Stranica 59 [59]
THE FROG PRINCE. 35
Then the Kings daughter began to weep, and was afraid
of the cold frog, that nothing would satisfy him but he must
sleep in her pretty clean bed. Now the King grew angry with
her, saying,
"That which thou hast promised in thy time of necessity,
must thou now perform."
So she picked up the frog with her finger and thumb,
carried him upstairs and put him in a corner, and when she
had lain down to sleep, he came creeping up, saying, "I am
tired and want sleep as much as you; take me up, or I will tell
your father.”
Then she felt beside herself with rage, and picking him up,
she threw him with all her strength against the wall, crying,
‘“‘ Now will you be quiet, you horrid frog !”
But as he fell, he ceased to be a frog, and became all at
once a prince with beautiful kind eyes. And it came to pass
that, with her father’s consent, they became bride and _ bride¬
groom. And he told her how a wicked witch had bound him
by her spells, and how no one but she alone could have
released him, and that they two would go together to his
father’s kingdom. And there came to the door a carriage
drawn by eight white horses, with white plumes on their heads,
and with golden harness, and behind the carriage was standing
faithful Henry, the servant of the young prince. Now, faithful
Henry had suffered such care and pain when his master was
turned into a frog, that he had been obliged to wear three
iron bands over his heart, to keep it from breaking with
trouble and anxiety. When the carriage started to take the
prince to his kingdom, and faithful Henry had helped them
both in, he got up behind, and was full of joy at his master’s
deliverance. And when they had gone a part of the way, the
prince heard a sound at the back of the carriage, as if some¬
thing had broken, and he turned round and cried,
“Henry, the wheel must be breaking!” but Henry
answered,
** The wheel does not break,
"Tis the band round my heart
That, to lessen its ache,
When I grieved for your sake,
J bound round my heart.”