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For Children
The Duck Who Couldn't Quack - a short story
By 1211kellie
31 July 2008
A noisy story about a duckling named Denzil. Any comments good or bad always appreciated.



duck



On the edge of a grassy and peaceful riverbank lived a fairly large family of ducks. There were Mummy Duck, Daddy Duck and twelve ducklings. Now eleven of the ducklings were very noisy indeed! All day long, all you would hear was “Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!” But one of the little ducklings, whose name was Denzil, was a very quiet duckling. Poor little Denzil – unlike his brothers and sisters, he just couldn’t quack! 

So one day Mummy Duck took Denzil to see Doctor Duck. “Good morning, Denzil,” said Doctor Duck. “Can you open your beak really wide? And I shall have a little look.” Doctor Duck peered inside Denzil’s open beak and shined his torch all around. “Well Denzil, I cannot see anything to worry about. You will quack when the time is right.”

“Thank you for you help, Doctor,” said Mummy Duck. “Goodbye.”

Mummy Duck and Denzil slowly waddled back to the river bank. When they arrived, all of Denzil’s brothers and sisters were playing out on the water. They saw Denzil and Mummy Duck and quickly swooooooshed over to find out the news. 

“Good news! Everyone, Doctor Duck said that Denzil will quack when the time is right,” said Mummy Duck.

“Hoorah!” said Daddy Duck and all the ducklings together. 

A few days later Denzil was out on the water playing hide and seek with his brothers and sisters. Denzil swam over to a large clump of reeds that were growing on the water’s edge. He shivered in excitement as he listened to his sister counting “eight, nine, ten, coming, ready or not!” Suddenly a large red hairy paw swiped at him. “QUACK!” screamed Denzil as he looked straight into the face of a hungry fox. Denzil quickly swooshed away from the reeds.
Mummy Duck heard his “quack” and rushed over to rescue him.
 

“Denzil, what happened?” said Mummy Duck.

“A fox nearly ate me, Mummy!” said a very frightened Denzil. 

“Don’t worry, darling, the fox has gone now. But you must be very careful to keep away from that part of the river bank,” Mummy Duck said. 

Then suddenly they realised what had happened! “You quacked, Denzil!” said Mummy Duck.
 

“Yes, I quacked!” said a very happy Denzil, and just to make sure he opened his beak really wide and (you might want to put your hands over your ears!) do you know what he said? “QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! I can do it! I really can,” laughed Denzil as he floated off to show his brothers and sisters his amazing QUACK!
 

Reviews

Written by Josie (2849 comments posted) 31st July 2008
ha ha - Oh I really enjoyed your story Kellie and I am sure children will. Listen!!! Outiside of my window are 20 ducks quacking. We've had Dilly & Co (grandparents); Lilly and Billy and last year one duckling survived the bad weather, and she is Tilly. This year Lilly has had 12 yountsters who are now teenagers, and Tilly has 3, and these families expect my pension to stretch to feeding them as well!! Listen!! Quack, quack!!
A Lovely Story!
Written by Katanga (1537 comments posted) 31st July 2008
'. . . he opened his beak really wide and (you might want to put your hands over your ears!) do you know what he said? QUACK, QUACK . . .' 
 
That is a touch of sheer brilliance! 
 
Your story reminds me of the joke about the small child who 'can't' speak and whose mother is getting more and more worried about delayed development etc. 
 
One day at tea time the child suddenly says, "I want more toast!" 
 
"Good grief!" says the mother, "You can speak after all - why haven't you said anything since you were born?" 
 
"Well," says the child, "everything's been all right up to now!" 
 
Ha! Ha! Ha! 
 
Great story, yours! 
 
Cheers! 
 
John X

Written by 1211kellie (177 comments posted) 31st July 2008
Thank you both again for your positive reviews.  
 
Josie, it certainly sounds like you have your hands full with all those ducks (but they really are lovely birds) 
 
John, not heard that one before. Good joke! :grin  
 
 
Kellie xx

Written by Gwynedd (83 comments posted) 3rd August 2008
I feel I can't review this, Kellie, because that seems to imply some sort of criticism and I have none. It is absolutely lovely!!! I've learned so much about writing for children just from reading it. Even the font you chose was perfect. I should have added a picture to my croc story but it still wouldn't be as good as this. Well done, you!

Written by 1211kellie (177 comments posted) 4th August 2008
Thank you Gwynedd, for your positive review and I am so glad you learnt about writing for children from this little story. Keep up your writing and I look forward to seeing more of your children's stories. :)
Student First Choice!
Written by Katanga (1537 comments posted) 4th August 2008
Hi Kellie! 
 
I teach a class of foreign teachers of English - I put them on GW last week and gave them free rein to roam GW. 
 
Task - they had to choose one short story or poem, which I would print out for them . . .  
 
Homework (optional) to write a review . . .  
 
One of them chose this! 
 
Fantastic - if I get the review, I will post it for you . . .  
 
Cheers! 
 
John X 
 
John
Written by 1211kellie (177 comments posted) 4th August 2008
Wow! Student First Choice. What a honour, I do hope they do the homework! 
 
 
Kellie xx
Nicely written
Written by mr_soul (126 comments posted) 8th August 2008
Yes, I agree with all the comments, there's nothing negative I can say about this at all. Its a great story and one which children I think would love. And I must say, calling the duck Denzil, was just a touch of class! lol. Great story, nicely written
Thank you Mr S
Written by 1211kellie (177 comments posted) 9th August 2008
Glad you liked it and yes, Denzil certainly appears to be a classy name for a duck. 
 
Kellie xx

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