Gombei the duck catcher goes out each day to catch a duck for his family's dinner. He does this by tying a loop into the end of a rope. When the duck steps into it, Gombei pulls it tight and the duck is caught. His friends ridicule him. They tell him that his father and grandfather used to catch many more ducks each day than just one, but Gombei tells them they had bigger families with more mouths to feed. But when it snows one morning, Gombei realises that he can save himself having to go out in bad weather by catching a hundred ducks! So he makes a hundred rope traps, a hundred ducks walk into them and Gombei is very pleased with himself. Until a noise frightens the ducks and they all take flight - with Gombei still holding onto the ropes! High up in the air he lets go and as he falls something strange happens: Gombei grows a beak, feathers and wings. He lands back on the ground as a duck - and when a hunter traps him, Gombei yells out to tell him that he is not a duck - he's a man. The hunter thinks hes hearing things and bolts away in fright. And Gombei is free. As he finds himself turning back into a man, he resolves never to catch ducks for food again.