Once there was a little duck. When he was a duckling his parents loved him, his brothers and sisters adored him, and all the animals in and around the pond were astonished at how cute he was. Then he grew up, and went to live in another area of the pond. The day after he moved in to his new home, he went to take a walk. But his walk proved unsatisfactory.

The first creature he saw was a pigeon, preening her feathers. When she saw the duck, she cooed and cawed. “You’re so weird!” she shouted. “Your feet are strange!”

The duck looked down at his feet and compared them to the pigeon’s pretty pink toes. “You’re right,” he said to himself. “My feet are too clumsy for walking.” And the duck, feeling very ashamed, crept away from the pigeon and slipped into the water. He thought he’d have a nice swim around the pond to clear his mind. But as he paddled, the fish from below splashed and taunted him.

“Your swimming skills are weird!” they yelled. “You’re not doing it the right way!”

The duck looked at the fish, which glided through the water, and compared them to his own slow paddling. “You’re right,” he said to himself. “I can’t swim.” So the duck swam away, very embarrassed. He thought he’d have a little flap through the air, just to enjoy the scenery, and flapped his wings and kicked his legs to get up into the air. Once above ground, the duck flapped and flapped his wings and slowly got higher and higher. But as he flapped, a nearby hawk soared above him.

“Your flapping is weird!” the hawk screeched at him. “You’re not supposed to flap so often!”

The duck saw that the hawk could soar, wings outspread, for a long time without even flapping once. He saw that his own wings flapped to get up into the air, and felt very alone. “You’re right,” said the duck to himself. “I can’t fly.” He went back to his pond and landed with a splash, feeling very frustrated that he couldn’t do anything right. “Mama!” he bawled. “Daddy!”

His parents came rushing from the other side of the pond. “What’s the matter?” they asked.

“I can’t do anything right!” cried the duck, and told his story.

“That’s okay,” his parents said. “The pigeon is very good at walking, the fish are very good at swimming, the hawk is very good at flying, but you, little duck, are good at all three.”