The Duck

After the death of her oldest duckling, a grieving mother duck stands beside a shrinking river and asks a simple question: "Which one of you took my son?" As she searches for an answer, her grief expands into a reflection on the changing relationship between humanity and the natural world. Along the river she witnesses pollution, hunting, homelessness, waste, indifference, and the growing distance between people and the living land that sustains them.

Told through the voice of a mourning animal, this story explores loss, responsibility, and the consequences of forgetting our connection to nature. The mother's repeated question becomes more than a search for the cause of her child's death; it becomes an examination of a civilization that has lost sight of what truly matters. Yet despite her sorrow, she does not speak from hatred. Instead, she offers forgiveness and a plea to protect the river that gives life to all.

Part fable, part environmental meditation, and part elegy, this story invites readers to see the world through different eyes and consider what may be lost when humanity turns away from the wisdom of the river.