The duck at the table knew that it wasn’t his time. For he was a grand, noble creature, in the midst of his prime. He’d been looking for something, something more he did seek, and he knew what it was when he started to peek. All around him were clues and mysteries untold, and after not very long, things began to unfold…
That’s why they chose not to eat him, but just display him instead. They dined around his silver platter, adoring his crowned feathered head. He sat neatly next to a peacock, whom shamelessly flaunted his eyes, and next to the peacock sat a pineapple, another extravagant prize!
He watched them snaffle at their splendour, that was brought to them throughout the night, as he decided to inch his way across the table, and very quietly, very quietly take flight.
He would do it ever so steady, he would think himself ever so canny, and took his moment when they started to look heady, as he proceeded to make his escape, when the servants brought out the most marvellous cake!
The cake did indeed mesmerise, as the intoxicated diners couldn’t avert their wide eyes, and they ate, and they ate, until they couldn’t eat anymore, and the duck very gracefully floated down to the floor. The duck slid away as if dancing on glass, and made his way to the throne room, knowing he’d have to act fast. And then he had something quite special to remember in his head, that he wasn’t even a duck! But a Pelican instead!
He made his way to the throne as quick as could be, as he opened his wings and declared all creatures free, as he needed them not! For his new life, that was finer. He was no longer a duck! But the emperor of China. And everything that he had ever wanted, all the thing’s he’d been seeking, were now in his grasp, thanks to his time as a duck, peeking.
Fin.