I don't know what the English language version of the story is about, but I do know that the victorian translations which became popular and have such nostalgic appeal today are sometimes radically different. I don't remember any examples, but I've heard that the moral was often changed, and most of the humor was certainly removed. H.C. Andersen's stories are hilarious, but you sure can't tell from the English versions I've looked at.
The Danish version is not about beauty, except as a metaphor for the beauty of intelligence and creativity, and class and refinement. The swan is physically larger than the ducks, it is traditionally associated with royalty, and it is not tame, it migrates. The ducks are domesticated and have a very narrow world-view. They're plebeians and have low tastes and crude humor.
When the swan learns what it really is, it is set free from its low, provincial origins. Its horizon suddenly widens, and it realizes that it has every opportunity in the world. The ducks do not learn any lesson.
Old H.C. was not only an extremely gifted child, who didn't fit in with his peers, and spent more time hanging out at the theater than in his dad's cobbler's workshop, he was also unusually tall, had a mother who had worked in the royal palace, and bore something of a resemblance to the king. He was both smart and enthusiastic, but he was also really annoying and difficult to be around, and still, for some reason, an anonymous someone sponsored him and he was able to travel to the capital and work in the Royal Theater.
I've heard tell that in America, The Ugly Duckling is thought to say something about hard work and ambition being rewarded, and now you say it's about beauty. But originally, it's explicitly about birthright and inborn gifts.
no subject
The Danish version is not about beauty, except as a metaphor for the beauty of intelligence and creativity, and class and refinement. The swan is physically larger than the ducks, it is traditionally associated with royalty, and it is not tame, it migrates. The ducks are domesticated and have a very narrow world-view. They're plebeians and have low tastes and crude humor.
When the swan learns what it really is, it is set free from its low, provincial origins. Its horizon suddenly widens, and it realizes that it has every opportunity in the world. The ducks do not learn any lesson.
Old H.C. was not only an extremely gifted child, who didn't fit in with his peers, and spent more time hanging out at the theater than in his dad's cobbler's workshop, he was also unusually tall, had a mother who had worked in the royal palace, and bore something of a resemblance to the king. He was both smart and enthusiastic, but he was also really annoying and difficult to be around, and still, for some reason, an anonymous someone sponsored him and he was able to travel to the capital and work in the Royal Theater.
I've heard tell that in America, The Ugly Duckling is thought to say something about hard work and ambition being rewarded, and now you say it's about beauty. But originally, it's explicitly about birthright and inborn gifts.