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The Frog Prince

One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water with a rose in the middle of it, she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favourite plaything; and she was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell.

After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounded away, and rolled along on the ground, until at last it fell down into the spring. The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. She began to cry, and said, 'Alas! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.'

Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, 'Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?'

'Alas!' said she, 'what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.'

The frog said, 'I do not want your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep on your bed, I will bring you your ball again.'

'What nonsense,' thought the princess, 'this silly frog is talking! He can never even get out of the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks.'

So she said to the frog, 'Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.'

Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring.

As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could.

The frog called after her, 'Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said,'

But she did not stop to hear a word.

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The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise - tap, tap - plash, plash - as if something was coming up the marble staircase, and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:

 

'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

 

Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as she could came back to her seat.

The king, her father, seeing that something had frightened her, asked her what was the matter.

'There is a nasty frog,' said she, 'at the door, that lifted my ball for me out of the spring this morning. I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.'

While she was speaking the frog knocked again at the door, and said:

 

'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

 

Then the king said to the young princess, 'As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.'

She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on - tap, tap - plash, plash - from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat.

'Pray lift me upon chair,' said he to the princess, 'and let me sit next to you.'

As soon as she had done this, the frog said, 'Put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of it.'

This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, 'Now I am tired; carry me upstairs, and put me into your bed.' And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long.

←3

As soon as it was light the frog jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house.

'Now, then,' thought the princess, 'at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.'

But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said:

 

'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

 

And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen and standing at the head of her bed.

He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights.

'You,' said the prince, 'have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.'

The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying 'Yes' to all this; and as they spoke a brightly coloured coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince's servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.

They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince's kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years.

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Comments

Submitted by admin on Sun, 11/07/2004 - 10:20

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All these stories are so superficial! She says yes to him even though she hated and thought he was high mateniance as a frog because he was a gorgeous prince, not because she loved him or anything!.. and the orince asked her to be his wife even though she was so rude and she didnt want to take him in. What a terrible story to be reading to children.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/18/2005 - 10:09

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this storie has been changed and changed again and it is always the same when ever i pick it up! and this one is no different! i did like this storie the firt time i read it but now that i have read it for the 4th time it is BORING! and it has the sad begginings " once apon a time in a far away land" and the sad endings " and they all lived happly ever after! so i think that you should get some new stories in and make them newnike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxx

Submitted by admin on Fri, 06/10/2005 - 13:12

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Yeah........okay, and old is this princess again? One minute shes tossing a ball and whining about everything, the next she has a man in her bead and getting married!? Whatever, Dude.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 06/24/2005 - 13:29

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I think this story has started with a problem, when the princesss golden ball fell into the spring. Then the problem is solved by the frog popping up from the spring and she asked him to get her ball, but the only thing he wanted was her to love, live, eat, and sleep with her. but the princess ingore the frog and went home with her golden ball. The next day the frog had reached to her place and knocked on the door telling her to open the door, she had too because she had given her word to him. She did everything he granted and in 3 days he turn into a handsome princs, then they fell in love and lived happily ever after. This story was a weird romanatic story but I like it alot it tells kids that if you promise somebody, you must keep it or do it.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 10/04/2005 - 23:48

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i think, this story is nice, but sometime make me feel disgusted about "the princess relationship with the Frog Prince." but, in the end i feel i was wrong, because when we have a promise to someone or something (example:Frog), we should make the promise become true. this story has a advice inside.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 05/21/2006 - 10:49

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I think the true message of this story is that if you honor your promises, then good things can happen. By listening to her Fathers command to keep her promise to the frog, she was rewarded with more than the little ball could ever give her-happiness forever!

Submitted by admin on Thu, 05/25/2006 - 13:51

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This story not only encompasses a great moral, it also provides us with an interesting plot. "The Frog Prince" showed us how shallow and superficial our society can be. This moral was made possible through the use of a "nasty" frog and princess. These characters arent usually put together and thats why the story was so entertaining. Due to its moral and creative plot I believe that this story is an American Classic.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 08/26/2006 - 13:53

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well i think this is a beuty story because i love romantic stories so I enjoyed this because first i thought the princess forgot her promisse and she never do so but while i was reading i realize that she do her promisse so her prize was to find with her a handsome prince and they live hapy forever

Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/28/2006 - 19:13

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I think that is a good story for children because you can entertain them with this also it can be helpful for them because you taught them since theyare children to read and also they can lear more aaaand get interested of many fables.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/01/2007 - 01:22

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classic story from when i was a child. this one in particular, i had to use basic vocabulary so that my two little brothers could understand. this story sure brings back memories of when i was a child.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/26/2007 - 16:54

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This is a typical fiction which begins with the incompatible relationship of the characters but through the ending you would find them attracted to each other and ends happily ever after.I like the childish essence of it..

Submitted by admin on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 00:51

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AMAZING....

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