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.