The Frog Prince
World Fairy Tales · 1 min read
A young princess, playing with her favorite golden ball beside a deep well, accidentally dropped it into the water and wept bitterly at the loss. A frog emerged from the well and offered to retrieve it — in exchange for becoming her companion, eating from her plate and sleeping in her bed. The princess agreed eagerly, certain a frog could never truly follow through, and took her recovered ball and ran straight home without a backward glance.
That evening, to her horror, the frog arrived at the palace gates, reminding her loudly of her promise before her father the king, who insisted she honor her word exactly as given, however distasteful she found it. Reluctantly, she let the frog eat from her plate and, at bedtime, carried him — with obvious disgust — up to her room.
Furious at being forced to keep such an unpleasant bargain, she finally threw the frog against the wall in frustration — and in that instant, he transformed into a handsome prince, explaining he had been cursed by a wicked witch and could only be freed by a princess's genuine, if reluctant, kept promise. The two were married soon after, and the princess learned that a promise given carelessly must still be honored in full.
Moral of the story
A promise, once given, deserves to be kept in full — even when you never expected it to be collected.