Another of my father-daughter bedtime story!
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ONCE UPON A TIME, in a small village, near a beautiful flowing river, there lived Mrs. Quack Duck with her six sweet and lovely ducklings.
Every morning, the Sun rose in the East, and Mrs. Quack Duck would wake up. She would stretch her wings and flap them slowly. Then she cleaned the nest.
She, then, would say, “Good Morning, my dear beautiful children”!
The six ducklings would slowly open their dreamy eyes and say, “Oh, Mother. Can we sleep a little more, please? We are still very sleepy.”
Mrs. Quack Duck would smile and say, “No my dear beauties. Always remember, the early bird catches the worm.”
Hearing their mother say about the worm, all the ducklings feel very hungry and immediately open their eyes. They say in chorus, “Mother, we are awake. Let’s go and catch the worm.”
“No, not so soon”, says Mrs. Quack Duck. “You have to first clean yourself in the morning, before you eat. Come, follow me”.
Mrs. Quack Duck walks towards the river. The six ducklings follow their mother in a single line. They all love the river very much.
On reaching the river, Mrs. Quack Duck says, “Dear children. Today I will teach you some very important things, which you all have to follow strictly. Do not miss doing these activities everyday. If you do not follow any one of these, then the magic will not work.”
The ducklings were very happy that their mother was about to do some magic. They listened very carefully.
Before entering the water, Mrs. Quack Duck said, “As soon as you enter the river and start swimming, you should first clean your feet and the beak. You should flap your legs inside the water and clean them from all the dirt and mud from your feet. You should also dip your beak into the water and clean them too.”
The ducklings looked at their mother how to do the same. They then followed her cleaning their feet and their beaks.
“Now can we eat, dear mother.” “No, not yet”.
“Now, you all will clean your feathers and your wings. I will teach you how to do it.” Saying this, Mrs. Quack Duck put her head into the water and brought it out with a jerk. In this way she splashed water onto her back. She also flapped her wings into the water. After that she cleaned each feather of her wings and her back with her beak.
The ducklings saw their mother cleaning up very carefully looking and they did the same. They loved splashing the water onto themselves. They also splashed water onto each other also. They had a lot of fun cleaning themselves up.
The ducklings then caught some small fish and ate them. After swimming for some time, they went to the bank of the river and dug up some lovely worms and ate them, too.
“Do not eat anything that you see and get. They may be dangerous and poisonous too. Eat only fresh and correct food. I will tell you which are the healthy food”, said Mrs. Quack Duck.
After eating, Mrs. Quack Duck said, “Clean your beak after every meal that you have”.
They played and swam all day. They were enjoying this swim.
When the Sun was going down in the West, Mrs. Quack Duck called out to her children and said, “Come on, it is now time to go home”.
“Mother dear, let us play some more. We are enjoying the swim”, said the ducklings together.
“No. Remember, when the Sun goes down, it is going to be dark. That is when all children and all ducks come home. This is time for rest”, said Mrs. Quack Duck.
While returning home, the ducklings looked at each other and whispered, “What happened to Mother’s Magic. Did you see it?” They shook their heads and said, “No”.
They went to sleep that night, feeling very happy.
Mrs. Quack Duck and her ducklings followed the same routine every day. The ducklings never forgot what their mother had taught them. They were very obedient children.
One morning, the ducklings woke up and found that their mother was still sleeping. They looked at each other and were very puzzled, as to how they woke up before their mother.
“Dear Mother, are you not well today? Can we help?”, said the ducklings.
“No, my dear children. Today I want you to go to the river by yourselves. I will join you all later”, said Mrs. Quack Duck.
The ducklings obeyed their mother and walked to the river.
Before entering the river, the ducklings saw their reflection in the river. They were very astonished. They saw that they had become very beautiful ducks now.
“Mother’s Magic”, they said in chorus.
The six ducklings have grown to become very beautiful and graceful ducks now, because they listened and obeyed their mother and her instructions.
