The Story of the Portuguese Duckling

It was two years ago that Mike and I were sitting in our villa here in Portugal, just looking out on to the garden when something scuttled in front of our patio doors, swiftly followed by a cat.

We leapt up to find, huddled in the corner of the patio door, the tiniest of ducklings looking very frightened and lonely. In fact, it was so tiny, even the cat had dived past it, not realising it was nestling in this tiny space.

I scooped up the frail little bird and stood, rather helplessly, wondering what to do next. But I could hear Portuguese gardeners next door and walked round to see if they could offer some inspiration. One of the guys spoke some English and, very excitedly explained that they had found the duckling on the main road outside of the resort – some mile or so away – and that they had put it in a box to take somewhere later. Meanwhile, next door’s cat had found it, picked it up and ran off with it and the gardeners had presumed the duckling had provided a pleasant supper for Felix the cat.

The resort is surrounded by golf courses and golf courses have lakes so I called a friend who lives permanently in Portugal, to ask where the nearest pond would be. So off we drove, with one very scared duckling huddled in the corner of a box. We parked up near the golf course and I walked across towards the lake only to find there were two very large lakes. I looked at the first one and, I don’t know why, but that just didn’t feel right so I walked on to the next one. There was a big drop down from the grass to the water’s edge but somehow inside me felt that this was a good pace for baby duckling to have a swim. And as I lay flat on my stomach on the grass, I carefully lowered the fragile feathered creature on to the water. He looked SO tiny as he paddled across what appeared to be a vast ocean.

Then something extraordinary happened. Out from the undergrowth swam, at the fastest speed I have ever seen a duck paddle, an elegant fully grown duck. She quacked so loudly as she glided across, and the duckling tweeped at the top of his voice in response. As the two met the adult duck danced on the water all around the duckling in an amazing display of joy and excitement, flapping her wings and quacking in absolute ecstasy. Her lost little duckling had come home!

It was one of the loveliest sights I have ever seen and it taught me that even when you think that all is lost, miracles really can happen.

Enjoy your weekend.