THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG.
There was once a Frog.
He lay in a pool near the horse-pond in the farmyard, behind the King’s Castle. To look at, he was not by any means a remarkable frog. He was neither bigger nor smaller than other frogs of his kind; neither was he greener, browner, nor more yellow. He certainly was a perfect swimmer, and his croak was perhaps just a little more musical than the croak of the other frogs, but in other respects he was exactly like them. He spent his days catching worms and flies, and dodging ducks who were always on the lookout to catch him. His was the usual frog’s life—and yet, and yet he was no ordinary frog.
There was once a Princess.
She lived in the Castle beyond the pool, on the other side of the horse-pond. She was no ordinary Princess. Princesses, of course, are always beautiful; but this one was more beautiful than any. Her hair was more golden than real gold; her eyes as blue as an eastern sky; her teeth as white as the whitest of pearls, while her smile was as sweet as an angel’s. She was as good as she was beautiful.
Indeed, she was no ordinary Princess. She loved the world and everybody in it. She loved her dear old father, the King (she had no mother and brothers and sisters to love, poor Princess); she loved all the King’s subjects, from the oldest old man to the youngest new baby, and she loved all animals—yes, all animals, from the noble horses to—well, even to the frogs in the pool beyond the horse-pond, in the farmyard at the back of the Castle.
Now, the King was very rich, and so his daughter had everything she desired, and what she desired most was the means to do good to others, and to be able to care for all the maimed and injured animals in her father’s kingdom. She had comfortable stables built for the poor old horses, kennels for the poor old dogs, almshouses for the poor old men and women, and happy homes for homeless babies. The Princess was the ministering angel of the country.
In the Castle itself she had aviaries filled with beautiful birds, and aquariums full of fish and all sorts of queer animals, including even a frog with an injured foot, that the Princess herself had found in the pool in the farmyard behind her father’s Castle. This was the Frog that was no ordinary frog, except in appearance. He lived in the Castle, and was happy; and his foot got quite well, except when he hopped he had a slight limp.
Now, everything went happily until the lovely Princess was eighteen years old, and then something fearful happened. A terrible and cruel war broke out between the King, her father, and a neighbouring Emperor, and alas! the King got the worst of it. He lost every battle from the very beginning; town after town fell into the hands of the enemy; the happy villages were burnt down; the crops and the cattle were seized, and the King and his daughter sat in the Castle with only a few soldiers to guard them, expecting every moment the arrival of the Emperor’s victorious army.
They had no money—all their treasures had been sold to pay for the horrid war. The old men and women were miserable in the almshouses; the babies cried in their homes; the horses and birds and fishes had been set free, for there was no money with which to buy them food, and there was misery over all the land. The poor Princess had no pets except one that had been left behind in the aquarium—the Frog that was no ordinary frog, and that had a limp when he hopped, and whose croak was rather more musical than the croak of other frogs. Well, it came at last, the Emperor’s conquering army, and it swept all before it; the Castle was taken, and the King and the Princess had only just time to escape by the back door, and through the farmyard by the pool, near the horse-pond, and so on to the woods, where they hid themselves from their enemies. The Frog was with them—yes, in a safety-matchbox, in the Princess’s pocket. It was certainly not comfortable there, but he preferred it to being left behind in a castle filled with strangers. The next day found the King and his daughter miles away from their old home, seated hand in hand upon a bank, hungry and miserable. No one would have taken them for a King and a Princess, for he wore an ordinary felt hat, instead of a crown, and she wore nothing on her head but her own beautiful golden hair, which was more beautiful and brilliant than the finest gold. Well, they went all that day without anything to eat but berries, and at night they slept in the woods again; and so they journeyed on, more miserable and hungry. The Frog, too, was not very happy, and having the cramp in his lame foot, kicked somewhat vigorously in his matchbox, so that the Princess heard him, and pitied him, and determined to let him go when they came to some water.
Now, they had not gone much farther before they came to a pond, and here, I think, comes the wonderful part of the story. The Princess took the Frog from the matchbox and held it for a moment in her hand, and as she did so, she burst into tears, and her tears fell upon the little creature.
“Alas!” she cried, “you are the last of my poor pets I loved so dearly.”
Then there suddenly came a flash of light, and a noise like terrible thunder, and the King, in his fright, fell on his back, while the Princess opened her dark blue eyes in wonder. There stood before her a handsome Prince, who smiled and held out his hands to her.
“The spell of a wicked fairy is broken,” he said. “The Frog you took from the pool was no ordinary frog—in reality, he was an enchanted Prince; your love for, and the tears that fell on him, have restored him to his own form again.”
“Come,” he continued, “we three will go over those blue hills together, to my lovely country. And you shall be my Princess, and we will rule the land together.”
And so they went away, hand in hand, the Princess between her father and the Prince, and they went over the blue hills to the most beautiful country you can imagine. And then, before long, the Princess built stables and kennels for the old horses and poor dogs, and almshouses for the old men and old women, and houses for the homeless babies; and she was never so happy as when doing good to others, and everybody loved her, for, truly, she was the ministering angel of the land.
