The Little Candle: The Ugly Cygnet (ePub)

This is a fictional short story about a young woman in a blended family, who is known as the ugly cygnet (baby swan) due to her physical appearance and social awkwardness. She has a low self-esteem, but is of good character with honorable integrity and a kind heart. She has been corresponding with her grandma through handwritten letters since she was young. And in the spring of her junior year of high school, her grandma writes a letter requesting her company and help during the whole of the ugly cygnet's upcoming summer vacation.

Her Grandpa has died. Her grandma has been forced to sell their country home and move into a rented home across from the school--in town--where she works as a Librarian. In the letter, the grandma gives the granddaughter a list of the qualities she sought most in the grandchild she desired for this difficult transition, and in it the reader begins to discover the tender relationship between the ugly cygnet and her grandmother.
The ugly cygnet makes the decision to quit her place of employment, and go to her grandma's new rental home just as things are getting exciting with the boy down the lane. But this delicate story begins at its end; the Annual Christmas Ball that she helped plan with the boy down the lane. The little candle (the little cygnet) is seen in the corner, watching everyone. And it is here the readers are introduced to the main character while being given an opportunity to decide how they see the ugly cygnet, or, the Christmas candle. In her position, she is seen in the corner, watching, lighting the way, and setting an example without saying a word.

The story is written in phases that mark her path of change to reveal, after the year, an enlightening change and a beautiful woman.

"The Little Candle: The Ugly Cygnet" is written to inspire young woman to think differently about themselves than they are described by others. It shows how getting lost in service can change one's perspective of one's own importance in expressing love for others, and improving one's more virtuous qualities.