The Frog Prince
Once there lived a woodcutter with his wife and daughters on the edge of a forest. All his daughters were beautiful, but the youngest was the most beautiful. The woodcutter went into the forest every day to cut wood. At one spot where the woodcutter often stopped to cut wood, there was an old lime tree, and under the tree was a spring. Sometimes the youngest daughter would help her father pull the wood cart into the forest, and she would sit near the edge of the cool spring. When there was nothing else to do, she took a stone, toss it into the air, and catch it.
One day, as it so happened, she held out her hand to catch the stone. But the stone passed it by, and fell into the spring. The girl watched it fall through the water with her eyes, but the spring was deep, so deep that you couldn't see the bottom, and it disappeared from her sight. Finding no more stones to throw, she became upset, and started sulking. As she was sulking, a voice called out to her, "What's the matter, pretty girl? Why, to see your sad face, the sun would cry." She looked to see where the voice came from and saw a frog bobbing his head on the surface of the water. "Oh, hello frog." she said. "I'm sulking because my stone fell into the spring and there are no other stones to throw." "Stop sulking," said the frog. "There are some nice stones on the bottom of the spring, but what will you give me if I bring you a stone?" "Anything you want, dear frog," she said. "But I am not very rich, and I have not very much to give." The frog replied: "It is alright that you are not rich, for it is not riches I want. If you will love me and be my companion and playmate, if you will let me sit at your table and eat from your plate and sleep in your bed, if you promise me that, I'll go down and fetch you a stone." "Oh, yes" said the woodcutter's daughter, "I promise you all that, if only you'll bring me a stone."
Once the frog had her promise, he put his head back down into the water and dived, and in a short while he came back to the surface. He had a nice smooth stone in his mouth and he tossed it onto the grass. The woodcutter's daughter was very happy at the sight of the stone. She picked it up and tossed it into the air and caught it, and continued to play with it in this fashion. The frog sat quietly on a large rock watching and waiting. Not long after, the woodcutter was done cutting wood for the day. "Come, my daughter," he said. "Let us go home. You can ride in the back of the cart." The woodcutter's daughter went to the frog and picked him up. "Come, my friend," she said, "It is time to go." "You will keep you promise?" "Of course. You kept your promise by bringing me the stone. It is only fair that I keep mine." And they rode home together as the woodcutter pulled them on the cart.
Supper was ready when they walked through the door. The woodcutter's daughter sat at the table and placed the frog upon it. Her mother looked at the frog. "What is that?" "It's a frog!" cried one of her sisters. "Take that croaker off the table." "I can't," said the youngest daughter. "I promised him I would be his companion, and let him sit at my table and eat from my plate and sleep in my bed if he brought me a stone from the bottom of the spring. He bought me a stone, so I must keep my promise." The woodcutter was proud that his youngest and most beautiful daughter keep her promise. The frog stayed on the table, much to the sisters' displeasure, and shared the plate of the youngest daughter. When it was time to go to bed, she took the frog with her and put him on one side of the pillow, and she laid her head on the other side. The frog said: " Thank you, pretty girl, for letting me sit at your table and eat from your plate and sleep in your bed." "I promised," said the woodcutter's daughter, "You kept your promise, it is only fair that I keep mine."
The frog said: "You are very noble I will tell you a story, Before you came to the spring, a princess would often come and play with a golden ball. One day the ball fell into the spring, she promised to give me everything she had. All I wanted her to promise was that she would be my companion and playmate, and let me sit at her table and eat form her plate and sleep in her bed. "Yes, yes," she said. I believed her and when I brought her ball back to her, she ran away back to the castle, forgetting all about me. I went to the castle, and her father made her pick me up and put me on the table, and he made her share her plate with me, and he made her take me to her bed. When I asked for a good night kiss, she did not want to kiss me, and she threw me out of the castle. I had no choice but o go back to the spring."
"That is not a very nice princess," said the woodcutter's daughter. "No, but you are nice, pretty girl. It is time to go to sleep. Will you give me a goodnight kiss?" "Yes, I will," she said. She closed her eyes and kissed him. When she opened her eyes, the frog was gone, and the most handsome man was laying beside her. He told her that he was prince, and a wicked witch had put a spell on him and that no one but his true love could have freed him from his frog prison. Now they would go to his kingdom tomorrow and be married. The next morning, has the sun shone brighter than it ever had before, a carriage pulled by eight beautiful horses came to pick up the prince and the woodcutter's daughter who would become a princess, and took them to the Prince's palace, where they were married, and the woodcutter became very rich.