THE
FROG
PRINCE

THE FROG PRINCE

N the olden times there lived a king
whose daughters were all beautiful:
but the youngest was the most
beautiful of all.

Near the king’s castle was a large

and gloomy forest, and in the midst

stood an old lime-tree, below which

was a well, the water of which was clear as
crystal. People thought much of this well; they
said that the water came up from the heart of the
earth, and was good for all kinds of sicknesses,
and they used on May Day to put a wreath of
flowers round it.
The king’s daughter often went to this well, and
one day as she was there—it was May Day, and
all the well was set about with flowers—as she
leaned to smell the flowers, and look down into
the water, a gold ball with which she was playing
fell out of her hand and tumbled into the well.

Then she was very unhappy, and sat beside the

well crying.

Then, all at once, she heard a voice from the

water that called out: ‘Why do you weep, king’s

daughter ?’

She looked about her, and saw a frog popping its

ugly head out of the water.

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