The sun had stopped shining over the lake. The summer was over, winter about to begin, to freeze everything that black ducks called home.
It was time for the birds to migrate to warmer regions to spend their winter.
The entire colony of the birds was getting ready to begin their long flight.
While the adults had done it before, most of the young ducks were taking the journey for the first time.
As was the ritual, night before the flight, the parent ducks started training their young ones for the flight.
The only white duck in the colony could hear his parents talking to him, see their beaks moving, but he absorbed nothing.
Right from his birth, his unique colour had got him extra attention, making him believe he didn’t need to be guided like the other ducks.
He was thinking exactly that when his parents were preparing him for the journey.
“Yes, yes,” he told them, although he meant, “no, no, I am not going to follow anything you said. I will make this into an adventure of my own. I will show everyone how to have fun.”
With the first rays from the sun touching the surface of the lake, the ducks began their flight.
The oldest birds were in the front to lead the way; the young ones were to fly safely between their parents.
But the white duck had a plan.
As they come over a dense forest, he told his parents, “I am getting tired. You are flying too fast. I will slow down a little.”
“Alright, but stay close to us,” said his mother.
The white duck did fly close to his parents for a little while, but as soon as they turned their eyes away, he flew to the forest below.
The forest was thick with trees, which bore delicious apples, many of which were strewn on the ground.
“I shall taste some of these fruits. The others will never know this flavour. They are so stupid to focus just on reaching their destination safely,” the white duck said to himself.
A fox was watching him talk to himself on top of a tree.
The fox hid behind a tree trunk, waiting for the duck to come to the ground.
And as he did and picked up an apple, the fox jumped over the bird to make a meal of it.
