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INTRODUCTION
Many cultures have a version of this story in which the ugly becomes beautiful again through love--or something like it!
Notice the difference between the original story recorded by the Grimm brothers, and the "Disney-fied" version in which the frog is freed through a kiss.
Words in bold type are discussed in the Notes.
THE TALE
[1] In old times when wishing still helped one, 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.
[2] Close by the King's castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well. When the day was very warm, the King's youngest child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain. When she was bored, she took a golden ball, and threw it up high and caught it. This ball was her favorite plaything.
[3] Now it so happened one time the princess's golden ball did not fall into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground beyond. It rolled straight into the water. The King's daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished. The well was deep, 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.
[4] And as she lamented this way someone said to her, "What ails you, King's daughter? You weep so that even a stone would show pity." She looked round in the direction from which the voice came, and saw a frog stretching its thick, ugly head out of the water.
[5] "Ah! old water-splasher, is it you?" said she; "I am weeping for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well."
[6] "Be quiet, and do not weep," answered the frog. "I can help you. But what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?"
[7] "Whatever you will have, dear frog," said she. "My clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing."
[8] The frog answered, "I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, or your golden crown. But if you will love me and let me be your companion and playmate, 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."
[9] "Oh yes," said she, "I promise you all you wish, if you will just bring me my ball back again." However, she thought, "How the silly frog does talk! He lives in the water with the other frogs, and croaks, and can be no companion to any human being!"
[10] But the frog, when he had received this promise, put his head into the water and sank down. In a short while he 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.
[11] "Wait, wait," said the frog. "Take me with you. I can't run as fast as you." But what good was it to scream his croak, croak, after her, as loudly as he could? She did not listen, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog, who was forced to go back into his well again.
[12] The next day when she had seated herself at table with the King and all the courtiers, and was eating from her little golden plate, something came creeping splish splash, splish splash, up the marble staircase. When it got to the top, it knocked at the door and cried, "Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me."
[13] 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 in great haste and sat down to dinner again. She 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 perhaps a giant outside who wants to carry you away?"
[14] "Ah, no," replied she. "It is no giant but a disgusting frog."
[15] "What does a frog want with you?" the King asked.
[16] "Ah, dear father, yesterday when I was in the forest sitting by the well, playing, my golden ball fell into the water. And because I cried so, the frog brought it out again for me, but because he so insisted, I promised him he should be my companion. But I never thought he would be able to come out of his water! And now he is outside there and wants to come in to me."
[17] In the meantime it knocked a second time, and cried,
"Princess! youngest princess!
Open the door for me!
Do you not know what you said to me
Yesterday by the cool waters of the fountain?
Princess, youngest princess!
Open the door for me!"
[18] Then said the King, "That which you have promised you must perform. Go and let him in."
[19] 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.
[20] When the frog was once 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.
[21] At length 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."
[22] 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 should not afterwards to be despised by you."
[23] So she took hold of the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner. 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."
[24] Then she was terribly angry and took him up and threw him with all her might against the wall. "Now you will be quiet, odious frog!" said she.
[25] But when he fell down, he was no frog but a King's son with beautiful kind eyes. With her father's permission he became her dear companion and husband. He told her how he had been bewitched by a wicked witch, and that no one could have delivered him from the well but herself. Tomorrow they would go together into his kingdom.
[26] Then they went to sleep, and next morning when the sun awoke them, a carriage came driving up with eight white horses, with white ostrich feathers on their heads, and harnessed with golden chains. At the back of the carriage stood the young King's servant, Faithful Henry.
[27] Faithful Henry had been so unhappy when his master was changed into a frog, that he had caused three iron bands to be laid round his heart, so it wouldn't burst with grief and sadness. The carriage was to conduct the young King into his Kingdom.
[28] Faithful Henry helped them both in and placed himself behind again. He was full of joy because his master had been released from the spell.
[29] When they had driven a part of the way the King's son heard a cracking behind him as if something had broken. So he turned round and cried, "Henry, the carriage is breaking."
[30] "No, master, it is not the carriage. It is a band from my heart, which was put there in my great pain when you were a frog and imprisoned in the well." Again and once again while they were on their way something cracked, and each time the King's son thought the carriage was breaking; but it was only the bands which were springing from the heart of Faithful Henry because his master was set free and was happy.
NOTES
- English versions of this story are often titled "The Frog Prince," but the German original clearly says könig, "king": Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich." However, it also calls the faithful servant Iron Henry, not "Faithful," as in the story.
- D. L. Ashliman's excellent site collects variants of the story from Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Scotland, England, Sri Lanka, and Korea, as well as a peculiar mashup from an early English translation.
- In a well-known Jungian interpretation of the story, the princess and the frog/king are both aspects of Henry, who is "freed" from his iron bands when they are reunited.
- When translating, Hunt used archaic language--thee and thou; wilt, wert, saidst--in the speeches of the Princess and the frog (who was actually a king). She may have been going for an "old timey" feel, but I think it's more likely that she was trying to use the elevated language associated with royalty--d hint to the frog's true identity. The language is especially notable when the girl's father admonishes her: "That which thou hast promised must thou perform" sounds more like a commandment than mere advice.
- The English poet Stevie Smith (1902-1971) wrote an interesting reflection from the frog's point of view: might it not be better to remain enchanted, with the carefree life of a frog in a well, rather than face the responsibilities of kingship?
- A few words (found in bold above):
- ails: upsets; bothers
- courtiers: members of a king's court; "lords and ladies?
- crept: past tense of "creep"; crawled, moved along the ground
- lamented: cried; expressed sorrow
- odious: hateful; disgusting
- vanished: disappeared
- weep: cry
SUMMARY
A girl rashly promises to be a frog's companion when he rescues her ball from a well. When he pushes her into a relationship (at her father's insistence), she becomes angry and throws him against a wall. At this, he becomes a handsome king, who had been under the spell of a witch. His servant Henry, too, is freed from the "bands" of grief.
QUESTIONS
- What does it mean to say that wishing used to help people? Why does the story begin this way? [1]
- Why is it so often the youngest child who features in these stories?
- Why do you think the frog wants the Princess to be his companion? [8]
- Why does the King insist that the Princess keep her promise? [18]
- Why does the storyteller include the story of Faithful Henry? [27-30]
- Is the princess a good person? Is the frog? Is the King?
- Imagine why the witch might have cast a spell on the young King, turning him into a frog.
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