The Frog-Prince

One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs and went alone into a wood. At a cool spring she sat to rest, tossing her favourite golden ball into the air and catching it. After a while she failed to catch it; the ball rolled along the ground and fell into the water.

The well was deep; the water was so deep that she could not see the bottom, and there was no way to reach the ball. She began to cry. As she wept, a frog put its head out of the water and asked why she cried so hard. She said her golden ball had fallen in. “Never mind,” said the frog; “I can help—but what will you give me if I bring it up?” “Whatever you like, dear frog,” she said—her clothes, her pearls and jewels, even the golden crown she wore. The frog answered that he did not care for clothes, jewels, or a crown, but if she would love him, let him be her companion, sit by her at table, eat from her plate, drink from her cup, and sleep in her little bed, he would fetch the ball. “Oh yes,” she said; “promise whatever you like, if you will only get my ball.” She thought, “What nonsense this frog talks! He can only sit in the water and croak.”

The frog dived, came up with the ball in its mouth, and threw it onto the grass. The princess was overjoyed, picked it up, and ran off toward home. “Wait, wait,” cried the frog; “take me with you as you promised!” But she paid no heed and was soon out of sight, leaving the frog calling after her.

The next day, as she sat at dinner with the king and court, something came flopping up the marble stairs—splash, splash. Then came a knock at the door and a voice: “Princess, open the door for me.” She ran to see who it was; there sat the frog. She slammed the door in fright and went back to her place. The king saw her fear and asked what worried her. She told him about the golden ball and the promise she had made. “Then you must keep your promise,” said the king. “Go and let him in.”

She opened the door; the frog hopped in and asked to be lifted to her chair. She hesitated until the king commanded. Then the frog said, “Put your plate nearer so I may eat with you.” She did so, though unwillingly. When he had eaten his fill he said he was tired and asked to be carried to her room and laid in her little bed. She began to cry; she was afraid of the cold frog and would not touch him. The king grew angry and said that one who helps in need should not be despised afterward. So she picked the frog up with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and set him in a corner. When she lay down, he crawled over and asked to sleep on the bed or he would tell her father. This made her angry; she seized him and threw him with all her might against the wall: “Now you will be quiet, you ugly frog!”

But when he fell he was no longer a frog, but a prince with kind and beautiful eyes. He told her he had been enchanted by a wicked witch, and that only she could free him from the well. Tomorrow they would go together to his kingdom. They fell asleep friends. In the morning a coach with eight white horses drove up, with white ostrich feathers on their heads and golden harness; behind stood the prince’s servant, faithful Heinrich, who had been so sad during his master’s enchantment that three iron bands had been placed round his heart to keep it from breaking.

They took leave of the king and rode away full of joy. On the way they heard a crack, as if something had broken. The prince thought the coach was breaking, but it was only Heinrich: one iron band had snapped because his master was free and happy. Twice more they heard the same sound; twice more a band broke. Faithful Heinrich had helped bring them safely to the prince’s kingdom, where they lived happily for many years.

Where this story comes from

“The Frog-Prince” comes from Germany, not India. It is the very first tale in the Brothers Grimm’s collection, numbered 1 in Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation as “The Frog-King, or Iron Henry”. This adaptation uses the woodland opening associated with the Taylor and Edwardes text and the wall-throwing transformation and iron bands found in Margaret Hunt’s translation. Those are different versions: the Taylor and Edwardes frog changes after three nights.

Compare Margaret Hunt’s Household Tales, story 1 for the wall scene and Iron Henry’s three cracking bands.

Faithful Heinrich, whose heart was bound with three iron bands, is kept. The change follows an act of violence in this version; it does not show that hurting an animal is helpful.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales, tr. Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes (Project Gutenberg #2591, The Frog-Prince)

Reading guidance: older children with adult discussion. Includes pressure to share a bed, an angry parent’s commands, and throwing an animal against a wall. Discuss honest promises alongside personal boundaries and nonviolent ways to resolve a conflict.

Reading the story closely

Three kinds of obligation sit uneasily together: the princess’s deliberately false promise, the frog’s demand for closeness, and Heinrich’s freely given loyalty. The king treats the first promise as settling everything, but the bedroom scene shows why a general rule about keeping promises cannot answer every question about consent and safety.

Compare the two breaking events: the spell ending after the impact against the wall and the iron bands snapping on the journey. One is an attack; the other expresses relief. Give each character a possible nonviolent sentence at the bedroom door, then discuss what problem that sentence addresses.

Talk about it

• What three things did the princess promise the frog?
• Why do you think the king made his daughter keep her promise, even to a frog?
• Have you ever promised something and then wished you hadn’t? What did you do?

Related stories

• The Twelve Dancing Princesses — another Grimm princess whose secret is found out by a patient stranger
• The Golden Bird — a Grimm prince helped by an enchanted fox who is really a man
• Briar Rose — a Grimm princess under a spell that lasts until the right prince arrives