The Frog Prince
A golden ball, a promise at the well, and a frog who was more than he seemed
Page 1
Long ago there lived a king whose youngest daughter was so lovely that even the sun, which had seen so much, marvelled whenever it shone upon her face. Near the king's grand palace lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime tree at the forest's edge there was a cool, deep well. On hot days the young princess loved nothing better than to go out to the well with her favourite toy — a golden ball — and to toss it up and catch it in the dappled shade, again and again, while the whole busy life of the palace went on behind her.
Page 2
One day the golden ball slipped from the princess's hands, bounced once on the well's stone rim, and dropped straight down into the deep dark water, gone. The princess leaned over the edge and wept, for the well was far too deep to see the bottom. Then a croaking voice spoke up beside her: a large green frog had poked his head out of the water. He would fetch her ball, he said — if she would promise, in return, to let him be her companion: to eat from her little plate, and sit beside her at the table. The princess, thinking a silly frog could never really leave his pond, quickly promised anything he liked.
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True to his word, the frog dived down and came up with the golden ball, and set it on the grass. But the moment the delighted princess snatched it up, she forgot her promise entirely and ran off toward the palace as fast as she could, leaving the poor frog calling after her from the well. 'Wait! Wait for me!' he cried, but a frog cannot run as fast as a girl, and she was soon gone among the gardens, laughing, certain she would never see the strange creature again. She had her ball back, and that, she thought, was the end of the whole silly affair.
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That evening, as the royal family sat at dinner in the great hall, there came a strange wet sound on the marble stairs — flip, flap, flip, flap — and then a knock at the door, and a little voice calling, 'Youngest princess, let me in!' It was the frog, who had hopped all the long way from the well. The princess turned pale and tried to shut the door, but her father the king asked what the matter was. When she confessed the promise she had made, the wise old king spoke firmly: a promise is a promise, he said, and she must keep her word, however small the one she gave it to. And so, very reluctantly, she let the frog in.
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So the frog was lifted up onto the table, and true to the bargain he ate a little from the princess's own golden plate and drank from her little cup, while she sat beside him trying not to make a face. He was, she had to admit, a very polite frog, and not greedy at all. All through the meal he spoke to her gently and kindly, telling her of the quiet life of the pond and asking about the great world of the palace, until — almost against her will — the princess found she was no longer quite so disgusted, and had even begun, just a little, to enjoy the strange creature's good company.
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In the traditional telling, it was an act of kindness that broke the enchantment at last. When the little frog, tired from his long journey, asked only to be treated gently, the princess — her hard heart softened by his patience and good humour — lifted him up with real care and kindness instead of scorn. In that very instant there was a flash of warm light, and where the frog had been there now stood a handsome young prince with kind eyes, dressed in green and gold. He had been under a wicked enchantment, he explained, that only genuine kindness could ever undo — and she, by keeping her word and learning at last to be kind, had set him free.
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The whole palace rejoiced to learn the truth, and the wise old king was prouder of his daughter than ever — not for finding a prince, but for learning, in the end, to keep her word and to be kind. Before long the young prince and the princess were married in a great and happy celebration, with the golden ball set upon a cushion for all to see, as a reminder of the strange little promise at the well that had changed everything. And the princess, who had once run away from a frog, grew into a kind and honourable queen, beloved by all her people, who never again broke a promise, however small, to anyone at all.
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Sometimes, in the golden evenings afterward, the prince and princess would walk out together to the old well at the edge of the forest, where it had all begun. They would sit in the shade of the lime tree and the princess would toss the golden ball up into the light and catch it, laughing, just as she had as a girl — only now there was someone kind beside her who had once lived in that very well. And they would talk of promises, and of kindness, and of how the smallest good turn can change a whole life, until the sun went down behind the forest and it was time to walk home to the palace together.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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