A Princess Learns that a Promise is a Promise in this Classic Grimms’ Fairytale
When a princess makes a promise to a frog after he retrieves her beloved golden ball from a deep well, she later regrets her promise, but her father, the king, insists that she must keep her word. A fun fairytale that teaches little ones the importance keeping your promises. (duration-12 minutes) An episode from Journey with Story
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The Frog Prince: E141
Transcript
The Frog Prince: E141
Have you ever made a promise to someone and then very soon regretted making such a promise, and then maybe you even tried to wriggle your way out of this promise?
Hello everyone. Welcome to Journey with Story. Today’s episode is an old fairytale about a princess who does just that – she makes a promise to an ugly frog that she later regrets, but turns out it is not so easy to break this promise as she thought.
Thanks so much to all our loyal listeners all around the world who have been rating and reviewing our podcast.
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Let’s take a journey with The Frog Prince
Long ago, one warm summer’s day, a young princess put on her bonnet and shoes and went for a walk by herself in the forest nearby. Soon she came to an old lime tree and under that tree was a deep well and next to the tree was a cool fountain.
And so the princess sat down to rest by the fountain, and to pass the time, she took out a golden ball from her pocket Again and again, she tossed it up, up into the air, catching it deftly each time it fell. But after a while, she threw it up so high that she was not able to catch it when it fell. The ball bounced away and rolled upon the ground and right into the well.
The princess ran over and peered into the well, but the ball had vanished, and the well was deep – so deep that she could note vern see the bottom of it. At once she began to wail and weep.
Then she heard a voice saying, “What troubles you, dear princess? You are you weeping so pitifully?”
She looked around to the side from where the voice came, and saw a frog stretching forth its thick, ugly head from the water. “Ah! old water-splasher, is it you?” she said. “I am weeping for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well.”
“Be quiet, and do not weep,” answered the frog, “I can help you, but what will you give me if I bring you your plaything?”
“Whatever you will have, dear frog,” she said. “My clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing.”
The frog answered, “I do not care for clothes or pearls or jewels, or even your golden crown, but if you will love me and let me be your companion and play fellow, and sit by you at your table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed. If you will promise me this I will go down below, and bring you your golden ball.”
“Oh yes,” agreed the princess. “I promise all you wish, if you will only bring me my ball back again.”
However, to herself, the princess thought, “How the silly frog does talk! He lives in the water with the other frogs, and croaks, and can be no companion to any human being!”
But on hearing her promise, the frog put his head into the water and sank down, and in a short while came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass.
Delighted to see her pretty plaything once more, the princess picked it up, and ran away with it.
“Wait, wait,” said the frog. “Take me with you. I can’t run as fast as you.”
But the princess paid him no heed and the poor frog had to climb back into his well again.
The next day when the princess was eating dinner with her father, the king, she heard something come creeping splish splash, splish splash, up the marble staircase, and when it got to the top, it knocked at the door and cried,
“Princess, dear princess, open the door for me.”
At once, she ran to see who was outside, but when she opened the door, there sat the frog in front of it.
It gave her such a fright that she at once slammed the door in his face, and went back to the dinner table. Seeing how afraid she was, her father, the king, asked her, “Whatever is the matter, my child? Who was at the door?”
“A nasty, disgusting frog,” she replied.
“What does a frog want with you?” asked the king.
“Ah, dear father, yesterday as I was in the forest sitting by the well, playing, my golden ball fell into the water. And because I cried so, the frog brought it out again for me, and because he so insisted, I promised him he should be my companion, but I never thought he would be able to come out of his water! And now he is outside there, and wants to come in to me.”
Now as she was speaking the frog knocked a second time, crying,
“Princess! Open the door for me! Do you not remember what you said to me yesterday by the fountain? Open the door for me.”
Then said the king, “That which you have promised, you must do. Go and let him in.”
So the princess did as her father commanded. She went and opened the door, and the frog hopped in and followed her, step by step, to her chair. There he sat and cried, “Lift me up beside you.”
At first the princess refused, but at last the king again commanded she do what she had promised.
But no sooner was the frog was on the chair, than he demanded to be on the table. “Now, push your little golden plate nearer to me that we may eat together,” he said.
Reluctantly, the princess did this. She watched with disgust as the frog enjoyed ever-single morsel of his food.
When he had eaten his fill, the frog said, “I have eaten and am satisfied; now I am tired, carry me into your little room and make your little silken bed ready, and we will both lie down and go to sleep.”
The princess began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold frog and his slimy skin and could not bear the thought of him sleeping in her clean, little bed.
But the king grew angry and said, “He helped you when you were in trouble. You should not dare now to despise him.”
So the princess took hold of the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner. When she was in bed he crept to her and said, “I am tired, I want to sleep as well as you. Lift me up or I will tell your father.”
The princess squirmed as she bent down low, picked up the frog and laid him on the pillow in her bed, where she slept all night long.
As soon as it was light the frog jumped up, hopped downstairs, and right out of the house. ‘Now, then,’ thought the princess, ‘at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.’
But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said:
‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to your true love here! And mind the words that you and I said by the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’
And when the princess opened the door, in came the frog, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke.
And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing upon her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and standing at the head of her bed.
Then the prince told her his story –that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and told him he must stay as a frog until some princess should rescue him from the water and allow him to eat from her plate and sleep upon her bed for three nights.
‘Now you have broken this cruel spell,” said the prince, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father’s kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.’
And of course, the young princess agreed at once, and as they spoke a golden coach pulled up the drive with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a sparkling harness, and behind the coach, rode the prince’s servant, faithful Henry, who had long waited for this day to see his master freed from this dreadful spell.
And so they set off for the prince’s kingdom where they were marred amidst much rejoicing and there they lived in great peace and contentment for all the years of their lives.
What do you think the story’s souvenir is? Yes, I bet most of you said something like – if we make a promise then we better be prepared to keep that promise no matter what. And who knows, maybe like our princess, if we always stay true to our word, we might even be surprised by unexpected good fortune.
Why do you think the king made his daughter keep her promise to a frog?
What do you think would have happened had the princess NOT kept her promise to the frog?
Hmm, that might make for a very interesting story – might be fun for you to try writing that.
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Cheerio then, join me next time for Journey with Story.
