The Frog Prince

Once upon a time there was a young princess who lived in a great castle at the edge of a deep green wood. One fine afternoon she put on her bonnet and her wooden clogs and went out to walk alone among the trees. The sun shone warmly through the leaves, and the birds sang from the high branches. Deep in the wood there stood a cool spring where the water was clear as glass and cold as snow. There the princess sat down upon a mossy stone to rest. In her hand she held her dearest plaything, a golden ball that glittered in the sunlight. She tossed it up into the air and caught it again, over and over, laughing aloud in the quiet wood.

Once she tossed the ball far too high. It slipped through her hands, struck once upon the stone, and rolled down into the dark water of the spring. The princess rushed forward and bent over the edge, but the spring was so deep that she could not see its bottom. The ball was gone. Then she began to weep, and her tears fell into the cool water below. 'Oh,' she sobbed, 'if only I could have my golden ball again, I would give all that I own, my fine clothes, my pearls, and every one of my jewels. I would give my whole little world away.' The wood listened in silence, and the wind scarcely stirred a single leaf.

All at once a thick head rose out of the water, shining and wet, with great yellow eyes. It was a frog. 'Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?' asked the frog in a soft, clear voice. The princess wiped her tears and answered, half astonished and half cross, 'Oh, what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring, and now it lies far down in the dark.' The frog looked calmly at her. 'I do not want your pearls, or your jewels, or your fine clothes,' he said. 'But if you will love me, and let me live with you, eat from your little golden plate, and sleep upon your pillow, I will fetch your ball up again.'