Summary of A.

A Milne The Ugly Duckling

The play opens with the Chancellor entering the throne where the king lies asleep.
He come to inform the “old trouble” to the King. The King tells the Chancellor that he
told the Queen last night that “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” meaning
that the King has a huge responsibility on his shoulders and he is always in an
uncomfortable position. They were talking about how grand the King’s thought was
that can have an influence for the next posterity. Then they move to the serious
issue which is the “matter of Her Royal Highness wedding”. The Chancellor
addresses him that Prince Simon , who has been travelling in distant lands is coming
today to see Princess Camilla. The King is worried about her daughter’s wedding and
wonders if Prince Simon has heard anything about her daughter because she
appears to be monotonous and not physically attractive to a lot of men and the
Chancellor states in a pun about her daughter appearance but the King directly calls
him out stating whether he is trying to justify his daughter as being ugly.

Ironically , the both agrees that the beauty of Princess Camilla has eluded everyone
including the court painter whose last words were “well, I did my best” and the
successor of the painter is now painting the Princess across the water meadows
near the West Turret near the landscape since the doctor has advised him. The
Chancellor is unable to comprehend how it happened to Princess Camilla and
despite being not beautiful yet she has a great character. The King tells him that they
are not addressing her character but her chances of getting married which is
important at this time. The King is concerned as he tells from the suitor’s point of
view that a beautiful girl will have tucked the beautiful character inside her but it’s
impossible for an unattractive girl to do the same. He agrees. Princess Camilla is the
nicest person in the kingdom the king states. The Queen enters in the middle of the
conversation.

The Queen knows that they are talking about Princess Camilla. The Queen
interrogates about Prince Simon and his age. Nobody has seen him except a fleeting
glimpse of him. The Queen then narrates about the Tournament of Love that
whoever will win shall marry Princess Camilla. Ironically, the Chancellor was absent
from the Tournament and it was the other fool. The Prince who fought in the
tournament came around in their horses and they decided to engage in a fight but
they fell off their horses in defeat. One of the Princes was quick and the King
decided to proclaim him the victory. Then the Queen invited them to the Feast or
Betrothal and the Chancellor announced that the Prince would have to pass the
further test and he would have to answer the riddle. The riddle was created by the
Queen and the riddle was a question “What is it which has four legs and barks like a
dog? “ and the answer is a dog itself. The Prince gave various answers but he could
not find the answer so. The Prince disappeared under the table and he was found in
the moat next morning. It looks so strange for the Chancellor that Princess Camilla
lacks physical beauty out of all the invariable attribute of Royalty.

They have a conversation about how Princess Camilla acquired the ugly appearance.
They talk about the king”s great aunt Malkin who wished him an extreme happiness
but it was the other Princess Camilla’s godmother , from the Queen’s side promised
the dazzling beauty for her which was quite famous in their family. The queen then
asks the King what Great Malkin said about Princess Camilla and the King narrates a
poetic verse. The Queen explains that his aunt has stolen the beauty and there shall
never be a wedding day for her. Then Princess Camilla enters the room.

The Princess greeted them and eager to leave if it is matter of state affairs. The
Chancellor pleaded to leave. Princess Camilla informs them that the Prince has
come and he is at the drawbridge that requires a lot of time to be pulled down. The
Queen tells the King to tell Camilla about something and she leaves. The King talks
with Camilla about marriage and the plan he has planned with the Queen. The plan is
to disguise her maid Dulcibella as Princess Camilla when Simon will come. The King
tells Camilla to return back to her apartment and Dulcibella arrives. The King is
teaching her how to behave when the Prince is near her. The King tells her that to
imagine that he is Prince Simon and she is Camilla, the most beautiful woman ever
seen and Dulcibella starts to giggle at his statement. The King tells her if the Prince
graciously held her hand and compliments her then what would she say? She says
“Coo” . The King disagrees and tells her to say with passion “Oh, Prince Simon”. The
King teaches her to be calm and soft with the voice. The King asks her if she has a
young man before and she tells her that it is Eg, who is smart, archer and works in the
armoury but they are unable to marry till he becomes a real soldier. The King (getting
up)tells her to be conscious of her mouth if she is thinking about “Eg” all the time and
her mouth is not partially open. He leads her way out and he goes his way.Prince
Simon arrives. Camilla and Prince Simon are going to have a conversation.

Prince Simon and Camilla have a conversation where he sits on the King’s throne
and finds it uncomfortable. The Princess ask him who he is and he says that he is
Carlo. Prince has arrived unannounced in disguise lying to her as Carlo and she also
reveals that she is Dulcibella. She asks him where is Prince Simon and he tells her
that the drawbridge is taking time and it makes a terrible sound so he came here
unannounced across the moat by the beech tree. He is exhausted because of the
dangerous route he took to get there. They have a conversation about the moat and
he is shocked to see her able to take the route by the moat since she is lighter. Even
if she falls on the moat , she can swim. She is surprised to see that he cannot swim
but she acknowledges that he is brave since he is able to cross by the beech tree
without being able to swim. He holds her up to to see if she’s light and he
compliments her.

Prince Simon is making his own move by trying to hold her. He puts her down but
what he means is that he wants to hold her for ever. They exchange their secrets.
She told him about how her godmother promised that she would be very beautiful.
One of her godmothers told her one day when she was tenth and it is the secret that
he only knows. She narrated the same story that the Queen told about one of the
godmother’s gift to Princess Camilla that everyone will be ignorant of her beauty and
consider her plain till her wedding day only because she didn’t want Camilla to grow
up vain and spoilt. The Prince thinks that it is Dulcibella’s story but it is Camilla’s
story. The Prince also tells her the secret. The Prince tells her that Prince Simon is
supposed to meet Camilla but he made his attendant Carlo to pretend to be a Prince
to win her heart. The Prince is also self conscious about his own appearance.She is
laughing all the time and she asks how are they going to do it. He states that he will
marry her with his visor down. She tells him that she has another secret to tell and he
has one too. She tells him to start first. He tells him that he is not Carlo but Prince
Simon. He lied to her initially that he is Carlo. She tells him that she knows and the
Prince wants to know how does she knows. She tells him that his attendant Carlo is
declaring his passionate love for her maid Dulcibella and she is Princess Camilla.
Carlo has a girl whom he calls “the little woman” and Dulcibella has Eg so they are
both fine. Prince Simon and Princess Camilla are real and they were pretending to be
Carlo and Dulcibella initially.

Prince asks Camilla’s hand and she tells her that it is the moment she knew he is
Simon when he tells her how lovely she was initially as her godmother says. Prince
also tells her that even if she was Dulcibella , he would have married her. He would be
marrying her when she would be lifting her veil till now she is Dulcibella when her
face is in veil. The voices are heard outside and the Prince bids goodbye. The King ,
Queen , Carlo and Dulcibella and The Chancellor while Prince Simon supporting the
Chancellor as an accident seems inevitable and enters having a conversation.

The King asks what are all these and Carlo (in disguise) tells him that his attendant
Carlo will prepare him for the ceremony and the Queen tells Dulcibella (in disguise)
that her maid Dulcibella is going to prepare her for the ceremony. They sat on their
thrones and the Chancellor asks to proceed their constitutional proceedings for the
marriage. The proceeding is the riddle and the answer is the dog initially. The
Chancellor tells them that they cannot proceed with the same question that by the
historical constitution of the country, the same riddle cannot be asked on two
successive occasions. Since the first one was unable to answer the riddle and fell
into a moat, the same riddle cannot be asked for Prince Simon. The Chancellor then
gives a riddle “what is it which has four legs and mews like a cat” and the Prince (in
disguise) answers it as a dog. The Chancellor then was about to give the answer and
Prince Camilla (in disguise) tells Prince Simon (in disguise)to say something quick.
The answer that Carlo (in disguise) said is not dog and Prince Simon(as Carlo) asks
permission if he is allowed to speak. He answers that there is an animal which is
named a dog that purrs and sits by the fireside. Carlo appreciates the answer. The
staple food is the milk and it has four legs and he further adds that in some distant
country it is called hippopotamus says the Prince. Carlo appreciates the answer and
he was trying to be humorous. The King agrees to the answer and the Chancellor
declares that he answers the riddle accurately. The King agrees and he stands up to
prepare for the ceremony. The Prince asks his highness that it is the royal blood of
Princes to get married in full armour. The King agrees to it and he compliments
Dulcibella for her work and she and Eg will not be forgotten. Dulcibella curtsies and
she “coo”. The King thinks that he and Dulcibella make a handsome pair but the
Queen find it stupid. The Queen tells Camilla to go and prepare herself for the
ceremony and she is happy since he adores Prince Simon. The King wonders about
Camilla that she is not plain as she used to be but the Queen thinks that it is just the
excitement of the marriage and the King agrees.