The Mother Duck
supporting · duck · the one who gives up
The only creature who defends him, right up until she is too tired to keep doing it.
How we meet them
Bored out of her mind on a nest, which is the most honest opening line about parenthood in any fairy tale.
Personality
Warm, practical and worn down by other people's opinions.
What they want
A quiet life, and for her children to be left alone, which turn out to be incompatible.
How they change
From sitting on an egg an old duck told her to abandon, to defending him in front of the whole yard, to wishing out loud that he were far away.
How they speak
Kind things, early on, in front of people who disagree.
How the story treats them
The yard treats her as somebody who made a mistake and should deal with it, and eventually she agrees with them.
One surprising thing
She is the one who first says he is not a turkey, that he is hers, and that looked at properly he is really rather handsome. She is also the one who finally says she wishes he were far away.
If they were real today
She would stick up for you twice and then ask you to keep your head down.
Key moments
She sat a little longer
An old duck tells her the big egg is a turkey's and advises abandoning it. She thinks about it and decides she has sat this long already.
He is mine
In front of the whole yard she says he is not a turkey, that he is hers, and that when you look at him properly he is rather handsome.
I wish you were far away
By the end of the autumn she is tired, and she says the thing she cannot take back, and he leaves the next morning.
Who they know
The Ducklingfamily
The only creature who ever defends him, and the one whose giving up sends him away.
Characters like The Mother Duck
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