Bryce+B.

How Ducks Got Their Features by Bryce B. Long ago before humans were born, there was this one bird that had no name. Then one day something happened to them, and they became ducks. Before they were ducks, they were just a bald bird, and they couldn’t swim. But one day, a flock of birds stepped on a magic rock. That magic rock was webbed shaped, and it magically changed their feet into the rock’s same webbed shape that the rock was. Then they stepped into a pond, and to their surprise, they were able to swim. They were happy that they had these new feet and thought swimming was fun. But they didn’t know how to swim before. The way their webbed feet helped them swim was because of the way they were now shaped. That magic rock didn’t only change their feet, but it changed them totally. It put the ability to swim in their brains.

Before they were ducks, they didn’t have feathers. They were bald and would get really cold. Now that they spent so much time in the water, they really needed to keep warm. They tried to burrow in the ground, trying to keep warm because they were wet. The ground was sappy, and as they burrowed into the earth, they became sticky. Then the wind started to blow leaves off the trees, and then those leaves fell on them and stuck to them. That’s how they got their feathers.

The way they got their beaks was because they were hungry. Normally they would eat worms. Unfortunately, there were no worms living in the water. Instead, they stuck their heads in the water to see what they could find to eat, and there was a school of tiny fish. When they were swimming with their heads in the water, a huge rainbow trout bit their mouths. As the trout swam backwards, they stretched out their duck mouths. Now it’s called a bill. Now this is the story of how ducks got their features that we see them with today.

Return to Oral Traditions Myths