In olden times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face.

Close by the king's castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well, and when the day was very warm, the king's child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain, and when she was bored she took a golden ball, and threw it up on high and caught it, and this ball was her favorite plaything.

Now it so happened that on one occasion the princess's golden ball did not fall back into her little hand. Instead it landed on to the ground beyond, and rolled straight into the water. The king's daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished. The well was deep, very deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen.

At this she began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted. As she lamented someone said to her:

"What is the matter with you, king's daughter? You weep so hard that even a stone would show pity."

She looked round to where the voice came. There was a frog stretching forth its big, ugly head from the water.

"Ugh, old water-splasher, it's only you," she replied. "I am weeping for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well."

"Be quiet, and do not weep," answered the frog. "I can help you, but what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?"

"Whatever you want you will have, dear frog," said she. "My clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing."

The frog answered, "I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, nor for your golden crown. If you will love me and let me be your companion and play-fellow, and sit by you at your little table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed - if you will promise me this I will go down below, and bring you up your golden ball."

"Oh, yes," said the princess, "I promise you all you wish, if you will only bring me back my ball."

Really, however, the princess was thinking:

"How the silly frog does talk! All he does is to sit in the water with the other frogs, and croak. He can be no companion to any human being – especially a princess."

The frog, however, believed her spoken promise. He put his head into the water and dived down. Soon he came swimming up with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass.

The king's daughter was delighted to see her pretty plaything once more, picked it up, and ran away with it.

"Wait, wait!" said the frog. "Take me with you! I can't run as fast as you!"

The princess didn't listen, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog who was forced to go back into his well again.

The next day when the princess had seated herself at table with the king and all the courtiers, and was eating from her little golden plate, something came creeping splish splash, splish splash, up the marble staircase, and when it had got to the top, it knocked at the door and cried:

"Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me."

She ran to see who was outside, but when she opened the door, there sat the frog.

Horrified, she slammed the door, and ran off in a great hurry to sit down to dinner again. For a moment she sat there, blinking, quite frightened.

The king saw plainly that her heart was beating violently, and said:

"My child, what are you so afraid of?" He smiled to show that this was a joke: "Is there perchance a giant outside who wants to carry you away?"

"Ah, no," she replied. "It is no giant but a disgusting frog."

"What does a frog want with you?"

"Ah, dear father, yesterday as I was in the forest sitting by the well, playing, my golden ball fell into the water. And because I cried so much, the frog brought it out again for me, and because he insisted, I promised him he should be my companion, but I never thought he would be able to come out of his water. And now he is outside there, and wants to come in to me."

In the meantime the frog knocked a second time, and cried, "Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me. Can you not remember what you said to me yesterday by the cool waters of the well? Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me!"

Then the king said, "When you make a promise, you must keep it. Go and let him in."

She went and opened the door, and the frog hopped in and followed her, step by step, to her chair. There he sat and cried, "Lift me up beside you."

She delayed, until the king commanded her to do it.

Once the frog was on the chair he wanted to be on the table, and when he was on the table he said:

"Now, push your golden plate nearer to me that we may eat together."

She did this, but it was easy to see that she did it most reluctantly.

The frog enjoyed what he ate, but almost every mouthful the princess took choked her.

At length the frog said, "I have eaten and am satisfied. Now I am tired. Carry me into your bedroom to your silken bed, and we will both lie down and go to sleep."

The princess began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold frog. She hated the thought of having to touch him, and now he was going to sully her clean, pretty bed.

The king grew angry and said, "He was good enough for you when he went to fetch your ball from the well. You liked him when you were in trouble. A friend like that should not be despised by you."

So she took hold of the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner of her room.

When she was in bed the frog crept up to her and said, "I am tired, I want to sleep as well as you. Lift me up or I will tell your father."

The princess was really, really, really angry.

She picked him up and threw him with all her might against the wall.

"Now, be quiet, you despicable frog."

The frog landed with a wet squelch on the wall and left a mark on the wallpaper when he peeled off it. But as he landed on the floor, he changed from a frog into a king's son with kind and beautiful eyes.

The princess was dumbfounded. "Where did the frog go?"

The prince pulled a wall-hanging over himself, because although he was now human he was still as naked as a frog. Blushing, he said:

"I was bewitched by the wicked witch of the well."

"How did you get into that fix?" asked the princess.

"She asked me for a kiss and because she was so ugly and warty I said no. The only thing that will stop me from changing back is if you'll say you'll marry me.'

The princess looked him up and down and thought he was quite handsome. "I don't normally take to people so quickly, but we have been through quite a lot already. You've eaten off my plate and sat at my table. And now you're in my bedroom. After this, I think I'd be ready to give marriage a chance."

The prince smiled and said, "I'm glad you said that, because I have a magical premonition that our wedding coach is already on the way."

Then they went to sleep, and next morning when the sun woke them, a carriage came driving up with eight white horses; each horse had white ostrich feathers on its head, and each was harnessed with golden chains.

Behind the coach stood the young king's servant, Faithful Haimirich.

Faithful Haimirich had been so unhappy when his master was changed into a frog, that he had caused three iron bands to be laid round his heart, lest it should burst with grief and sadness.

The carriage was there to conduct the young king into his kingdom.

The prince hugged the princess and said, "What did I tell you about my magical premonition?"

Faithful Haimirich helped them both in, and placed himself behind again, and was full of joy because of this deliverance.

The coach set off to take them back to the prince's kingdom. When they had driven a part of the way the prince heard a cracking behind him as if something had broken. He turned round and cried:

"Haimirich, the carriage is breaking."

"No, your majesty, it is not the carriage. It is a band from my heart, which was put there in my great pain when you were a frog and imprisoned in the well."

Twice more while they were on their way something cracked, and each time the prince thought the carriage was breaking, but it was only the bands which were springing from the heart of Faithful Haimirich because his master was set free and was happy.

Notes
1. Haimirich is the Old German original from which we get such names as Heinrich, Henry, Henri, Harry and their female cognates. It means 'home (or house) ruler'.
2. This story strikes me as being the end of a very long, quite elaborate 'back-story' – raising such questions as 'who was the wicked witch?' 'Who made Faithful Henry's iron bands?' as well as many more.


Based on The Frog King, or Iron Henry