Once upon a time there was a very lazy duck.
The duck was so very lazy, she wouldn’t move. She didn’t bother to, because everything happened by itself anyway.
She didn’t need to swim, because she floated in the water. The wind would blow her in any direction and for her that was fine. There was always something interesting to see and if not, well then she waited until the wind blew her somewhere else.
Food wasn’t a problem either because there was duckweed everywhere. The only thing she needed to do was put her beak in the water and the duckweed would float in.
Occasionally she had a treat, when a beetle or another small insect was lost and wandered its way into her beak. Those were absolute feasts!
Life was good, except for the hunters that came by now and then. And when the other ducks fled or got shot, which happened now and then, the whole duck-community was mourning for days about it.
The lazy duck just stayed put, not moving a centimeter. She had a philosophy about hunters: When you don’t see them, they won’t see you, so she just closed her eyes.
Somehow it worked, because she hadn’t been shot yet. The other ducks started to call her Lucky. Lucky the Duck.
Life went on and the summer became autumn and the duck stayed lazy. The autumn became winter and the duck stayed lazy, never moving a flipper.
Then the pond froze and while the other ducks kept moving around to keep the water from freezing, Lucky the Duck didn’t move. Slowly the ice froze around her and she was stuck in the ice and that was the first time she got scared.
She quacked and quacked until the other ducks came and picked the ice away around her body, so she was free again!
She decided to change her life and stay with the other ducks, who kept swimming to keep the ice open. But because the other ducks did the moving anyway, Lucky quickly fell back into her old pattern of being lazy and not moving.
Winter became spring, and spring became summer and life went on as always until one day the hunters came. Lucky sat where she sat and closed her eyes. She was sure she would not be seen by the hunters….
This time Lucky wasn’t so lucky, she got hit!
Small bullets penetrated her feathers and into her body and that really hurt! Fortunately it wasn’t too severe, just very painful. In shock she opened her eyes and saw the hunter right in front of her.
Now because she hadn’t swam for all these years, she not only had become a fat duck, she also forgot how to paddle her feet. Motionless she was floating in the water. She could see the hunter right in the eyes and it was terrifying. The hunter reloaded his shotgun,and aimed at the duck.
In a flash, just before he could pull the trigger, Lucky remembered she was a duck and the only thing connected to the fact that she remembered she was a duck, was how to duck. So without any hesitation, she took a deep breath and ducked. Dove into the water.
Under water she heard the bang of the shotgun from a distance and saw the small bullets entering the water, just missing her by centimeters.
When she came back up to the surface, the hunter was reloading the gun again and Lucky felt a strange electric sensation in her head, right where she believed her brain was.
Suddenly she remembered how to swim and that is what she did. Some ducks say the only thing visible of Lucky was a trail of splashing water, right before she remembered how to fly. Others didn’t see her at all.
The fact is, she got away with just a few broken feathers and some scratches. The only thing that was hurt was her ego. Right then and there, she decided never to be lazy again.
The moral of this story of course is that it is important to keep moving: physically but also mentally. Stay in shape and be open to learn new things. Without moving we forget our potential and possibilities.
We won’t be prepared for any ‘danger’ crossing our path, but neither will we be ready for an opportunity, sometimes simply because we don’t recognize it.
And Lucky? Well, she changed her name to happy and became one of the best swimmers in the pond.
Lucky the lazy duck is a fable and part of the World of Beast.
The WEAST Perspective 