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In olden 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. Close by the king's castle lay a great dark |
forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well, and when |
the day was very warm, the king's child went out into the forest and |
sat down by the side of the cool fountain, and when she was bored she |
took a golden ball, and threw it up on high and caught it, and this |
ball was her favorite plaything. |
Now it so happened that on one occasion 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, and rolled straight into the water. The |
king's daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished, and 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. And as she thus lamented someone said to her, "What ails |
you, king's daughter? You weep so that even a stone would show pity." |
She looked round to the side from whence the voice came, and saw a |
frog stretching forth its big, ugly head from the water. "Ah, old |
water-splasher, is it you," she said, "I am weeping for my golden ball, |
which has fallen into the well." "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?" "Whatever you will have, dear frog," said she, "My |
clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am |
wearing." The frog answered, "I do not care for your clothes, your |
pearls and jewels, nor for your golden crown, but if you will love me |
and let me be your companion and play-fellow, 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." |
"Oh yes," said she, "I promise you all you wish, if you will but bring |
me my ball back again." But she thought, "How the silly frog does |
talk. All he does is to sit in the water with the other frogs, and |
croak. He can be no companion to any human being." |
But the frog when he had received this promise, put his head into the |
water and sank down; and in a short while came swimmming 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. "Wait, wait," said the frog. "Take |
me with you. I can't run as you can." But what did it avail him to |
scream his croak, croak, after her, as loudly as he could. She did |
not listen to it, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog, who was |
forced to go back into his well again. |
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, and when it had got to the top, it knocked at the door and |
cried, "Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me." 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 to, in great haste, sat |
down to dinner again, and 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 perchance a giant outside who wants to |
carry you away?" "Ah, no," replied she. "It is no giant but a disgusting |
frog." |
"What does a frog want with you?" "Ah, dear father, yesterday as 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, and 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." |
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 well. Princess, |
youngest princess, open the door for me." |
Then said the king, "That which you have promised must you perform. |
Go and let him in." 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. Once the frog was 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. 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." |
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 ought not afterwards to be |
despised by you." 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." At this she was terribly |
angry, and took him up and threw him with all her might against the |
wall. "Now, will you be quiet, odious frog," said she. But when he |
fell down he was no frog but a king's son with kind and beautiful |
eyes. He by her father's will was now her dear companion and |
husband. Then he told her how he had been bewitched by a wicked |
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