Writing Prompt: Adventure and Obedience

“Three little ducks went out to play, over the hills and far away. When the Mommy duck said, ‘Quack quack, quack quack,' two little ducks came waddling back!”

“Two little ducks went out to play, over the hills and far away. When the Mommy duck said, ‘Quack quack, quack quack!' one little duck came waddling back!”

“One little duck went out to play, over the hills and far away. When the Mommy duck said, ‘Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!' no little ducks came waddling back!”

“No little ducks went out to play, over the hills and far away. When the Daddy duck said, ‘QUACK QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!!!' ...three little ducks came waddling back!”

A duck family is always an amusing thing to behold. Especially this duck family, as the above rhyme shows. The family loved each other very much, but in the absence of their male parent, the children had a tendency to become deaf to their mother’s instructions. Their mother, too, became less able to handle her abundance of children when her husband was off doing important duck things, and as a result, she often became rather absent minded.

One such afternoon, the Mommy duck was leading her children across a street. As their father was not with them, the children normally would have been wandering away and dismissing any calls to return. But that day, they stayed near to their mother as any group of little ducks should. She was so surprised that she didn’t have to fuss and screech and call them back that she didn’t even notice a large grate in the street just ahead of them. Her feet were big enough not to slip through the holes, but when they reached the other side, she found only one of her children still by her side.

She looked about her, exasperated, and began to quack their little duckie names, hoping that they would answer. To her surprise, little peeping quacks sounded from beneath her. That was when she noticed the grate. Her alarm was great, and she called out to them not to wander, that she would find a way to get to them. Unfortunately the period of obedience had ended, and the possibility of adventure too high for the little ducks to do any such thing. She had quite a time keeping the one duckling who had escaped the fall from joining his siblings.

As she and her one little duck waddled, home, she called for the other ducklings, “Quack, quack!” but knew it was probably no use. What would her husband say?

That evening, the Mommy duck spotted the Daddy duck as he made his way back to the nest for the night. He was yelling, “QUACK, QUACK, QUACK.” But not at her. Trailing behind him was a line of very obedient-looking ducklings.

Although it was a happy ending, the little ducks were not the only ones who got a stern quacking-to. Their mother shared in their disgrace, and the one little duck who missed out on all the adventure was the only one who was allowed to have any dessert.

Writing Prompt #780