The Frog Prince Story
In olden times, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful. But the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself which has seen so much was astonished whenever it shone in her face.
Close by the king’s castle lay a great dark forest and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well and when the day was very warm, the king’s child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain and when she was bored she took a golden ball and threw it up on high and caught it and this ball was her favorite plaything.
Now it so happened that one day, the princess’s golden ball did not fail into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground beyond and rolled straight into the water. The king’s daughter followed it with her eyes. But it vanished and the well was so deep that the bottom could not be seen. At this, she began to cry and cried louder and louder and could not be comforted.
And as she thus lamented someone said to her, “What ails you…king’s daughter? You weep so that even a stone would show pity.”
She looked round to the side from whence the voice came and saw a frog big and ugly
“Ah, Froggie…is it you?” she said, “I am weeping for my golden ball which has fallen into the well.”
“Oh, is that all? Do not weep,” answered the frog, “I can help you. But what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?”
“Whatever you will have, Froggie,” said she.
The frog answered, “If you will love me and let me be your companion and play-fellow and sit by you at your little table and eat off your little golden plate and drink out of your little cup and sleep in your little bed - if you will promise me this, I will go down below and bring you your golden ball up again.”
“Oh yes,” said she without giving a second thought, “I promise you all you wish if you will but bring me my ball back again.”
The frog put his head into the water and sank down and in a short while came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth and threw it on the grass. The king’s daughter was delighted to see her pretty plaything once more and picked it up and ran away with it.
“Wait, wait,” said the frog. “Take me with you. I can’t run as you can.”
But the child ran away without waiting or listening to him. And the frog croaked and croaked until his throat gave away.
The next day when she had seated herself at the table with the king and all the courtiers and was eating from her little golden plate, something came creeping splash splash, splash splash, up the marble staircase and when it had got to the top, it knocked at the door and cried, “Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me.”
She ran to see who was outside, but when she opened the door, there sat the frog in front of it. Then she slammed the door to, in great haste, sat down to dinner again and was quite frightened. The king saw plainly that her heart was beating violently and said, “My child, what are you so afraid of? Is there any chance of a giant outside who wants to carry you away?” ‘‘
Ah, no,” replied she. “It is no giant but a disgusting frog.”
“What does a frog want with you?”
Then she narrated all that had happened the previous day.
Then said the king, “That which you have promised must you perform. Go and let him in.”
Disgusted, she went and opened the door and the frog hopped in and followed her, step by step to her chair. There he sat and cried, “Lift me up beside you.”
She delayed until at last the king commanded her to do it. Once the frog was on the chair he wanted to be on the table and when he was on the table he said, “Now, push your little golden plate nearer to me that we may eat together.”
She did this, but it was easy to see that she did not do it willingly. The frog enjoyed what he ate, but almost every mouthful she took choked her. Then he said, “I have eaten and am satisfied, now I am tired, carry me into your little room and make your little silken bed ready and we will both lie down and go to sleep.”
The king’s daughter began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold frog which she did not like to touch and which was now to sleep in her pretty, clean little bed. But the king grew angry and said, “He who helped you when you were in trouble ought not afterward to be despised by you.”
So she took hold of the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a comer, but when she was in bed he crept to her and said, “I am tired. I want to sleep as well as you. Lift me up or I will tell your father.”
At this, she was terribly angry and took him up and threw him with all her might against the wall.
“Now, will you be quiet, odious frog,” said she.
But when he fell down he was no frog but a king’s son with kind and beautiful eyes.
Then the handsome man said, “I was a handsome and rich prince but was bewitched by a witch and she had cursed me to become an odious frog. Today I am out of the curse.”
And when she ran and told this to her father the next day, her father was not just surprised but was happy for her and got her married to the prince and sent them off to the prince's country.