll set him free by the pond!" That was when the duckling saw himself mirrored in the water.

"Goodness! How I've changed! I hardly recognize myself!" The flight of swans winged north again and glided on to the pond. When the duckling saw them, he realized he was one of their kind, and soon made friends.

"We're swans like you!" they said, warmly. "Where have you been hiding?"

"It's a long story," replied the young swan, still astounded. Now, he swam majestically with his fellow swans. One day, he heard children on the river bank exclaim: "Look at that young swan! He's the finest of them all!"

And he almost burst with happiness.

A farmer had a brother in town who was a gardener, and who possessed a magnificent orchard full of the finest fruit trees, so that his skill and his beautiful trees were famous everywhere.

One day the farmer went into town to visit his brother, and was astonished at the rows of trees that grew slender and smooth as wax tapers.

"Look, my brother," said the gardener; "I will give you an apple tree, the best from my garden, and you, and your children, and your children's children shall enjoy it."

Then the gardener called his workmen and ordered them to take up the tree and carry it to his brother's farm. They did so, and the next morning the farmer began to wonder where he should plant it.

"If I plant it on the hill," said he to himself, "the wind might catch it and shake down the delicious fruit before it is ripe; if I plant it close to the road, passers-by will see it and rob me of its luscious apples; but if I plant it too near the door of my house, my servants or the children may pick the fruit."

So, after he had thought the matter over, he planted the tree behind his barn, saying to himself: "Prying thieves will not think to look for it here."

But behold, the tree bore neither fruit nor blossoms the first year nor the second; then the farmer sent for his brother the gardener, and reproached him angrily, saying: --

"You have deceived me, and given me a barren tree instead of a fruitful one. For, behold, this is the third year and still it brings forth nothing but leaves!"

The gardener, when he saw where the tree was planted, laughed and said: --

"You have planted the tree where it is exposed to cold winds, and has neither sun nor warmth. How, then, could you expect flowers and fruit? You have planted the tree with a greedy and suspicious heart; how, then, could you expect to reap a rich and generous harvest?"

Chad sighed as he entered the Mt. Hope Nursing Home. Every Sunday his parents brought him here to visit his grandfather. This is where Pappy lived ever since he had his stroke.

"Is Pappy ever going to get better?" asked Chad.

His mom and dad looked at each other.

"It may be that Pappy will only get completely well in heaven," said Chad's mom.

Chad noticed his dad was carrying a big leather book. He recognized their family photograph album. "Why'd you bring that?" he asked.

"We thought we'd show Pappy some pictures," answered his dad.

When they walked into Pap's room he was sitting in his wheelchair. He looked up but didn't say anything. Chad's father placed the album on the table in front of Pappy and opened it. His parents talked cheerfully and pointed to pictures. Pappy stared down at the photographs and opened his mouth. Chad looked away as his mom used her handkerchief to wipe some dribble from Pappy's mouth.

"That's me!" exclaimed Chad, pointing to one of the photographs. "What's Pap doing?"

Chad's dad chuckled. "He was trying to teach you how to play checkers."

"You were so young," added his mom, "all you wanted was eat the game pieces."

"Looks like we're having fun anyway," said Chad.

The next Sunday when Chad visited his grandfather he took Pap's old checker board. He set it on the table in front of the wheelchair. "Don't worry, Pap," he said. "I'll move the pieces for both of us."

"Who's winning?" asked his dad after watching for a while.

Chad looked up and smiled. "We're not playing to win," he said. "We're just having fun." Chad glanced at his grandfather's face. "Even if Pap doesn't know it now, he'll know it some day in heaven."

Copyright (c) 1998 by Letitia L. Zook
This work may be copied and distributed freely, but only in its entirety, including this copyright notice, and without any changes.

Once, long ago, the Emperor of Rome was the most powerful ruler in the world. His armies had beaten off all the other armies they had fought, and so there were many unhappy people who had to do whatever the Emperor of Rome told them to do.

These conquered people had to send much of the money they earned to this ruler whom they did not know ( and certainly did not like, for he took all they had, and made them poor ), and their sons were forced to join the Roman Army and go to lands far from home, to fight ( and perhaps die ) for the Emperor of Rome.

In some places, this had gone on for many years and the people had lost hope of ever being happy again---until there came a man, a poor man like themselves. He was a Jewish man, a Rabbi ( which is the Hebrew word for "teacher" ), and he brought encouragement to the people. He was a wise man---a man who spoke of peace in a time when people had forgotten what peace was.

When the people saw the Emperor's soldiers everywhere and wanted to fight them, the Rabbi taught them to smile at the soldiers. He taught that people could be happy if they refused to be unhappy.

He said all the things we remember him saying in just one year, and yet his words meant so much that they have been remembered from that day to this.

The teacher's name was Jesus.