oberta, the Ugly Child

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, the Baron’s fiancée, was telling a sad story about one of the families that she knew. It seemed that seemed that the family had only one child and they wanted that child to be a very pretty girl, but instead, they thought that she was ugly.

The child’s name was Roberta and the reason that her parents thought she was ugly was because she had a large birthmark on her face and, as a child, she fell while playing and broke her nose. Unfortunately, her nose remained crooked from the accident. She wanted to hide her birthmark and nose, so she wore her hair in a way that covered her face, and wore a large hat to further hide herself. She had a bad impression of herself as a result, and she became very shy. Her parents wanted her to stay in her room when guests came to visit.

When Roberta turned sixteen, she went shopping in the market by herself because her parents did not want to be seen with her. But, one particular day, while the sun was shining, she began to sing softly to herself. A young man heard her voice and was charmed by the way she sang. The man introduced himself and said that he was in Lilliland visiting some relatives, and that he was from neighboring Switzerland. He asked her to go to the teashop for an afternoon cup of tea. Roberta agreed to go with him.

While they were having tea, he mentioned that his brother had a very similar birthmark on his face, but that a Swiss doctor was able to erase the mark completely. Roberta seemed interested in the conversation. The Swiss doctor was a plastic surgeon who would easily straighten out the broken nose problem. The man said that he was playing soccer one day and broke his nose, too.

Roberta became very interested in this young man who seemed very interested in her singing ability. He invited her to come to his relative’s home where they had a piano and asked her to sing for him. She agreed to sing.

At the home, Roberta sang three songs and her voice was so beautiful that the audience thought they were listening to an angel singing. The young man’s parents asked Roberta’s parents to let them take her to Switzerland to see the plastic surgeon. They agreed, and Roberta’s mother went along. It was only an hour ride away from Lilliland.

Roberta had the operations. The birthmark was gone and her nose was fixed. Roberta was now a very beautiful angel after all.