The White Duck

The White Duck (Russian: Белая уточка) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book.

Synopsis

A king had to leave his newly-wed wife for a journey. He sternly warned her against leaving the women's quarters and listening to bad advice. But a wicked witch lured her into the garden and into a pool, and turned her into a white duck, herself taking the queen's own form and place.

Meanwhile, the white duck built a nest, laid three eggs, and hatched two fluffy ducklings and one little drake. She warned them against the castle, because an evil witch lived there, but one day the witch saw them and lured them inside. The ducklings slept but the drake stayed awake, and when the witch called if they were asleep, the drake answered. But after two answers, the witch went in to see, and saw the ducklings were asleep, so she killed them.

The white duck found the bodies and lamented over them. The king wondered at it, and although the witch tried to persuade him it was nothing but quacking, he ordered that the duck be captured. His servants could not, but he went himself, and she flew to his hands and became a woman. She told of a bottle in the nest in the garden -- or, they sent a magpie for magic water -- which, sprinkled on the ducklings and drake, turned them into three lovely children. The evil witch was then put to death through dismemberment and nothing remained of her.

White (disambiguation)

White is a colour.

White(s) or The White may also refer to:

Animals

Arts

Adrian Caesar

Adrian Caesar (born 1955) is an Australian author and poet.

Caesar was born in Manchester, United Kingdom and emigrated to Australia in 1982. He studied at Reading University and has held appointments at various Australian universities, including the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales' School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Writing

Caesar is the author of several books, including the prize-winning non-fiction novel The White based on the Antarctic exploration of Robert F. Scott and Douglas Mawson from 1911 to 1913. His poems have been widely published and his 2005 poetry collection High Wire was shortlisted for the 2007 Judith Wright Prize.

Bibliography

Novels

Collected poetry

Non Fiction

Age of the Five

Age of the Five is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Trudi Canavan, an Australian writer born in 1969. The fictional series recounts the story of Auraya, a young priestess who, after rising to the highest rank in her world's religious hierarchy, subsequently discovers that the gods she worships are significantly different entities from those in whom she was originally taught to believe.

Plot synopsis

Age of the Five is set in a universe overseen by a pantheon of five gods (the Five) who are the only apparent survivors of the War of the Gods. Before this war, it is understood that hundreds of gods existed on Earth. The Five control the destiny of the northern half of the world through a priesthood known as the White (the Five's five representatives in the human world, Ithania). In southern Ithania live opponents of the White, who claim to worship five different gods (known as the Voices of the Gods). Both factions vie for control over their opponents, and eventually engage in war.