The Frog Prince

A king had a youngest daughter — a cheerful princess who loved nothing more than playing by an old pond with her golden ball. One day the ball slipped from her hands and sank straight to the bottom of the water.

The princess began to cry, and just then a frog popped up from the pond. "Don't cry," it said, "I'll fetch your ball back — but promise me we'll be friends, that I may sit beside you at the table and sleep on your pillow." The princess, wanting only her ball back, promised anything at all, and ran home the moment she had it in her hands.

That evening, there came a knock at the palace door — it was the frog, come to collect on the promise. The princess didn't want to let it in at all, but the king said firmly, "A promise must be kept, even the inconvenient ones." So the princess sat the frog beside her at the table.

At first she felt awkward, even a little squeamish. But the frog turned out to be kind and good company, and little by little the princess stopped being afraid, and even began to smile back.

From that day on, the princess remembered: a promise is a promise — and a true friend isn't always the one you expect. Goodnight.