But Gille Mairtean the fox would take no reward for the help he had given to Ian Direach , only his friendship . Thus all things prospered with Ian Direach till he died . The Ugly Duckling -LSB- From Tales of the West Highlands . -RSB- It was summer in the land of Denmark , and though for most of the year the country looks flat and ugly , it was beautiful now . The wheat was yellow , the oats were green , the hay was dry and delicious to roll in , and from the old ruined house which nobody lived in , down to the edge of the canal , was a forest of great burdocks , so tall that a whole family of children might have dwelt in them and never have been found out . It was under these burdocks that a duck had built herself a warm nest , and was not sitting all day on six pretty eggs . Five of them were white , but the sixth , which was larger than the others , was of an ugly grey colour . The duck was always puzzled about that egg , and how it came to be so different from the rest . Other birds might have thought that when the duck went down in the morning and evening to the water to stretch her legs in a good swim , some lazy mother might have been on the watch , and have popped her egg into the nest . But ducks are not clever at all , and are not quick at counting , so this duck did not worry herself about the matter , but just took care that the big egg should be as warm as the rest . This was the first set of eggs that the duck had ever laid , and , to begin with , she was very pleased and proud , and laughed at the other mothers , who were always neglecting their duties to gossip with each other or to take little extra swims besides the two in the morning and evening that were necessary for health . But at length she grew tired of sitting there all day . ` Surely eggs take longer hatching than they did , ' she said to herself ; and she pined for a little amusement also . Still , she knew that if she left her eggs and the ducklings in them to die none of her friends would ever speak to her again ; so there she stayed , only getting off the eggs several times a day to see if the shells were cracking -- which may have been the very reason why they did not crack sooner . She had looked at the eggs at least a hundred and fifty times , when , to her joy , she saw a tiny crack on two of them , and scrambling back to the nest she drew the eggs closer the one to the other , and never moved for the whole of that day . Next morning she was rewarded by noticing cracks in the whole five eggs , and by midday two little yellow heads were poking out from the shells . This encouraged her so much that , after breaking the shells with her bill , so that the little creatures could get free of them , she sat steadily for a whole night upon the nest , and before the sun arose the five white eggs were empty , and ten pairs of eyes were gazing out upon the green world . Now the duck had been carefully brought up , and did not like dirt , and , besides , broken shells are not at all comfortable things to sit or walk upon ; so she pushed the rest out over the side , and felt delighted to have some company to talk to till the big egg hatched . But day after day went on , and the big egg showed no signs of cracking , and the duck grew more and more impatient , and began to wish to consult her husband , who never came . ' I ca n't think what is the matter with it , ' the duck grumbled to her neighbour who had called in to pay her a visit .
` Why I could have XXXXX two broods in the time that this one has taken ! '
arose cracking gazing getting hatched see sitting speak swims walk