nce upon a time, there was a prince named . By repeatedly ignoring the obnoxious requests and unwanted advice given to him by the wicked witch , the witch decided to get revenge by casting a spell on that turned him into a frog until a girl's kiss broke the spell. The poor prince, in the new toady guise, could not convince the good witches of the kingdom that he was indeed the missing royal heir, and so he could not get anyone to defer the curse. He moved from lake to lake in the land, looking for a the girl who would change his form.
One day, a peasant girl named was playing by the pond with her when she accidentally dropped it into the deep water. frantically tried to think of a way to retrieve it, for her had sunk to the bottom of the pond. Just as she was about to break down sobbing, the lonely frog prince, who had been brooding and sunning himself on a lily pad, heard her and swam over to her. "I'll get it for you if you'll do me a favor," he said.
"Oh, anything," cried , "just please bring my back to me. Anything."
So the frog dove down into the pond and after several failed attempts, brought the back to the surface. "Now for my favor," he said.
took it from him and wiped a tear from her eye. "Thank you so much! I'll give you anything. I'm eternally grateful."
"I want you to take me home and let me be your friend," answered carefully.
was aghast. That was the last thing she expected to be asked for. "Um, I have to go home to dinner! Bye!" she lied, and hurriedly ran home, holding tightly to her .
Prince sighed. "You'd think I just asked her to eat bat eyes or something," he muttered. Hopping down from the ledge, he made his way in the direction that the girl had fled. Eventually, he reached her cottage, but had shut herself into her room.
hid himself behind a nearby dingy, floor-trailing, window curtain and waited for to emerge. After awhile, he heard a lilting woman's voice call for dinner from another room. The bedroom door slowly creaked open, and walked by and dissapeared into the kitchen. The prince, seeing his chance, hopped into the room and planted himself on the nightstand in plain view. dozed off while listening to the clatter of plates and the incomprehesible murmur of the supper conversation. He awoke with a start to find 's face five inches away from his, her arms crossed, and wearing her nightgown.
"What are you doing here?!" she hissed.
"Look, a promise is a promise," the frog said calmly. "I'm not asking a lot."
sighed. "Okay. I'll be your friend."
"Where can I sleep?"
"Not in my room."
"But I want to sleep in your room," the frog said.
, tired, finally gave up and placed him on a tiny pillow on the corner of her bed and lied down to go to sleep. , ecstatic to have a friend at last whom he might be able to convince to break the spell, began to talk incessantly about all the things they could do together. Finally, had enough. "Shut up! Just shut up!" she screamed, picking the frog up and throwing him against the wall as hard as she could. The poor frog prince fell to the ground, and lay on the floor motionless. Horrified at what she'd done, she rushed over and picked him up. "Oh my, are you all right?!" she cried, giving the nearly dead frog a kiss.
's kiss broke the spell and the frog turned back into the prince . After she had gotten over her astonishment and Prince told her about the curse, began to cry and apologise profusely. Prince took her hand and assured her it was all right, then bent over and gave a kiss. For being a frog the past few years, *%#@*!! was a good kisser, so they kept it up for a little while...go figure. They eventually got married as all fairy tales go...
AND OF COURSE THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!! THIS IS A FAIRY TALE!!! But...whatever is "happily ever after" to you...any of your wildest fantasies...you decide, it's your story.
all fairy tales by me, Ginger
Like 'em? Hate 'em? Request? fireinsidetheman@hotmail.com
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