E-STORY 3

THE FROG PRINCE

There was once a king who had a beautiful daughter. Her favourite toy was a golden ball and she
would play with it all the time.

One sunny day, she was playing in the forest and threw her golden ball high in the air. She ran
after it and then with a gasp, she saw it landed and disappeared with a plop! …into a deep pool.
The princess loved her golden ball so much that she started to cry. And then she heard a voice
say, “What’s the matter? Why are you crying, pretty girl?” The princess turned around, and saw a
large, green, slimy frog sitting on a rock next to her.

“I’ve lost my golden ball,” she cried. “It fell in the pool!”

“Don’t worry,” said the frog. “I will get it back if you promise me three simple things.”

“Of course, I will… whatever you want. My father is the king! Just tell me what you want and it’s
yours…but get my ball back!”

“I want you to keep me company and play with me everyday; I want you to let me eat off your
plate and I want you to let me sleep on your bed. If you promise those three things, I will swim
down and get your golden ball.”

The princess said, “Oh yes, please do! That’s easy, I promise! I promise!”

The frog quickly dived into the pool and came back with the golden ball. And then the ungrateful
princess took the ball and skipped very happily away.

“Hold on! Hold on!” said the frog. “Wait for me!”

But the princess didn’t listen. She’d already forgotten her promise.

That evening, at dinner, with the king and queen, the princess was eating from her golden plate
when she heard…squish! squish! squish! squish! and the green frog landed right by her hand.
“Why didn’t you wait for me, so you could keep your promise?” said the frog.

“Go away from me you ugly creature! You smell of mud!”

2007 English by Radio

Then the king spoke, ”Did you invite this frog to dinner?”

He said, “Yes! She promised I could eat off her plate and keep her company and be her friend,”
said the frog.

“Is that true?” said the king.

The princess says, “Yes, well maybe I did.”

“Then you must keep your promise,” said the king.

For the next three weeks, the princess and the frog constantly sat by her. She complained to the
king but he said that she must keep her promise. She tried to stop the frog sleeping on her bed
but the king insisted and made her pick up the slimy frog in her fingers before she said goodnight.
Gradually, the princess got used to the frog and liked to talk to it during the day. They would laugh
and laugh but she couldn’t get used to its big bulging frog eyes on her pillow at night.

One night, just before she went to sleep, the frog said, “Kiss me.”

“No!” said the princess. “I won’t! You smell of the pond and you’re far too ugly.”

And the frog began to cry. He cried and cried and frogs make quite a noise when they cry.

The princess’s heart began to soften and said, “If you are going to make all that noise, okay. I’ll
give you one tiny kiss, but that’s all.” So the princess closed her eyes and kissed the frog.

And there, beside her on the bed, was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

“Who are you?” she said.

“I am Prince Reinheart,” he said. “Many years ago, a wicked witch put a spell on me and turned
me into a frog. She said that I would always be a frog until I was kissed by a princess and you
have lifted the curse, beautiful lady. Will you marry me, for I love you.” And the princess said that
she would.

The prince asked the king for the hand of his beautiful daughter. And they were married the next
week. And of course, they lived happily ever after.

2007 English by Radio

Presenter: And that was a story from Germany. Now, here are a few questions you might to
try to answer about the story:

1. What animal did the princess see?

2. What did the king tell the princess?
3. What happened to the frog after the princess kissed him?

2007 English by Radio