(I know, I just posted recently about frogs already; I assure you, the proximity of these posts is purely coincidental.)

“Mom, I see a frog up there!” my daughter cried with delight from the backseat. We were driving on the highway, and passed a big billboard advertising a law firm that specializes in divorce. The ad’s huge focal point was a realistic image of a frog wearing a golden crown. I perceived this to be a clever approach to advertising divorce lawyers, but to a four-year-old, it’s just a cool picture.

“Yes,” I told her. “It’s the Frog Prince, based on the fairy tale.”

“You mean like the movie Princess and the Frog?”

“Sort of. But the original story is rather different.”

“Will you tell me the story? Pleeeease?”

Here, dear readers, is the tale of the Frog Prince which I shared with my daughter…

There was once a beautiful Princess who had many toys she loved to play with, but her absolute favorite was a perfect golden ball. It was bright and shiny and the perfect size to fit in her hand. She took this precious golden ball with her wherever she went, all around the castle and grounds and on her daily walks through the beautiful garden. She would wander along the stone pathways and among the flowers, tossing her ball back and forth between her hands, tossing it up in the air and catching it. The sunshine would make the golden ball glitter and sparkle so brightly!

One day, she was walking past the lily pond while playing with her ball, and she accidentally tossed it too high. She couldn’t catch it! The ball dropped – plop! – right into the murky water, which was deep enough that she couldn’t see the bottom. Her ball was gone! The Princess was so dismayed, she plopped down herself on the stone ledge and cried. She cried so much, she didn’t hear the splash of water next to her, but even the loudest sobs wouldn’t drown out the very human voice that spoke next, not when she’d most certainly been out here alone.

The Princess looked around but didn’t see anyone; there was only a large frog sitting next to her. She thought she had just been hearing things, until she watched the frog’s mouth move as it repeated itself. She was so astonished, she almost fell into the pond after her ball!

“What makes you so sad, Princess?” asked the frog. Her grief over the loss of her magnificent ball overcame even her shock at coming across a talking frog.

“I’ve lost my ball, my most favorite precious beautiful golden ball! It has fallen down into the lily pond and I shall never get it back!” she wailed.

“Hmm,” said the frog. “I can go down to the bottom of the pond and fetch it for you,” it offered. “If…”

“If, what? Name your price,” the Princess said harshly; she was used to being demanded of.

“If you kiss me. You see, I was once a handsome Prince, but a witch cursed me. She turned me into a frog, and I will only become human again if I find a true human connection!”

“Kiss you? Kiss you?! I cannot kiss you! You are a frog!” she declared in disgust.

“Suit yourself,” the frog replied sadly. “But you’ll never see your precious golden ball again otherwise.”

The Princess frowned deeply at this. She finally told the frog she would go back to the castle and think about it overnight, and would return in the morning with her answer. The frog agreed, and she went back up the path to the castle and straight to her bedchambers, where she lay awake tossing and turning, missing her golden ball and thinking about the frog’s offer. When she returned to the lily pond in the morning, she saw the frog sitting on the stone ledge waiting for her.

“I wish to have my golden ball returned to me,” she declared regally, “but I do not want to kiss you. Can I offer you a handshake instead?”

And the frog agreed, because respecting boundaries is important and one shouldn’t force one’s physical affections on others when they do not consent to it.

The frog offered her a clammy wet front foot, and she took it in her hand and gently shook it. All of a sudden, poof! In a big puff of green smoke, the frog changed form, into a handsome Prince! He had broken the witch’s curse in finding true human connection with the Princess. True to his word, he reached down to the bottom of the lily pond (which was much less deep than it appeared), and found the golden ball nestled in some waterweeds. He shined it up on his vest and presented it to the Princess with his thanks.

The Princess was delighted. She had her golden ball back, and she’d made a new friend who respected her as a person. What a novelty!

The End (or, a nice new beginning!).