The Princess and the Frog revised

Once upon a time, in a magical land, there was a beautiful princess. She was kind and sweet and had everything she could possibly want. A huge castle, a loving of family and lots of wonderful friends. Yet, more than anything, the princess wanted a prince. She wanted someone with whom she could share all these things. So she went to see the wise woman who lived at the edge of the kingdom.

The wise woman told her about an enchanted pool full of frogs.
“You have to kiss a frog,” she said “And if the frog changes into a prince, then you have chosen the right one.
“But how will I know which frog is my prince?” asked the princess.
The wise woman replied:
“You will never know for sure. You might think he is. And he may have the potential to be but until you kiss him you shall never know.”

Now the princess thought this was all rather far fetched. But since all the other women in her family had done the same thing she supposed that it must work. So she went down to the pond and sat down on the grassy edge and looked at the frogs. There were lots of frogs of all shapes and sizes and different colours. One of those frogs is my prince, she thought.

As she sat there, one of the frogs caught her attention. He was swinging from reed to reed like Tarzan and all the other frogs were watching him. He was a cute green-yellow thing, with a speckled back. He swung off the last reed, and did a somersault-dive into the water. The other frogs began to clap. The speckled frog surfaced and bowed extravagantly at everyone before winking at the princess. The princess was captivated. “What a cute frog,” she thought. ‘How charming.” He hopped up to her and winked at her before sticking his tongue out and bounding away. The princess laughed and chased after him.

Soon he became her favourite frog. They would laugh and play together. He would hide under the reed leaves and she would have to find him. Or he would spring up and down all around her and she would have to try and catch him. The princess would visit him all the time and soon forgot about all the other frogs in the pond. She always had such fun with him; in fact he made her forget about everything. He brought out her adventurous, playful self.

Sometimes the little frog would be bad-tempered and rude. On one occasion he even tried to bite her. (There was also a rumour going around the pond that he was engaged to a lady frog. But this was never proven.) However, the princess forgave any bad behavior. She was convinced that this was her prince.

Finally one day the princess decided to grab the bull by the horns, or in this case the frog by the…..um….legs. She grabbed her speckled frog and began to kiss him. She kissed him all over; she gave him every kind of kiss she could think of, big ones and small ones. She kissed him for ages. But he didn’t turn into her prince.

The princess was heartbroken! Her frog didn’t seem to notice and just carried on as he usually did.

The princess went back to the wise woman.
“How could he not have been my prince?” she asked her. “He was wonderful-he was perfect; he made me laugh and we had fun together.”
The wise woman just said: “He is not your prince, it is just something that you must accept. Go back to the pond again. Maybe the next frog that comes up to you will be your prince.”

So the princess went back. After all there were plenty more frogs in the pond. But when she sat down all she could think of was her frog-prince. (The gossip round the pond was that he had hooked up with a horny lady-frog.) She didn’t want another frog; she wanted him! And as she sat there, she was so upset that she didn’t even notice the little frog that came and sat next to her. Smaller then most of the other frogs, he was a brown-green colour with black eyes. He didn’t say anything; he just sat there patiently until eventually she noticed him. And then he looked at her and gave her a froggy-smile. It was a sweet, friendly smile but it was also slightly crooked and it gave him a mischievous look. There was a twinkle in his eye and the princess found herself smiling back at him.

Slowly the princess and the frog become friends. He understood her. He knew when she was upset and just wanted to sit quietly and he knew when she was happy and wanted to play. He was fun to be with. He didn’t show off like her speckled frog but he still had a mischievous side and made her laugh. He would do little somersaults and pull funny faces at her. Sometimes the frog would hop up to the castle to visit her. Often he would bring her presents like a beautiful white water lily or a yellow carnation. He was kind and considerate and treated her like the princess she was.

And then one day the little frog didn’t come to visit. The princess went down to the pond to look for him but she couldn’t find him. She knew the frog would never just forget to visit her. She was sure that something must have happened to him. The princess worried about him all night and by morning she was beside herself. Where was her little frog? What if she never saw him again? She didn’t think she could live without him. The princess realised that she needed him. He had become an important part of her life. Her speckled frog had slowly faded from her mind. She would never forget him; he had just become less important to her.

The little frog came back at lunchtime. And with him he brought a beautiful red rose. It had taken him a day and a night to hop to the far end of the garden to reach all the rose bushes. He’d had to break off the rose while minding the huge thorns. He was a very brave little frog.

The princess was so glad he had come back and she knew what an effort it must have been to get the rose. So with tears running down her cheeks she picked up the frog and kissed him. And to her amazement he transformed into a wonderful, handsome prince. The princess was ecstatic. She had finally found her prince. And the prince and the princess lived happily ever after.


(Make sure your prince is really a prince and not just a plain ol’ frog!)