“Then do not cry any more,” answered the frog; “I can get it for you. But what will you give me if I bring back your plaything to you?”
“Oh, anything you like, dear frog!” she said. “My dresses, my pearls and jewels, even the golden crown I wear.”
“No,” answered the frog, “your clothes, your pearls and jewels, or even your golden crown are nothing to me; but if you will love me and let me be your companion and playfellow, sit by you at table, eat from your [[19]]little golden plate, drink out of your cup, and sleep in your little bed,—if you will promise me all this, then I will bring you back your golden ball from the bottom of the fountain.”
“Oh, yes,” she replied, “I promise you anything if you will only bring me back my ball!”
She was thinking to herself all this while: “What nonsense the silly frog does talk! He lives in the water with other frogs, [[20]]and croaks, and cannot be anybody’s playfellow.”
But the frog, as soon as he had received the promise, ducked his head under the water and sank down to the bottom. In a little while he came up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. The King’s daughter was full of joy when she saw her pretty plaything again, and, catching it up, ran off with it.
“Wait! wait!” cried the frog. “Take me with you; I cannot run as fast as you.”
But the young Princess would not listen to the frog’s croaking, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog, who had to go back to his fountain again.
The next day, when the Princess was sitting at table with the King and his courtiers and eating out of her little golden plate, there came a sound of something creeping up the marble staircase, splish, splash, splish, splash, and presently there came a knock at the door, and a voice crying, “Youngest King’s daughter, open to me.” [[21]]