A Swan by any other name Chapter I

This is my twist off of the old ugly duckling tale. It is a little more detailed and involved and is targeted at the 10-17 age group. However, it is a fun tale I think adults will enjoy as well.

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

A SWAN BY ANY OTHER NAME   Chapter I    

 

 

 

"So I am a Swan." I said to the seemingly friendly strangers.  They were the first of my kind I had ever seen besides my own reflection.  With a cruel snicker one of the strange Swans said, "More like a blooming idiot, if you ask me, chaps” I was not sure if ‘Chaps’ was the first Swans name, or if it was just a way of saying Guys.  What I did know was I did not like that Swans tone and could not understand how he could insult someone he did not even know. 

 

The Swan I had addressed gave the heckler a knowing wink, and then turned back to me.  "Permit me to introduce myself.  I am Periquin the third of the Cameo lake Swans."  His voice was dripping with culture and refinement.  I found myself wishing I could speak with such poise and control. "So," he continued, "Tell me what branch you are from stranger?"

 

I had to think for a minute before answering.  Then I had to think a second more. I still did not understand the question.  Innocent of the conventions of swans I made my first mistake.  I did this by showing my ignorance.  "Branch?" said I in my confusion, “You mean like the branch of an elm or a birch tree?"

There was a second of silence followed by an explosion of uncontrolled mirth, except for of course Mr. Periquin the III, who only allowed a sneer to cross his face. 

 

The other Swans were laughing so hard that there were dislodged feathers flying through the air.  Two were holding on to each other laughing and the third was holding his overly ample stomach with both wings.  Then the laughter of the other Swans seemed to finally get to him and he too broke out chuckling.  In another minute I also was laughing, though for the life of me I could not tell you why.  I guess group laughter is just infectious.

 

Wiping away tears of mirth with one wing, Periquin III started again.  "You see old Chap; I am referring to your ancestor’s tree, or your family tree.  You see this is something that we Swans take very seriously, and your position in polite society is determined by your position at birth.  So if you would not mind humoring my wishes, please inform me of your mothers name, your own name, and the region they claim as their own."

 

Well, that was pretty clear and concise.  Or perhaps those both mean the same thing.  You see, I did not have the benefits of a Swan education, or the refinement of their culture.  I was an orphan Swan whose mother had either been killed or somehow lost me.  I was brought up by a kindly mother duck that raised me as if I was one of her own.  I did not know enough to be ashamed of my origins.  I did however know enough to know that I did not fit in.  That was why I had left my pond and my flock and was now seeking to find my own kind.  So perhaps I can be forgiven for the pride with which I announced, “Well my mother is a Duck named Wanda, and since I was a fledgling she has called me Daffy, and our home is Tarrent Pond."

 

I had only thought that I had been laughed at before.  Now I knew what it felt like to be totally humiliated.  All four Swans were laughing so hard that they could not even stay upright.  In fact they were rolling on the ground laughing.  This time I did not join in, for one because obviously I was the butt of their joke.  I could not figure out what it was that I said that was so funny.  I was hanging my head in shame and I did not even know why.  So I tried to muddle though by saying" Well, it's true, my mom is Wanda, I'm Daffy, and I come from Tarrant Pond.  I really don't get the joke or see what is so funny."  The chubby swan who had called me an idiot was turning blue now and he yelled, “Stop," gasp, "Stop please, you are killing us."

 

So I just hung my head still not knowing what the joke was or why I felt so ashamed and waited for them to get over their laughter.  They eventually did, however while I was still hanging my head there was a rustle of wings and a blast of air.  I looked up to see that they had taken wing and were now circling around me in close formation.  "Bumpkin," yelled one of them.  "Low brow," taunted another.  "Blooming Idiot," yelled the fat one and as an ultimate indignity lit loose his stool which struck me in the face.  Then they were off single file and laughing all the way. 

 

I just stood there.  I didn't know what to do or where to go now.  If these were my people I was not sure that I wanted to get to know them.  I was kind of dazed and I guess I must have started wandering because I suddenly found myself confronted with a small stream.  It was a pretty little stream with tinkling water that sounded like music as it ran over the rocks.  It soothed my ruffled feathers somewhat.  I bathed and cleaned myself up and then found a nice little hummock to go to sleep in. 

 

Sunrise was beautiful and it was hard to hold a grudge when nature graces us with such sights of beauty.  After all, the Ducks had not accepted me at first either. The taunts of the fledglings when I was growing up were just as cruel if not more so.  For I was different then any of them even when little.  As I grew older those difference became even more apparent.  Yet my mother Wanda was ever my champion and would scold them when ever she caught them at it. 

 

Gradually, I came to be accepted by many of them for I was quick of wit and could tell jokes better then any of them.  Also they respected me for my ability to fish and I could out fly any of them in our games.  That did not make being called 'ugly, reed neck, clumsy, or gangly,' any easier.  However none had ever called me 'stupid, idiot, low brow, or bumpkin.  I realized though that perhaps their taunts were not unfounded. 

 

After all, Ducks are not the brightest of creatures and that was a big part of the reason I did not fit in.  I asked a lot of questions that nobody could answer.  I was always wondering what made things work this way or that way.  The older Ducks would get mad and grump at me and the younger ones would throw up their wings in exasperation.  “Who cares,” they would say, “Why do you want to know anyway?”

 

Then one day something terrible and wonderful happened to me.  Such a simple thing perhaps and possibly something you might take for granted, but it changed my whole life.  I saw my reflection in a puddle of water.  See you have to understand, I could always see myself, indeed with an eye on each side of my head looking at my body is easy.  Yet it is not the same as seeing yourself.  A human might say seeing the whole picture. 

 

I was beautiful, I was sleek, and my feathers were iridescent.  All the curves and the markings and just all of it overwhelmed me for I had always thought about myself as an ugly duckling.  I suddenly realized that I was not a duck at all.  So I went to my mom Wanda and told her what happened and asked her to tell me the truth.  I was shocked but not too surprised to learn that I was adopted.  She did not know what happened to my actual mom.  In fact she was not even sure where I came from.  She had eight kids that year and one day she turned around and saw that she had nine. 

 

She had tears in her eyes as she told me she almost pecked me to death when she first saw me.  I panicked she told me, and thought you were a danger to my other children.  But you were so cute and helpless and so pretty and white and I had never had fluffy white chick before.  So instead she brought me up as one of her own and defended me from the elder male ducks and I became one of her favorites.  Even though the other ducklings called me ugly and called me names, she always told me how beautiful I was.  As I grew older and larger I was able to hold my own, but I got in a lot of fights.  She told me that I was smarter then that and that I should use my brain instead of my size and she was right.

 

I learned to ignore the taunts of the others and to laugh at it instead and soon I started making friends.

There is even a female named Shelly who said she likes me and asked me to be her boyfriend.  I would have liked that very much but it was soon after that I saw my reflection. That was when I realized just how different I really was.  I told her that I loved her but that I did not think it would work out.  I told her that I needed to go find my people because I really did not fit in here.  She cried and told me that she wished I had never seen my reflection.  Women can be so unreasonable when you are being logical.

 

 I had seen swans in the distance before, yet you have to understand that I had never seen my whole self before and had no idea that this was what I was.  Also I was a member of a flock and we had our routes that we took each year and the ducks and swans almost never mixed.  You see where Swans prefer lakes and open bodies of water; ducks pretty much prefer the smaller ponds and more hidden places.  Perhaps this is because man hunts ducks more so they feel better with cover near at hand. 

 

So all this aside and all my thoughts finished I decided to continue on to the lake that Periquin III had mentioned and to appeal to my people to let me join them.  Maybe the ones I met were just bullies and the others would be different.  After all I was very smart and I was sure I could learn the conventions of their society in short order and make a place for myself.  Perhaps I could even go visit the ancestor’s tree and learn where to find my family tree so I would know who I really was.  At least it was worth a try.

*****

 

I was able to find some small fish in the stream.  Although they were small they were tasty and plentiful so soon I had eaten enough to satisfy me.  Also there was a plethora of different tasty bugs so it was actually quite a nice meal.  Once my hunger was taken care of I took to the air with a renewed attitude and took care of the other business on the fly.  That is one nice thing about being avian, no messy functions on the ground.  I headed in the same direction that the bullies took, after all they had no reason to mislead me, and I was after all a country bumpkin.  They probably thought I did not have the wit to follow.

 

A couple of hours of pleasant flight and ever more pretty scenery, I winged into sight of Cameo Lake.  It was a paradise.  It seemed to have al the aspects of both a pond and a lake mixed together, and nowhere was there signs of man.  There were rushes and reeds to one side of the lake and that whole side on the land was covered by long waving grasses. The lake had series of small ponds connected together and surrounded by every growing plant you could ever imagine.  There were flowers everywhere and plenty of juicy bees and bugs.  The far side of the lake was all trees and many of them fruit or nut bearing.

 

The amount of birds at the lake was astounding.  There were swans and cranes, finches and swifts, love birds and canaries; I could just go on and on.  Also upon the land were animals of every description.  Including what looked like a small pack of wolves laying in the sun and taking sips of water from one edge.

I would have to be very careful, for the saying goes that where you find wolves there are foxes.  This simply means that where you find one predator you are likely to find many more and there were plenty of places to hide and wait.  What I did not notice, were any ducks, even though this area would be perfect for them.

 

Then I saw her...  I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life.  Of course I had never seen a female of my species before either.  Some how seeing her made me feel a foot larger and my muscles felt riple-ly and sleek.  I glided and dipped and soared majestically as I observed her and she seemed to be alone.  Finally I glided into the most perfect landing I had ever done.  She batted her eyes and I hid my face under a wing for a moment.  She was just so beautiful I didn't know how to react.  Finally I approached with a wag of my tail and shyly said, “Hello."  She looked me up and down then sneered and said, "Pond Scum."  Then she swam off in a huff.

 

I felt like the wolves were chewing on my entrails.  That the sky had suddenly turned black and there were ashes raining down.  I felt like I was underwater and I could not fight my way to the surface.  My world was upside down and there was no place to land.  Yet it was to get worse.  There was the flapping of wings, followed by a splash.  Then there was the sound of many wings and several more splashes.  I was so deep in my confusion and grief that it did not register for a minute.  When I became aware of it they had already cut off my escape by leaving me no runway to get airborne.  I was surrounded.

 

It was not wolves, nor foxes, for after all I was on the water.  It was worse.  It was my own kind, I was surrounded by swans.  It did not surprise me at all to notice that Sir Periquin III was the spokesbird for the group.  Looking carefully at him I now saw that the sneer on his face was permanent.  He was so full of himself and hoity toity that it actually changed his face.  I found a new emotion replacing my shame and bewilderment of before.  It was an ugly emotion and one that I was not familiar with.  I hated his guts.  This was all entirely his fault somehow.  He had blabbed before I got here and had made that girl hate me before she ever saw me.  I could see it so clearly now.

 

He had intended for me to follow him here so he could humiliate me some more.  He had set a trap for me and then lay in wait for me to spot the girl.  Other wise how could she have known that I came from a pond and spurned me with such a sharp painful barb?  Also there had been almost no time between the time she swam off in a huff and he and his bully boys appeared.  Then I found myself fighting for my life.  There were ten of them and only one of me which was patently unfair.  To make it worse I did not know how to fight like a swan.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I did not say that I did not know how to fight.  What I said was that I did not know how to fight like a swan.  I had not fought in a long time either as I had learned to value my brain over brawn instead of settling differences by violence.  In addition, my fighting had been with ducks that do silly things like get airborne and slam into each other.  On the ground they just waddle in and do a lot of bill fighting pinching each others wings and necks.  You get a lot of bruises that way but it is never fatal.  Now I was being pecked and head butted.  That’s right I said head butted. 

 

You see swans have long necks and can whip them around fairly rapidly.  With the correct undulation and speed and practice you can smack something with your head with as much force as dropping a rock on it.  Several such smacks from all directions and I was down in the water.  Then they were pecking me and screeching like I was an attacking predator.  Next thing I knew I was under the water and there was nothing but a wall of feet and wings above me.  Yet, inadvertently they had done me a favor.

 

You see swans and ducks hunt fish differently.  Swans strike with there necks into the water and spear or grab a fish.  When you get good at this you can even get the surface ones on the fly by dipping your beak in the water as you go by.  That is why a lot of ducks respected me, because it was something they could not easily do.  I tried to teach some of then but they would just back flop on the water and look silly.  However, they in turn taught me how to dive for fish by keeping my wings tight to my body and wiggling my hind end.  I was pretty good at it and could swim deep and long and fairly quick. 

 

So that is what I did.  I shot through the water like a fish under the surface and emerged well away from the spot of the ambush.  As soon as I cleared the surface I was flapping my wings and running on the surface of the water.  Then I was airborne before the other swans even realized I was no longer under them.  I flew fast and hard and changed my direction several times to make sure I would not be seen or followed.  Finally exhausted I landed to inspect my injuries.

 

I was bruised and battered.  I had several holes pecked in me including one that went clear through my wing.  I realized that I needed somewhere quiet to rest and heal where there was food and protection from the predators.  The area of the lake was dangerous because it drew animals and birds from all over.  So even though tired and hurt I took wing once more and made the two hour flight back to that nice little stream I had found before.  Streams attract predators also, however they are long and meandering so they do not attract them all to one spot like a lake does.

 

I had been there for a week and was pretty much healed when something peculiar happened.  I saw a single swan flying a crisscross pattern.  For a minute or so I was panicked.  Could they really hate me so much that they had other swans out looking for me?  Did they actually want me dead for daring to upset the hoity toity Sir Periquin III?  Then a shock of recognition went through me.  That was not just any swan.  It was the girl swan who had tricked me and lured me into a trap. 

 

What was I to do?  My head told me that she was probably just a scout for the other swans and the second she saw me she would wing off to tell them.  If that happened again I would have to flee once more because I doubt I could fight off that many swans on land.  Yet, my heart told me another message entirely.  Maybe there was another reason she was alone.  Perhaps she was actually looking for me herself.  'Sigh.'  We males are apparently fools for despite the fact that she had tricked me, despite the fact that she demeaned me and made me feel horrible, I still could not believe that she was evil enough to hunt me down.

 

I was airborne before I could give it a second thought.  She saw me instantly and adjusted her course to meet me.  We both gained altitude to have plenty of clear air to speak in.  Soon we were wing to wing.  We were high enough now to float on the currents of air and the heat coming up from the land.  It is possible to speak while your wings are flapping, yet it is hard to hear and even harder to talk.  You need your breath for driving your wings so only short instructions or observations are possible.  We glided on different currents for several minutes before speaking.  She was the first one to speak as I had nothing to say at this point.

 

"I'm so sorry," she said, "I did not know that those boys were going to do that...

I looked at her sideways but did not reply and finally she continued.  "You have every right to be mad at me and I really don't blame you.  Please believe me though when I tell you that if I would have known what they were going to do, I would have never had anything to do with it.  They lied to me to get me to do it."

 

Fair enough, I could believe that.  I was coming to realize though, that swans being more intelligent also have a more convoluted society.  Or in simple words they lie a lot and put on airs and can not be trusted as much as a good sturdy duck.  Ducks really have no reason to lie and most times when they try I could tell because they were not smart enough to be good at it.  I would have to determine if this female had any reason to lie to me or was trying to lead me into another trap.  I would not be fooled twice.  I had learned my lesson well enough the first time.

 

"What is your name?" I asked her.  I must have startled her for her wing dipped and she lost altitude and had to flap viciously to get back up.  "I-I am Scelenea, pronounced 'sell len ee ah', daughter of Celeste of the Fury Lake swans."  I thought about that for a moment and made a decision.  Daffy was obviously a good enough name for a duck, but I was not a duck I was a swan.  “Pleased to meet you Scelenea, I am Daffino pronounced 'Dah feen oh, and my mother died before I knew her so I can not tell you my tree nor where I come from."Oohh," she said obviously taken back, "However did you get by and where did you live?"

 

Here came the big test, oh boy.  "Scelenea I will not lie to you.  I was brought up by a beautiful and very caring duck named Wanda.  She is a dweller of Tarrent Pond and that is where I grew up.  Well there and of course the southern pond we go to in winter.  I suppose though only the one you were born in counts in your society."  "That is true,” she faltered "I mean to birdbrains to whom that stuff matters."  I thought about that for a minute as we hit an updraft and rose even higher. 

 

"Are you saying that this type of thing such as parent tree and region does not matter to you?"  She blushed, which I had not realized swans could do.  It was if the skin under her pretty cheeks changed color and it shone out through the feathers on her face.  I found it quite becoming and felt a little sassier about her.

After all a blush would be a hard thing to fake.  "Well, there are other things then Parent tree and region, things which are just as important."  "Such as?" I prodded.  She blushed even more.  "Well, you may not realize it; however you are a very handsome swan.  More handsome then any I have met before, except for the leader, but he is old and can hardly fly anymore."

 

Now it was me who dipped a wing and lost altitude.  I flapped back up and then we were both flapping as we caught a downdraft.  It took another minute to find a good updraft and now we were both a feeling a little shy.  I could feel my cheeks burning.  It was a strange feeling, but not a horrible one.  “I fell into your trap because you were the most beautiful swan I had ever seen.  I just wanted to meet you and talk to you.  Even if you did have a boyfriend it would have been worth it just to look and talk to you.  Now it was her who was silent for a while.  Then she said coyly, "I don't have a boyfriend." 

 

I turned to reply and she was not there.  She had folded her wings and dropped to a lower level. I did the same but as I reached her level she winged upwards.  I over shot my mark and as she rose she threw a giggle over her shoulder at me.  I caught the giggle and ate it and beat with all my power to get above her. 

As I rose above her I did a perfect wing over, smacked into her side and twined my neck around hers.  We fell from the sky laughing and giggling and I felt like I had just found a pond packed to the top with fish.

We untwined and both spread our wings just above treetop level and I told her to follow me.

 

I showed her the little hummock I had found and she almost cooed with appreciation.  I had been here for a little over a week so I had really made myself comfortable.  There were lots of materials at hand and I had never had my own place before.  At first I just brought a few twigs and branches, long grasses and reeds. 

I used these to shore up parts of the hummock and make an almost water-tight nest.  Still though I was not satisfied, it was still a little too visible.  So I kept adding to it and adding to it.  After all it was better then being bored while my injuries healed. 

 

Then finally I thought I was finished, but I did not like the way it looked.  Nor, was it as comfortable as I thought it should be.  I was healing good and my wing felt ok so I started making short flights and finding stuff to put on the outside of it.  I found pretty flowers, olive branches, and vines to adorn the outside; Colorful leaves to line the bottom and other fluffy plants.  Then I made a find that almost made getting beat up worth the trouble.  I found a small grove of untouched cotton plants.  A good portion of them were ripe and bursting with cotton.  I brought it back to my little shelter by the beak-full.  Now we were within the shelter and happily watching the sunset as it put on its nightly show.  Life for once was good.

 

 ***

"I think I love you," I told Scelenea.  She snuggled closer to me under my wing.  "I know," she said.  "I think I knew from the second I saw you.  I- I am so sorry that I betrayed you that way."  "Shh," I told her, setting a wing tip on her beak.  "That is past history and I shall not hold it against you.  You told me that you did not know what they were going to do and I believe you.  We shall not talk about this again."  She sighed,

"I wish it was that easy, but..." "Yes?"  "There is the matter of my father and your family tree.  I may not care but he will.  Then there is Sir Periquin III and his gang of thugs.  He has a crush on me you know."

 

Again, this was something I could believe and accept.  For one she knew more about Swan society then I and knew how they would react to me.  I could also well believe that Sneer face had a crush of her and would make trouble for both of us.  Lastly, my little shelter was nice but a bachelor pad was no place for a pretty Lady swan like her.  It would always be a special place for us.  However it would never be a place we could live comfortable in.  There just was not enough food and provisions available.  Also she would be removed from her friends and society.  She would miss them and start pining after a while.  Even worse, what would we do when winter came and we needed to fly south?  Where would we go then?

***

We had spent two weeks together while Scelenea taught me everything she could about swan society.  I learned more in those two weeks, I think: then I had in my entire life.  I learned what makes a Sir, a sir and what makes a Ma'am a ma'am.  It was all very complicated, however as I mentioned I was a very bright bird and I caught on quickly.  The hardest part though was learning to fight like a swan.  I did not want to hit a lady and although that was a fine upstanding attitude, she was my teacher.  I tried my hardest to spar with her and learn how to move but I just could not put force into my blows or take it seriously.  Finally she threw up her wings in desperation and told me I was hopeless.

 

The next day she decided that we needed help.  In order to join polite society, 'so called polite society,' it was necessary to establish my ancestor’s tree.  It might not be possible to find out my family tree with my mother gone and my dad unknown.  However I was surprised to learn that my ancestor’s tree could be determined by the markings on my face.  It seems that each branch of family has a certain way the markings on the face are arranged.  This is what the swans call the family crest.  So if we could compare my markings to known crests we could at least establish my ancestor tree and she could marry me.

 

The only other problem would be Sir Periquin the third.  He would most likely object to the marriage and would probably challenge me to a right of wings.  This is a contest of war, straight out combat, one on one.

The winner of the contest is the one who is right.  It is as simple as that.  While scowl face was a bully a cheater and a gangster, he was not a coward.  He led his little gang of ill birds by right of contest and had defeated each of them in single combat. 

 

He could have just challenged the original Sir of the small gang and become the new Sir.  However he was much crueler then that and had challenged the entire gang.  He fought each one by rank and then killed their leader.  It was his choice to kill or accept the old leader’s life after defeating him.  However he never even gave him that chance.  He killed him outright with his own wing, in single combat.  His minions were terrified of him and the Lords were uneasy for his eye was turning now to them.

 

There were apparently twenty Sirs in the flock and some of them had as many as fifty birds in their sub flock.  These twenty Sirs were responsible to four Lords.  To become a Lord you had to first become a Sir and then challenge a Lord to combat.  If you defeated the Lord then his troops became yours and you could kill him or demote him to Sir over your old group.  

 

So now Daffino of nobody and nowhere was sitting waiting for Scelenea to bring back her dad and brother; The dad to decide his fate and if he was good enough to marry the daughter; The brother to train him in single combat and see if he could make a fighter out of him.  He had been waiting for over a day and was now worried that perhaps she had not even been able to convince her dad to meet him.  After all, he was pond scum to them.  She had said she could twist the truth a little and make up a better story.  Daffino could not live with that however.  It was all or nothing; he would be accepted for who he was or not at all.

 

Now however he was wondering as he waited if he had made a mistake.  To be able to marry such a beautiful creature such as her, perhaps a little lying would not be such a bad thing.  No...  He had to be honest with himself as well.  Lying was wrong for any reason.  Just because it was convenient did not make it right.  As much as he loved Scelenea, it would be better to have loved and lost, then to live a lie.  "Sigh."  Well he would wait another day or two.  If she did not show up by then, it would mean that her dad had forbidden it.

In that case he would just go back to his pond and try to forget her.  There would be no reason to pursue his grudge with scowl face. 

 

He had just finished all these thoughts when they became irrelevant.  There was the sound of wings and three swans burst out of the trees behind the glade.  For a moment of panic, he thought that scowl face and his minions had finally run him down.  Then he recognized his beloved’s markings.  They were coming from the wrong direction though, and so low to the tops of the trees that it was obvious they were being cautious.  They settled around him and without even thinking of the consequences he leaped to take her in his wings.  He had missed her so much and had been so afraid that he would never see her again.

 

"Ahem… I say old chap ah, harrumph that is."  Oh, oops, he meant me.  I carefully untwined my neck from hers and took a step to the side.  I stood tall and looked him straight in the eye while extending a wing to meet him.  "Hello Sir," I told him, "It is a pleasure to finally meet the father of the Lady I love.  My name is Daffino, though I am sure she must have told you that.  Otherwise you would not be here."  He looked somewhat taken aback by my easy introduction, statement of intention, and offside observation.  "I- well that is err, harrumph.  Well said youngling, and well met.  I must say, you are a little more impressive then I expected considering your origins.  As for the Sir, err ahem, that is I was Lord, harrumph, however I am retired you know, hmm, so it is irrelevant.  You may just call me Edgar if you wish.  Ah harrumph"

 

 I was relieved more than I could ever say.  Had I not been trying to make a good impression, I would have been shaking.  Scelenea had trained me well in etiquette and the nuances of polite society.  She told me the most important thing was to stand tall, speak the truth, and not show weakness when I met her dad.  That was exactly what I was doing and it felt right.  "Well met yourself Edgar, I am sure you were a Lord of renown and I was merely trying to show my respect.  May I inquire as to the name of this strapping and handsome lad who does accompany you?"  "Ah, harrumph, indeed where are my manners?  Well met again lad.  Indeed this is my son Lord Pegues.  He is quite the warrior you know.  Ahem, harrumph.  That is he leads a wing of twenty to himself and is Lord over four Sirs.  I am quite proud of him you know."

 

I could go on forever just repeating the introductions and conversations that followed.  However Swan society is very structured and polite and I do not want to bore you.  The father had accepted me and furthermore, he said he had a very good idea of my ancestor tree and possibly even my family tree.  It seemed that my markings were kind of distinctive and he might just know a relative of mine.  "Ahhh, err, harrumph, that is I think it will not be a problem.  Old chums and all that you know."  For some reason he seemed to find it quite funny and kept looking at my face and chuckling.  A great weight was lifted from my mind, for that was really the biggest hurdle.  If I could not at least find my ancestor tree, then marriage to Scelenea would be impossible.

 

Edgar was a good old chap.  I now knew the meaning of that word and my vocabulary was enriched mightily by his presence.  Scelenea left early in the day to go back to the lake and inform her mother of my intentions.  Her mother would make the announcement and inform Egblast, the Royal monarch.  Things were going rather quickly now that Edgar was on my side.  He said to leave all to him, "Err, harrumph", so I did. 

We spent the rest of the day giving me crash courses in swan educate.  Lord Pegues caught me up on the social order of swan society.  Then Edgar and Lord Pegues took their leave.  However the son was to come back every day for the next week to teach me how to fight like a swan.  Scelenea of course stayed away for it was only proper now that we were engaged.

 

 

Lord Pegues was a heck of a fighter.  I had several new scars to add to the ones the bullies had given me.  However they were not bad as we would break as soon as first blood was reached.  I had given him a few scars as well.  I had just knocked him on his butt for the third time this day.  He laughed well naturedly and I extended a wing up to him.  "Well met, chap.  I can do no more for you.  If you can take me three falls out of three, then you are definitely ready.  Course I don't want you to get a swelled head about it.  He is a dirty bird when it comes to fighting."  I was now ready.

***

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Anthony Hotopp

[email protected]

Revised Edition Edited 2016

All Rights Reserved: ACH INK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[flyingfree]

I really like this story! Keep writing, your readers want more ;)

[Ardra]

Very nice story ....look forward to reading the remaining parts :) swan story.... love the way you have created the society and the ranks and the idea of the markings for the ancestors :)

[Wolf_Lord]

Thank you for your kind words... The society part is my favorite too... It has been fun writing it.
Wolf ,'', ^@@^ ,'',

[Ardra]

When are you posting the remaining parts hehe I want to read soon

[Wolf_Lord]

No timeline at this time... Lol... I have not written anymore yet.
Wolf ,'', ^@@^ ,'',

[Shannon]

Excellent idea and premise. I understand that you are open to ideas for improvement?

[Wolf_Lord]

Of course... nothing anyone here says could be worse than an editor could say and they are notorious for ripping you a new one. Lol. Take your best shot and Thank you very much.
Wolf ,'', ^@@^ ,'',

[Shannon]

Hey, just checking. ☺
The stuff about the Royal family is misplaced to me. Putting it where it is let's the car out of the bag to early. If you move it to where "makes a Sir a sri" would serve as sufficient foreshadowing, in my eyes.

[Wolf_Lord]

Interesting. I will contemplate a change.

[Wolf_Lord]

Done... Thanks for the advice. Wolf ,'', ^@@^ ,'',