One of the mo
st memorable fables from my childhood, besides Aesop’s tales, came from a Daisy Duck comic book. Yes, from Daisy Duck.
There was a period in the mid-1950s on through the early 1960s when a “Daisy Duck’s Diary” series was popular among the kiddies, and somehow I came across an issue that told a story I never forgot. And I don’t know why.
Walt Disney cartoon characters in comics and cartoons were unusual in that the main actors were creatures such as mice and ducks, while dogs often were portrayed as quasi-humans. Except Pluto, who acted as a dog.
Such was the depiction of Duckburg, a fictional town where Daisy, Donald and Huey, Louie and Dewey dwelled.
In this particular edition was a story about the Miss Duckburg contest that was approaching. The whole community was abuzz, and Daisy widely was considered to be the favored contestant.
Daisy’s status was a problem for her chief contest rival, whom I will call Denice, a good-looking female duck who wanted the Miss Duckburg title so badly that she began to scheme against Daisy to have her disqualified.
Her first attempt was producing a photo of Daisy Duck at her high school graduation in 1902, which would make her too old to be a legitimate contestant. When Daisy saw it, she told the 
committee of judges, all dogs, of course, the photo was of her grandmother, who also was named Daisy.
Then Denice showed the panel of judges a photo of Daisy on the street pushing a child, raising serious questions about her character. But a police officer walking his beat (also a dog) overheard the allegation and exclaimed, “Miss Duck? I don’t believe it!”
The officer examined the picture and told the judges he remembered the incident. Daisy was pushing the child out of the way of an oncoming car that was about to strike her and she earned a meritorious citation as a result.
Throughout the remainder of the story, Denice frantically tries to show other examples of Daisy not being fit to be Miss Duckburg, but they are misleading and sometimes just plain wrong.
Denice finally scores in her final attempt. She proves that Daisy’s house on a hill is just inches outside the city limits, making her ineligible as a non-resident.
As the judges are walking away from the house, Denice tells them this finally would give her the break she needed to win the title. The chief judge replies to her by saying as far as he is concerned, Denice had shown the committee very poor character by constantly dredging up complaints and assertions that were only lies. Denice was disqualified on the spot.
Not long afterward, Daisy’s house is affected by a tremor and slides forward a few feet down the hill, now making her a resident of the town and eligible to win the Miss Duckburg title. And they all, except Denice, lived happily ever after. The End.
