The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen It was first published on 11 November 1843
Plot
After a mother duck's eggs hatch, one of the ducklings is perceived by the other animals as a ugly little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse. He wanders from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen tease and taunt him, and once again he sets off alone.
The duckling sees a flock of migrating wild swans. He is delighted and excited but cannot join them, for he is too young, ugly, and unable to fly. When winter arrives, a farmer finds and carries the freezing duckling home, but he is frightened by the farmer's noisy children and flees the house. The duckling spends a miserable winter alone in the outdoors, mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over.
The duckling, now having fully grown and matured, cannot endure a life of solitude and hardship any more. He decides to throw himself at a flock of swans, feeling that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he had been not a duckling but a swan all this time. The flock takes to the air, and he spreads his wings to take flight with the rest of his new family.
Adaptations
"The Ugly Duckling" became one of Andersen's best loved tales and was reprinted around the world. The tale was adapted to a variety of media. Films based on the tale include two Silly Symphonies animated shorts produced by Walt Disney called The Ugly Duckling. The first was produced in 1931 in black and white, and a remake in 1939 in Technicolor. 
In 1932, Yasuji Murata directed Ahiru no ko (The Ugly Duckling), a 15-minute Japanese short animated film based on the tale.
In 1956, the Russian animation studio Soyuzmultfilm produced its own 19 minutes version of The Ugly Duckling. The anime Princess Tutu is about a duck that turns into a swan-like ballerina. In 2006, the Danish animation studio A. Film produced a spin-off CGI feature called The Ugly Duckling and Me!, and later produced a children's CGI television series Ugly Duckling Junior which featured the same characters as the movie. The 1954 Tom and Jerry cartoon Downhearted Duckling is also based on the famous story.