Once Upon a Time...

This is a story about a little Muscovy duck named Ella.





Ella was a very happy little Muscovy duck. She spent all her time with her best friends, Nina, Lena, and Dinah, and their handsome sugar-daddy beau named Elvis. They all got along happily and spent their days finding yummy things to eat in the sunny grass, napping in the shade, and taking baths in the wading pool.




But little Ella had a plan. All she really wanted was to be a Mother Duck. So she found a nice little spot for a nest, and filled it with eggs. She bade farewell to her friends and sat down on her nest to keep it warm and to wait.

She waited.

And waited.

Patiently, she sat on her nest.

Valiantly, she defended her nest from the jealous chickens whose only purpose is to eat and sleep and lay eggs which will never become babies.

Sadly, her nest was frequently disturbed by these mean-spirited chickens. Many times she found a few of her precious eggs had been broken.

Ella was very sad. Thirty-five days is a very long time for a little duck to wait without any reward at the end.

Poor little Ella stayed with her nest, even after all her eggs were gone. She still just wanted to be a Mother Duck.

Next door to her cozy little nest, some young chicks moved in. They cheeped and played in the sunshine. Ella smiled as she watched them play. She noticed that they did not have a mother. The did not have anyone to teach them how to be kind and thoughtful little ducks. She looked at her own empty nest and sighed.

Just then, she felt someone near her!



Why, it was one of the new little chicks!

This little chick seemed very sad without a mother to snuggle with, so Ella decided she would simply have to step in. She would take this little chick in hand and give it a proper upbringing and teach it ducky things so that it would not grow up to be dirty, mean and ill-tempered like the rude chickens that had disturbed her nest. She would supervise the chick at play and make sure that the chick had plenty to eat and learned how to take a bath in the wading pool. She determined to give this little one a proper upbringing.

Little Ella had to adjust her goals when she learned that this chick was no longer a baby, but rather an adolescent who liked to wander and had ideas of her own, but no matter. The child still needed a mother.




Each night as little Ella snuggles her chick under her wing to sleep, she sighs with gratitude and joy. She has finally realized her dream of becoming a mother, and she and her adopted baby have set out to find their "happily ever after...".