The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling was obliged to swim about in the water to keep it from freezing over，but every night the hole in which he swam got smaller and smaller.Then it froze so hard that the surface ice cracked，and the duckling had to use his legs all the time so that the ice should not freeze around him.At last he was so weary that he could move no more，and he was frozen fast into the ice.
Early in the morning a peasant came along and saw him.He went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe，and carried the duckling home to his wife.There he soon revived.The children wanted to play with him，but the duckling thought they were going to ill-use him，and rushed in his fright into the milk pan，and the milk spurted out all over the room.The woman shrieked and threw up her hands.Then he flew into the butter cask，and down into the meal tub and out again.Just imagine what he looked like by this time！The woman screamed and tried to hit him with the fire tongs.The children tumbled over one another in trying to catch him，and they screamed with laughter.By good luck the door stood open，and the duckling flew out among the bushes and the newly fallen snow.And he lay there thoroughly exhausted.
But it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery he had to go through during the hard winter.When the sun began to shine warmly again，the duckling was in the marsh，lying among the rushes.The larks were singing and the beautiful spring had come.