  We report the discovery of a new ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in the
nearby galaxy NGC 4244 from Chandra archival data. The source,
1WGAJ1216.9+3743, is one of the least luminous and softest ULXs discovered so
far. Its X-ray spectrum is the best available for a representative of the soft
ULXs, a class of sources recently discovered by Chandra and XMM-Newton.
1WGAJ1216.9+3742 appears point-like in the Chandra image and has a complex
spectral shape: a multicolor disk model, suitable for brighter ULXs, is
inadequate for this source. 1WGAJ1216.9+3743 spectrum is heavily absorbed (NH ~
(1-4)E21 cm^-2),and very soft. The best-fit power-law model gives a photon
index ~ 5 and implies a luminosity L(0.5-10 keV) ~ 1E39 erg/s. A comparison
with previous detections shows that, despite the variability displayed by the
source during the Chandra observation, 1WGAJ1216.9+3743 count rate, spectral
shape and absorption are practically unchange over a 9-year period. We
performed also deep optical imaging of the field containing the X-ray source,
and found a possible R ~ 23.7 counterpart.
