The Story
In the days when wishes still came true, there lived a king with many beautiful daughters, but the youngest was so lovely that even the sun, which had seen so much, paused to look at her when it shone upon her face. Near the king's castle lay a deep, dark wood, and in the wood, under an old linden tree, there was a well. When the days were very hot, the young princess would go into the wood and sit by the well, and to amuse herself she would take her golden ball — her most treasured possession, given to her by her mother — and toss it up into the air and catch it again.
One day the ball rose very high and when she reached out to catch it, it slipped from her fingers and fell — plop! — straight into the water. The princess watched it sink and disappear into the darkness of the well, which was so deep she could not see the bottom. She began to cry, and the longer she cried, the louder she grew, until her weeping could be heard all through the forest.
"What is the matter, princess? You weep so loudly the stones themselves would pity you."
She looked around but saw no one. Then she looked down, and there at the edge of the well sat a frog — a fat, ugly, cold, wet frog — with round bulging eyes fixed on her face.
"Oh, it's you, old water-splasher," she said, sniffling. "My golden ball has fallen into the well, and I am crying because I have lost it."
"Never fear," said the frog. "I can help you. But what will you give me in return?"
"Whatever you wish," said the princess eagerly. "My dresses, my pearls, my jewels — even my golden crown."
The frog shook his green head slowly. "Your dresses and jewels and golden crowns are not what I want. What I want is something different altogether. I want you to love me, and let me be your companion and playmate. I want to sit beside you at your table, eat from your little golden plate, drink from your cup, and sleep in your little bed. Promise me these things, and I will dive down and bring your golden ball back to you."
"Oh yes, yes, I promise everything you wish," said the princess quickly, "if only you will bring back my golden ball." She thought to herself: what nonsense this silly frog is talking. He lives in the water and croaks with the other frogs — he could never be a companion to a human being.
The frog dove down into the dark water. After a moment he reappeared with the golden ball in his mouth and tossed it onto the bank. The princess snatched it up, overjoyed, and ran toward the castle without looking back.
"Wait! Take me with you!" called the frog. "I cannot run as fast as you! Wait!"
But the princess did not wait. She ran all the way home, ate her supper, and went to bed, not thinking of the frog again.
The next morning, just as the royal family had sat down to breakfast, there came a strange sound — something creeping and splashing on the marble stairs — and then a knock at the door, and a thin, piping voice singing:
"Princess, princess, open the door! Have you forgotten the promise you swore? Open the door for your companion true, Who fetched your ball from the well for you."
The princess went pale and ran to open the door. There sat the frog. She slammed the door shut and returned to the table, trembling. The king, noticing her agitation, asked what had frightened her. Was there a giant outside? A troll?
She told him the whole story — the well, the ball, the frog, and the promise. The king listened gravely and said: "A promise is a promise. Go and let him in."
With great reluctance the princess opened the door and the frog hopped in after her, following her back to her seat at the table and calling out: "Lift me up beside you." She did not want to, but her father looked at her with stern eyes, and so she lifted the frog onto her chair and then onto the table.
"Now push your little golden plate closer," said the frog, "so that we may eat together." She did so, though it disgusted her. The frog ate with evident pleasure, but the princess could not swallow a single bite.
"I am tired," said the frog at last. "Carry me to your room and make ready your silken bed, for we are to sleep together."
The princess began to cry — she did not want the cold, clammy frog in her beautiful silken bed. The king's face grew stern. "Do not despise someone who helped you when you were in need," he said quietly.
She picked up the frog between two fingers, carried him upstairs, and set him in the corner. But the frog said: "I am tired, and I will sleep in your bed as you promised. Put me in the bed or I shall tell your father."
At this the princess lost her patience entirely. She seized the frog and flung him with all her strength against the wall, crying: "Now be quiet, you horrible frog!"
But when the frog fell to the floor, he was not a frog at all. He was a handsome prince with kind, dark eyes, and he looked at her with a smile. He told her that a wicked witch had enchanted him and condemned him to live as a frog until a princess had allowed him to eat from her plate and sleep in her room. By her promise — however reluctantly kept — she had broken the spell.
The king gave his blessing, and the young prince and the princess were married with great celebration. In the morning a grand carriage appeared at the castle gates, drawn by eight white horses with white ostrich feathers on their heads, driven by the prince's most faithful servant, who had worn three iron bands around his heart to keep it from breaking with grief while his master was under the witch's spell. As the carriage rode away into the bright morning, the princess heard, one by one, three sharp cracks — the iron bands around the faithful servant's heart breaking apart with joy.
And from that day on, the princess learned that promises matter most when they are hardest to keep.