This time, Fenton felt that it would take all of father's
wiles to make sense of what he had just heard.
Fenton's head was set spinning by the chance remark of the serving
man's daughter. She was a short, badly
kept little girl with crooked teeth. This seemed as natural as anything else in
Fenton's world and remained so until that fateful day when, right in the middle
of picking up his toys, she said, "You know, Sir, when I grow up I am
going to be beautiful. Mama says I am
like a flower that will someday bloom!"
Fenton was stunned.
He suspected, of course, that she could speak. But her words revealed a
most puzzling optimism. Fenton had
always been told he would display his father's sharp, tanned features when he
grew up. And so he would. But what explained this assurance about her
future chances? Could the simple act of
growing up transform her from an ugly little girl to a beautiful, blossoming
woman? Was this an example of the help
finally taking initiative? If so, was
she taking it from someone else? Where
would it all end?
Father was not available, so Warren, his elder, was
assigned to Fenton.
"Fenton," began
"Once upon a time," began
"In this litter was a little duck unlike all the
others. Mother duck was quite puzzled about this strange creature.
"Checking further, she discovered that this rag of an
animal didn't appear to be a duck at all!
She wasn't sure what it was, but on the off‑chance that it was
hers, she decided to let it continue."
Fenton thought this a fair decision under the
circumstances. He felt he would become a judge some day and
hoped to have a somber judge's chamber in which to make such decisions. He would have mother decorate his room thusly.
"Well," said
"Not wanting to give up her considerable investment,
mother swan decided to make the best use of this information. So she set the baby swan to work doing such
chores as a baby swan would be suited for.
"Of course all of the other baby ducks ridiculed the
imposter. And the baby swan grew more
and more upset. One day, while doing
chores for a real duck, she boasted about how she was going to grow up to be
beautiful.
"Nobody could take this threat seriously, as she was
indeed frightfully ugly.
"Then one day (the creature's boast quite forgotten) a
most wondrous thing occurred. Before
their very eyes, the ugly duckling had grown up. She had, as it were, blossomed into a full
grown swan!"
"Uh,
"The ugly duckling,"
"Lineage," concluded
"Lineage," thought Warren to himself, as he left
the room.
-END-