Once upon a time there lived a frog named Albert. Albert was quite content as a frog.
He had his lily pad, his friends and a wonderful voice. Everybody knows that frogs
are great singers, but Albert's voice was something special. Whenever he sang the
whole pond would stop and listen to him sing. Albert sang about the moon shining on the
pond at night, about sleeping warm in the mud through the winter and about bathing
in the warm light of the sun. It was in fact, Albert`s voice that got him into trouble.
There was a castle up on a hill. overlooking the pond where Albert lived. In the castle
lived a King and his family. The royal. family was a contented family with the exception
of the youngest daughter whose name was Sue. Where princesses were supposed to be graceful and composed Sue was somewhat ungainly and terribly shy. Somehow she never
acted quite like a princess should. Her brothers and sisters taunted her unmercifully
and even the servants in the castle teased her.
One spring evening when the air was especially still she stood on the balcony of her
room listening to the sounds of the spring night. Since her room overlooked the pond,
she of course heard Albert singing.
"Even a frog has something special that makes
him sing so beautifully." She sighed' "I wish I knew what that frog is singing about
so wonderfully. She shook her head, "What nonsense I am thinking tonight to envy
a frog his voice." She turned to go into her room. Just as she was closing the doors
behind her she heard a beautiful bass voice singing of the joy of spring under the first star
of the night. Transfixed the princess stood and listened to the velvety voice.
"O dear me, you will catch your death of cold." Sue jumped and turned to her nurse.
"You startled me." She closed the doors and came into the room. she stretched and
gave a tremendous yawn. "I am so tired."
"Such a yawn for a princess." Her nurse clucked. "It isn't at all becoming." Sue blushed
and climbed into her bed. When the light was out and she was alone, Sue lay awake
and stared at the ceiling.
"Why do I need a nurse anyway. I've grown far beyond the age that I need a nurse."
Still grumbling she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning did not begin well. First, Sue was late for breakfast. her mother
glared as Sue hurriedly slid into her seat and sent the juice glasses to slopping
over onto the white tablecloth.
"Oh, I am sorry, I slept late." Sue gasped.
"My dear, you are a princess." Said the Queen. "You must be punctual. If you cannot
be on time, don't make excuses, and certainly don't rush about out of breath."
After breakfast the princesses gathered to work on their needle point. Sue stabbed
herself, and bled so badly that she ruined three months of painstaking work. Her
finger bandaged she was sent outside to amuse herself until lunch, with the order
to stay out of the mud, and her sisters' demure titters ringing in her ears.
"What use is it to be a princess if I can't be a happy princess?" She thought. Gradually
the warm sun began to cheer her up. Then she heard the wonderful voice from the night
singing. Following the voice until she reached the pond Sue saw a large green frog sitting on a stump. She squealed and jumped back. The frog jumped into the pond.
The ball which the princess dropped, rolled into the pond.
"How am I going to get my ball back without getting covered with mud?" Wailed the
princess. "0h why can't I do anything right?"
Albert looked carefully out from under the water. The girl sat on the grass crying
bitterly. He had often seen the princesses playing near his pond and had felt sorry
for the youngest princess. He liked her best because she was the only one who ever
seemed to appreciate his pond. On an impulse he dived down into the water and with a great
effort pushed the ball to the surface and rolled it to the princess. Sue looked at
him in astonishment.
"Thank you, 0, thank you." She grabbed the ball and laughed.
"They will never believe this in the castle." Albert was so pleased with himself that he
swelled up with song Sue's eyes bulged and she almost dropped her ball again.
"It
was you singing last night" She gasped in astonishment. "You must be a prince under
enchantment no frog could sing so beautifully." The princess looked around. "I will take
you home and break your enchantment. Then we can be friends." She quickly caught
Albert and ran home to hide him in her room.
Albert was devastated. This place was
cold and hard, and worst of all it was dry. There not a decent bit of water or mud to be found. He missed the sun and the well known murk of his pond. As the day turned
into evening his loneliness became so great that he began to sing. It was a terribly
mournful song, and as Sue came into her room and heard it, it caught at her heart.
"It must be terrible to be a prince, and have to live as a frog." She picked Albert
up and hugged him. Albert was so sad that he kept singing his unhappy song. "Frog"
Sue wept, "You are so unhappy. I wish I could make you a prince." And between her
tears, she kissed him.
"Who is that man?" Thundered the King from the doorway. Sue didn't
answer for she was staring at Albert in amazement. Albert had turned from a frog
into a man.
"Why are you in my daughter's bedroom?" The King roared at Albert, But
Albert didn't answer either he was looking at himself in amazement.
"Why frog you are a
prince." Sue squeaked.
"Hardly a prince if he appears like that in a princess's
bedroom." Bellowed the King, since of course Albert had no clothes.
The King and
Queen were up all night discussing what they were going to do. They finally decided that the
only way to avoid a scandal was for Albert and Sue to get married, immediately. So
they planned the wedding for the next week.
Albert found the change to palace life
very difficult. He wasn't sure how to eat with knife and fork. Clothes were strange and uncomfortable.
But most of all he missed being a frog and singing in his beloved pond all day. The
only thing that made it at all bearable was the princess. She taught him how to eat with
utensils and helped him choose the most comfortable clothes. She even stood up for
him when he chose his entire wardrobe in green. But each evening Albert would slip
out of the castle and go down to the pond. There he would sit in the light of the moon and
sing. They were sad songs, and Sue listening on her balcony would determine to try
even harder to make her prince happy.
One day while Albert and Sue sat in the sunny courtyard escaping from the wedding plans
for a brief time Sue's nurse came out to bustle Sue back into the castle.
"I'm about
to be married. I don't need a nurse." Sue yelled in rebellion. "Go away, and don't
bother me anymore." The old woman looked at Sue then slowly and silently left.
"Why
did you yell at her so?" Albert asked. "Surely she is only trying to help."
"She's
been my nurse longer than I can remember. But I don't need a nurse anymore, and I
don't like being fussed over."
"If you don t need a nurse, but maybe she needs you." Sue
looked at him quizzically.
"Why should she need me. I'd think that she would be
glad to do something else for a change."
"What?" Albert asked reasonably. "She has
always been Nurse."
"I don't know. That's her problem anyway." Sue grumped.
"You are her
princess. I think that makes it your problem." Albert pointed out. "You should give
her something else to do if
you want her to stop bothering you."
Sue looked at him for a moment.
"I hadn't thought of that." She jumped up. "I'm going to go and talk to her."
"What
are you going to ask her to do." Asked the frog prince.
"To be the nurse for our
children!" Laughed Sue, and she ran off to find nurse. Albert sighed and wandered
down to the pond. He thought wistfully of his old uncomplicated life as a frog.
Yet as the
days before the wedding shortened, Albert's common sense made itself felt. Even the
King found himself discussing difficult problems with his guest. The Queen went so
far as to admit one night while she and the King worked over the proclamation for the
wedding that Albert might make quite a suitable match.
"By the way dear, have you
found out exactly who Albert is?" She asked. "We really can' t have a proclamation
reading 'Today the Princess Susan Aurelia Constance Esther marries Albert.' We need to know
a little more about his background."
"Quite right, You should ask Sue in the morning."
The
next morning, the day before the wedding, Sue walked down the stairs to breakfast.
"Good morning." She smiled, and glided into her place.
"Good morning Sue." The Queen
nodded. "Your father found a minor detail that needs to be cleared up. We need to
know Albert's full name and a little more about him for the proclamation."
"I have
been so busy that I never thought to ask him." Sue said. " I will ask him today."
Out in the courtyard, which had become their favourite place, Sue found Albert. He
was staring moodily through the gate down toward his old pond .
"Albert, my mother asked me what your other names are."
"Other names?" Said Albert. "I only have one name."
"But Princes always have lots
of names. Like me, I have four."
"I like Sue best." Albert said with a smile.
"But
you are a Prince, you must have other names."
"No." Albert sighed "I have no other
names. I am not a Prince." Susan stared at him, then laughed.
"You must be a Prince.
Why would anyone enchant somebody who wasn't a Prince?"
"You did Sue." Albert said
looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite fathom.
"Oh Albert." Sue blushed.
"But you did Sue. You turned me into a Prince."
"And if I turned you into a Prince,
what were you before?" She demanded.
"A frog. I'm a frog Sue. I was never a prince until I met you."
"You are not an enchanted
Prince?" The princess cried. "You let me think you were a Prince all this time, and
all the time you were just a frog? What am I going to tell my father? That I'm marrying a frog?" Sue was standing now, screeching at him. Albert flinching with each
question.
"You creature. You abominable creature. I hate you." The
princess turned and fled from the courtyard.
Albert sat for along while, then slowly
he stood and walked down to the pond, a sad, shrinking figure in green.
The Princess
locked herself in her bedroom. She refused to talk to anyone. Other than to tell
her father through the door that the wedding was off; that everything had been a terrible
mistake. She closed the window then wept on her bed for three days.
Finally, she
got up and washed her face. Squaring her shoulders, she unlocked the door and went
down to breakfast. Her family greeted her with a wary silence. The Queen gave her an approving
nod.
Things returned almost to normal. Yet as the weeks passed Sue floated quietly
through life her face cold and pale and rapidly lost weight. One morning she no
longer had the strength to get up. The King and Queen worried about her. They
begged their daughter to tell them what was making her so unhappy. But Sue simply
stared out the window and said nothing. The old nurse came to the princess's room
to be by her side. She bustled about cleaning and tidying, opening the window to let the fresh
summer air in. The day passed and as the evening came Sue heard a voice singing outside
her window. It sang of the summer night, and the sorrow of a love lost. It sang of
the moon shining on the pond and of a beautiful princess named Sue. It sang of enchantment
and a broken heart.
"Albert." whispered the princess. She stood and staggered to
the window. "Albert." His deep, sad voice soared through the night,
telling of the
joy and sorrow of his love.
Sue sat on the balcony and listened to the song through
the night. In the grey of the early morning she slipped out of the castle. Walking
slowly but with iron determination she made her way down to the pond.
"Albert." She called into the silver mists. "Albert, I'm sorry. I love you." The effort
of walking overcame the weakened princess and she fainted beside the pond. There
Albert, once again a frog, found her.
"My poor Sue." Albert said as he kissed her. "I wish I could make you happy."
The rising sun shone gold on two happy frogs as, hand in hand, they hopped into
the pond.
