The Frog Prince

In olden times, when wishing still helped, there lived a king. All his daughters were beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was amazed every time it shone on her face. Near the king's castle there was a great dark forest, and in the forest, under an old linden tree, there was a well. When the day was very hot, the king's daughter would go into the forest and sit by the cool well. And when she was bored, she would take a golden ball, throw it into the air and catch it again. This was her favourite toy.

One day the princess's golden ball did not fall back into her little hand. It fell onto the ground, rolled along and went straight into the well. The princess followed it with her eyes, but the ball vanished. The well was so deep that its bottom could not be seen. The princess began to cry, louder and louder, and could not be comforted.

As she was crying, someone called to her: "What's the matter, king's daughter? You are crying so hard that even a stone would feel sorry for you." She looked around to see where the voice was coming from and saw a frog sticking its thick, ugly head out of the water. "Oh, it's you, you old water-splasher," she said. "I'm crying because my golden ball has fallen into the well." "Be quiet and don't cry," said the frog. "I can help you. But what will you give me if I bring back your toy?" "Whatever you like, dear frog," said the princess, "my clothes, my pearls and jewels, even the golden crown on my head."

"I don't want your clothes, your pearls and jewels or your golden crown," said the frog. "But if you will love me and let me be your friend and playmate, and sit beside you at the table and eat from your little golden plate and drink from your little cup and sleep in your little bed, if you promise me all this, I will go down to the bottom of the well and bring back your golden ball." "Oh yes," said the princess, "I promise you everything you want, if only you'll bring me back my ball." But she thought: "What nonsense this silly frog is talking! He sits in the water with the other frogs and croaks. He can't be anyone's friend."

When the frog had her promise, he dipped his head under the water, sank down to the bottom, and a little while later came paddling up again with the ball in his mouth and threw it onto the grass. When the princess saw her beautiful toy, she was overjoyed, snatched it up and ran off with it. "Wait, wait!" cried the frog. "Take me with you! I can't run as fast as you!" But what good did it do him to croak after her as loudly as he could? She did not listen, ran home, and soon forgot the poor frog, who had to go back down into his well.

The next day, when the princess was sitting at the table with the king and all the court, eating from her golden plate, something came creeping up the marble staircase, splish splash, splish splash. When it reached the top, it knocked at the door and called: "Youngest daughter of the king, open the door for me!" She ran to see who was outside, and when she opened the door, there sat the frog. She slammed the door shut and went back to the table, very frightened.

The king saw that her heart was pounding and asked: "My child, what are you afraid of? Is there a giant outside the door who wants to carry you off?" "Oh no," said the princess, "it's not a giant, it's a horrid frog." "What does the frog want with you?" "Oh, dear Father, yesterday, when I was playing by the well in the forest, my golden ball fell into the water. Because I was crying, the frog brought it back for me. And because he insisted, I promised he could be my friend. I never thought he could come out of the water all the way here." Just then there was a second knock at the door, and a voice called: "Youngest daughter of the king, open the door for me! Don't you remember what you promised me yesterday by the cool well? Open the door for me!"

The king said, "What you have promised, you must keep. Go and let him in." She went and opened the door. The frog hopped in and followed her to her chair. There he sat and called: "Lift me up beside you." She hesitated, but the king ordered her to do it. When the frog was on the chair, he wanted to be on the table. When he was on the table, he said, "Now push your little golden plate nearer to me, so that we can eat together." She did it, but it was easy to see that she did not want to. The frog enjoyed his food, but nearly every mouthful stuck in her throat.

At last the frog said, "I've eaten my fill and I'm tired. Now carry me to your room and get your silk bed ready, and we'll go to sleep." The princess began to cry. She was afraid of the cold frog, which she did not even like to touch, and now he was to sleep in her lovely clean bed. But the king grew angry: "You must not scorn someone who helped you when you were in trouble." So she picked up the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs and put him in a corner.

When she was lying in bed, the frog came creeping over: "I'm tired too, and I want to sleep as comfortably as you." The princess did not know what to do; this time her patience ran out, and she cried to the frog: "Leave me alone!" But at that moment he was no longer a frog; he was a prince with kind and beautiful eyes. He told her everything: a wicked witch had cast a spell on him and turned him into a frog. No one but the princess could have freed him from the well. By keeping her promise, sitting him at her table and bringing him as far as the corner of her room, she had broken the spell.

With her father's blessing, the prince became her friend and husband. The next day he wanted to take her to his kingdom. When the sun woke them the next morning, a carriage drove up drawn by eight white horses with white ostrich feathers on their heads and harnesses of golden chains. At the back of the carriage stood the prince's faithful servant, Heinrich.

When his master had been turned into a frog, faithful Heinrich had been so grief-stricken that he had three iron bands put around his chest, so that his heart would not burst with sorrow. Now he had brought the carriage to take the young king and queen home. He helped them in, took his place at the back again, and was full of joy that his master had been set free. When they had gone a little way, the prince heard a cracking noise behind him. He turned and said, "Heinrich, the carriage is breaking!" "No, master, it's not the carriage. It's one of the bands I had put around my heart when you were a frog in the well." Once more and once again something cracked on the way. Each time the prince thought the carriage was breaking, but it was only the bands springing from faithful Heinrich's heart because his master was free and happy.

That day the princess learned something: a promise must be kept, whoever it is made to. And even under the ugly face of a frog, a beautiful heart may be hidden.