Animal Tales
Two feathered friends, a farm duck and his wild best pal, taught me a lesson in loyalty.
Ducks Mac and Quack form a lasting friendship.
Some years ago in the Northwest, two ducks took up housekeeping in a rancher’s irrigation ditch. One duck found something to its liking about the other and from that day on, the two were inseparable.
Then came winter, and the threat of hardship loomed ahead. Suddenly things changed for Quack, a white barnyard duck, and Mac, a colorful mallard.
Mac didn’t trust humans, even ones looking out for his welfare. He didn’t take to the idea of being moved to wait out the chilly winter, either. So while his friend was easily caught in a net and transported to winter quarters that wouldn’t freeze, Mac joined up with a wild bunch headed south.
Time passed slowly. It was a long, cold winter indeed. But finally, spring returned.
One day Quack was napping under a bush when Mac, with a flutter of wings, landed on the rancher’s pond. This was the same place he had fled months earlier in favor of freedom. Mac was back! But would his former friend, the white farm duck, remember him? With his distinctive honk, Mac paddled out across the water.
The sounds of a new duck woke Quack. The white duck slowly waddled over and waded into the pond, stroking out to see what the racket was all about. At first, neither creature seemed to recognize the other. But when they did, you never heard such quack-quackquacking in all your life! It was obvious these two had a friendship, and it ran deep.
For the rest of that afternoon there was scarcely a hairsbreadth between the two ducks as they swam around and around and around in their little pond.
Once in a while a strong bond is formed between people, and between other creatures, too. For some reason a relationship just works. And so it happened with Quack and Mac.
They asked nothing from life except to share it with each other. Quack and Mac were a special breed—one we don’t see enough of anymore. True-blue friends.