The Ugly Little Boy is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the September 1958 issue of Galaxy Magazine under the title "Lastborn", and was reprinted under its current title in the collection Nine Tomorrows in 1959. The story deals with a Homo neanderthalensis child which is brought to the future by means of time travel. Robert Silverberg later expanded it into a novel with the same title published in 1992 (also published as Child of Time in the UK).

In 1977, The Ugly Little Boy was made into a 26-minute telefilm in Canada, directed by and starring Barry Morse. London-born actress Kate Reid played the role of the nurse.

A child is brought to the present day as a result of time travel experiments by a research organisation known as Stasis Inc.. He cannot be removed from his immediate area because of the vast energy loss and time paradoxes that would result, so to take care of him, Edith Fellowes, a children's nurse, is engaged. She is initially repelled by his appearance, but soon begins to see him as her own child, learns to love him and realises that he is far more intelligent than she imagined at first or that the researchers guessed. She names him "Timmie" and tries to ensure that he has the best possible childhood (although he can never be allowed to leave his room as this would lead to a huge loss of energy). She is enraged when the newspapers refer to him as an "ape-boy". Her love for Timmie brings her into conflict with her employer, which sees him more as an experimental animal than a human being.

When it is proposed to return Timmie to his own time, Miss Fellowes fights the decision, knowing that he could not now survive, having acquired modern dependencies and speech. She decides to return to the ancient past with Timmie.

The novel expands on the short story by introducing a subplot detailing Timmie's original Neanderthal tribe, and introduces another subplot dealing with a children's advocacy group which seeks to liberate Timmie.

1992 novels | short stories by Isaac Asimov | Robert Silverberg books | Il figlio del tempo