The Frog Prince

The story

Once, behind the royal castle, there lay a quiet garden, and deep within it stood an old, cool well. The king's youngest daughter often came there in the afternoon, tossing a golden ball high into the air and catching it again, her laughter circling through the shade of the trees.

One day the ball slipped from her fingers and fell into the well with a soft splash. The water was deep and dark, and in a blink the gold had sunk out of sight. The princess knelt by the well and began to cry. Just then the water rippled gently, and a frog lifted his head and asked why she was so sad. "My golden ball has fallen into the well," she sobbed. The frog said he could fetch it back for her — but only if she promised to be his friend: to let him sit beside her at the table, drink from her cup, and sleep in her little bed at night.

Thinking only of her ball, the princess nodded at once and promised everything. The frog dove down and, in no time, brought the golden ball back up. The moment she had it in her hands, she ran straight back to the castle, and every word she had spoken by the well was left behind her.

That evening, as the princess sat at the table with the king, they heard a wet, soft patter of footsteps outside, and then a knock, again and again: "Princess, princess, open the door! Do you not remember what you said to me, only yesterday, by the cool water of the well?"

The princess turned pale and told her father everything. But the king set down his fork and said gently, "A promise, once given, must be kept. Since you gave your word, you must let him in." The princess had no choice, and with a red face, she opened the door to the frog.

The frog hopped up onto the table and settled beside her golden plate, eating with great contentment. When he had finished, he looked up and said, "I am tired now — please carry me to your room, and let me sleep in your little bed." The princess was cross and unwilling, but under her father's watchful eye, she carried the frog upstairs with a stiff, unhappy face.

At her bedside, the princess could bear it no longer. She snatched up the frog and flung him hard against the wall, crying, "There — sleep there if you must, but not beside me!" The moment the words left her mouth, something strange happened: the frog was gone, and in his place stood a prince with clear, gentle eyes, as though he had just been washed clean of a long darkness.

The next morning, a splendid carriage waited before the castle gate, driven by faithful Henry, the prince's servant. Henry's heart had been bound with three iron bands through all the years of his master's sorrow, and now, as joy rushed through him, the bands burst apart one by one — crack, crack, crack — and fell away beneath the carriage. The prince helped the princess climb aboard, and together they watched the castle grow small behind them as they rode toward his own country at last.