The Duck Who Cried Chicken
By Mora Loft Thystori
There once was a duck living on a quiet Badongerst farm. His name was Terrance, and he was a duck like any other. He would quack, swim in the pond, and waddle around... yet he was unhappy.
You see, there was one thing different about Terrance, a quality no other duck possessed: he secretly wished to be a chicken.
It was across the fence near the pond that he would see the chickens, pecking their feed and laying their eggs. Oh, how the farmer adored his chickens. Each day he would leave his home to feed them, and each night collect the eggs that they would lay.
Terrance wished he could be useful to the farmer, too. After all, it was due to the farmer that he had a nice, safe pond within which he could live, yet he had no way of repaying the farmer for his generosity. If he was a chicken, thought Terrance, he could finally be of some use to the farmer.
So he set out from his pond to meet with the chickens, so that he might learn their secrets. Who else would know how to become a chicken but another chicken, after all? He was too big to fit through the fence, however, and the fence was much too high for him to fly over.
So, Terrance waddled from his pond, working his way around the fence, content to simply go around it. It was here that he came across a sheep, grazing within the fields.
"Why, if it isn't a duck!" exclaimed the sheep. "What's your name, duck?" he asked.
"My name is Terrance!" replied Terrance.
"Well, hello, Terrance! What are you doing so far from the pond?" asked the sheep.
"I'm going to find the chickens in their coop, and ask them how I, too, can be a chicken!" said Terrance.
With that, the sheep let out a boisterous laugh. "You? Become a chicken? That's ridiculous! You're a duck, and that's all you'll ever be! Go back to your pond!" chided the sheep.
Terrance wasn't one to take remarks from a sheep, however, so he simply waddled past the sheep and ignored the laughter behind him.
Not long after, he came across a cow, lying about.
"Hello, cow!" exclaimed Terrance. "I'm going to become a chicken!"
"Why become a chicken?" asked the cow. "You look like a perfectly fine duck to me!"
Terrance was flattered, but unsatisfied with the cow's answer. "As I am, I've never once been of use to anyone, least of all the farmer. If I was a chicken, then I could finally have a purpose!"
The cow pondered this for a minute, then spoke. "I see. Well, good luck with that, then."
Encouraged by the cow's words, Terrance continued onwards.
Eventually, he came across the chicken coop, within which he spied a gorgeous-looking chicken. "Hello, Chicken!" shouted Terrance. "I'm Terrance. How do I become like you?"
The chicken looked over, and cocked its head to the side quizzically. "Become like me? You're perfectly fine as you are, duck."
With this, Terrance became frustrated. "No, I'm not! I see you and the other chickens fulfilling your roles on the farm, content to serve the farmer, yet here I am, lost! If I was like you, I'd finally have some meaning to my life!"
The chicken laughed at this, though unlike the sheep her laugh was gentle and kind. "A life doesn't need another to give it meaning. Each of us finds their own meaning within this life. I may lay eggs, but it doesn't define me."
"I may be a chicken, but it doesn't define who I am. Just like how being a duck doesn't define who you are. You're a duck, yes, but first and foremost you're Terrance."
Terrance, fed up, returned to his pond to think. Just then, however, the farmer bolted out the door, late for a meeting somewhere.
As he ran, however, he tripped and fell, and his wedding ring flung into the pond where it landed with a "plop" and sank beneath the surface.
"Oh no!" shouted the farmer. "My ring! My wife is going to kill me!"
Terrance, as if moved by instinct, sprung into action. Kicking his feet up and diving below the water, he nabbed the sinking ring before propelling himself up to the pond's shore. Opening his beak, he dropped the ring at the feet of the overjoyed farmer.
"Thanks, duck! You saved my marriage!" exclaimed the farmer, and he did a little jig and went on his way.
It was then that Terrance realized something he had never realized before: chickens may be able to lay eggs, but they couldn't swim. Furthermore, no one could swim and dive as fast as he could, not even the other ducks.
For once in his life, Terrance realized that he, too, had his own purpose and his own strength.
There once was a duck living on a quiet Badongerst farm. His name was Terrance, and he was a duck unlike any other. He would quack, swim in the pond, and waddle around, and he was happy.
The End.
