The Frog Prince
Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there lived a princess named Yolei Inoue. She was an energetic, confident, compassionate, honest, hard-working girl, even though she was supposed to be royalty. One day, feeling a bit hungry, Princess Yolei had found a golden apple tree near her castle.
When she went to pick an apple out of the basket under the tree, however, her hand slipped and she accidentally dropped the golden apple she chose. It rolled away from the princess and it fell right into the stream near the castle.
"Oh, darn it! My apple! Shoot, I can't reach it from here!" she exclaimed, desperately trying to grab the fruit with her hand.
But as she tried to grab it, the golden fruit was floating farther and farther away from her grasp. Then all of a sudden, Princess Yolei heard a strange little sound.
"Ribbit!"
The Princess's eyes widened in surprise and she jumped. She whipped her head around fast and looked behind her, only to see a small grayish frog with blue eyes sitting on a large rock on the stream's edge. She let out a surprised cry and nearly fell off of the bank and into the water, but then she soon calmed down.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the frog said nervously.
"No, it's ok. Wait, did you just talk?" the Princess asked, shocked.
"Yep, I sure did," the frog answered. "Tell me, is there something I can help you with?"
"I don't know. Could you get my golden apple? I dropped it into the water and I can't reach it. Can you help? I mean, if it ain't too much trouble," Princess Yolei said.
The frog thought about the girl's request for a few moments, then he spoke again after a few quiet seconds.
"Okay, I'll give you back your apple, if I get something in return," he said, nodding his head.
"What is it that you want?" Princess Yolei asked.
"Well, I know this might sound a bit silly, but if I get your golden apple...would you be my friend?" he asked.
"Your friend?" she asked, raising a confused eyebrow at the tiny creature.
"Yes. And would you invite me to dinner at the palace tonight? And after dinner, would you...oh, I don't know, maybe, let me sleep near you?" he asked.
"I don't...know..." the Princess stammered, unsure of what to do.
"Come on! Please? Please? Pretty please? Pretty, pretty, pretty please?"
Princess Yolei thought about the frog's terms. They sounded more than reasonable, if not a bit unusual, to say the least. And then she finally said while nodding her head, "Alright, squirt. You got yourself a deal."
"Really? Do you really, truly mean it?! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Princess Yolei!" the frog cheered, jumping for joy. "I promise I won't let you down!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gonna get my apple for me or what?"
"Oh, yeah! Right! Sorry."
And with that, the frog jumped off of his perch and into the water. Princess Yolei had waited for the frog to return and soon enough, her patience was quickly paid off. The frog had retrieved the golden apple from the other side of the stream and he gave it back to the truly grateful princess. But when it was given back to her, Princess Yolei was so happy to get her fruit back that she had completely forgotten her promise to the frog.
"Thanks! Bye!" Princess Yolei said before running off with her golden apple.
So Princess Yolei took the golden apple with a satisfied smirk on her face and she ran back to the castle, leaving the frog behind. At sunset, the frog decided to go to the castle to remind the princess of her promise from earlier that day. He knocked on the door and patiently waited for somebody to answer. Soon enough, the princess herself answered the door.
"Hello?" she called, looking for the one who knocked.
"Hi, Yolei," the frog said, waving his flipper in the air.
"You?! What are you doing here?" she asked, shocked.
"What am I doing here? Are you serious, Princess? Don't you remember the promise you made this morning?" he asked.
"What promise?"
"You know? Your promise to invite me to dinner tonight if I saved your golden apple? Remember? Come on, a promise is a promise."
"Oh yeah. That promise. Ugh! Fine! Come on in, frog. Make yourself at home. And try not to track mud in here. My parents would kill me if there was mud on the carpet."
The frog happily hopped his way into the castle with a smile on his face. The princess, however, felt otherwise. She wasn't thrilled about having a frog in her castle or as a dinner guest and she rolled her eyes and let out a silent groan as she closed the door behind her.
That evening, the frog and Princess Yolei had dinner together and to her surprise, it didn't turn out bad like the princess thought it would. Instead of it ending in disaster, she was actually having a good time. The frog joked and she laughed. He danced and she clapped. It was so much fun.
When it was time for bed, Princess Yolei led the frog up the stairs to her bedroom. As they entered, the frog hopped off of the princess's shoulder and onto the bed in the middle of the room.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Uh...I...I guess," Princess Yolei stammered.
That night, after everybody was sound asleep, the frog beside Princess Yolei, with her back facing him. But he didn't care. He was happy anyway. But sometime late into the night, Princess Yolei woke up to the sound of a hissing near her ear.
She sleepily opened her eyes, looked, and she saw that an enormous spider was standing right in front of her face. She was now wide awake and she sat up in terror as the arachnid inched its way closer to her.
"Agh!!! Spider!! Get away from me, you creepy crawly!!" she quietly screamed.
"Don't worry, Princess! I'll get rid of it!" the frog cried, standing up.
There was a fierce battle, but in the end, the frog won. He threw the spider out of the open window, shut, the window, and locked it. Princess Yolei applauded and cheered the frog's performance.
"Oh, thank you so much, frog," she whispered.
"No problem, Princess. I couldn't let you get hurt," the frog said, hopping back to the bed beside the young woman.
"There must be a way to thank you. How about a kiss?"
The frog's eyes lit up. "A kiss you say?"
"Yeah."
And to prove her point, Princess Yolei took the frog in her embrace and she gave him a big kiss full on the lips. And very much to her surprise, the frog had transformed into a handsome young man with straight and rather long dark blue hair reaching his chin in the front and slightly shorter in the back and blue eyes. Princess Yolei gasped and her eyes widened as she stood up.
"Oh thank you! Thank you, Princess Yolei! Thank you so much!" the young man cried.
"You're...welcome, but, what? Who...who are you?" the princess asked.
"My name is Prince Ken Ichijouji," the young man answered. "And thank you so much for releasing me from my horrible curse!"
"Your...curse?" she asked the prince.
"Yeah. A curse."
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"An evil witch cast a spell on me a few years ago, all because I was always lying and being deceitful to other people less fortunate than me. And she said I can only turn back into a prince if I was kissed by a true princess and you prove to be just that. So, what do you say, Princess Yolei? Will you be my wife?"
"Yes! Of course, I will!
And the two shared another passionate kiss and the very next day, Princess Yolei Inoue and Prince Ken Ichijouji were married. Princess Yolei had learned that a promise is a promise and to always keep any promises she made, and she and Prince Ken Ichijouji all lived happily ever after.
