{"id":381,"date":"2017-11-17T21:18:36","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T21:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=381"},"modified":"2017-11-17T21:18:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T21:18:36","slug":"story-of-the-month-the-kindred-frog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"Story of the Month: The Kindred Frog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On another day that is not this day but could have been, in a cedar woodland beside a castle, a princess was walking.\u00a0 She breathed deeply and was glad to be alone.\u00a0 It was so tiresome being always among her elders — her parents, her teachers, the servants, the men who came to petition her father for this and that.\u00a0 The stable boy was the only person her age for miles, and she only saw him on riding days, when he helped her up onto and down from her saddle and shyly passed the time of day with reports on the health of her horse.\u00a0 Not that she wanted more from him.\u00a0 But it was pleasant to look upon one face free of wrinkles besides her own in the mirror.<\/p>\n

The princess was especially glad to be out in the woods today because for the previous three days, she\u2019d been cooped up in her room watching the rain.\u00a0 The old people had an inordinate fear of dampness.\u00a0 They did not want her feet to get wet or her shoulders to feel chilled or her nose to redden, lest one of these lead to illness, and then from illness to death.\u00a0 The princess knew such things did happen, but she couldn\u2019t imagine them happening to her, certainly not from a walk in the rain.\u00a0 But they all told her to stay in, and she had to obey.\u00a0 Her father, the king, was especially strict on the topic.<\/p>\n

As she walked, she threw a ball into the air and caught it, over and over, each toss a little higher than the one before.\u00a0 The ball was about the size of her fist and had a skin of gold as bright as the sun.\u00a0 It was her favorite possession.\u00a0 Her mother scolded that she was too old to be playing with a ball, that her time was better spent learning embroidery and piano-playing and poetry-writing and other accomplishments that would help her keep a husband.\u00a0 Her position alone would get her a husband, but, her mother said, if she couldn\u2019t entertain and even, at times, enlighten him, she would find herself abandoned, in one way or another.\u00a0 The princess practiced all the things her mother wanted her to practice, but she would not give up her ball.\u00a0 She did reserve it, however, for private moments outdoors because she didn\u2019t want her mother to worry.\u00a0 She supposed that when her time came to wed, which everyone said would be soon, she would be able to put aside her plaything without regret, or, failing that, that she\u2019d have the good fortune to land as husband a man who would not mind a wife still amused by a golden ball.<\/p>\n

At length, the princess reached a pond where she often stopped to watch water striders and dragonflies.\u00a0 It was especially nice on its banks in summer because the atmosphere there was cool and green.\u00a0 The princess tossed her ball again, very high this time, and as it came down, it made a wide arc away from her and fell with a loud splash into the middle of the pond.\u00a0 She would have flung herself into the water after it except that she couldn\u2019t swim, and the ball had sunk in the deepest part of the pond.\u00a0 No one in the castle could swim, not even the king.\u00a0 So not even he could have helped her, if he\u2019d been there, which he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Now her hands were as empty as the hands of all the girls in her father\u2019s kingdom who did not own golden balls, but she wasn\u2019t thinking about them.\u00a0 She was thinking only of herself and her great loss, for it seemed that the emptiness of her hands was invading her heart and causing her to feel empty there, too.\u00a0 She slumped to the ground and began to cry.<\/p>\n

Presently, despite her sobs, she heard a commotion in the water, and she looked up to see a large frog pulling himself up out of the pond to sit on the bank beside her.\u00a0 His knobby skin, the color of overcooked peas, gleamed in the sunlight as if it were oiled, and he emitted a dank smell like rotting leaves and dead birds.\u00a0 The princess drew back from him, lest the hem of her dress touch him and be soiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, my lady?\u201d The frog\u2019s voice was raspy and deep, not unlike her father\u2019s voice, but with a sickening gurgle between his words.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lost my ball in the pond.\u00a0 Have you seen it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI did see it.\u00a0 Shall I get it for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The princess stood up excitedly.\u00a0 \u201cOh, would you?\u00a0 You\u2019ll be rewarded.\u00a0 I have jewels and coins and… What do you like to eat?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure our cook could find you some delicacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want none of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I must pay you something.\u201d\u00a0 The king had taught the princess that it was better to render money or gifts for services than to be in debt in less comfortable ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder, my lady, if you can fill my need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain.\u00a0 But it would be enough to dine from your plate and drink from your cup and sleep in your bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The princess almost laughed at this preposterous notion.\u00a0 But she saw that the frog was serious, and she knew he was her only hope of retrieving the ball.\u00a0 Her mother would be just as glad to see it remain in the muck at the bottom of the pond, but the princess was not ready yet to let go of this last trace of childhood.\u00a0 Even when she\u2019d thought of setting it aside when she married, she\u2019d expected to keep it tucked in a chest somewhere, available from time to time to be cupped in her hand if not thrown towards the sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right,\u201d she said reluctantly to the evil-smelling frog, thinking all the while that she would never do the things he asked, that no one could expect her to do such things.\u00a0 Not even the frog himself could truly expect it.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you promise?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes, I promise.\u00a0 Now get my ball!\u201d<\/p>\n

The frog dived into the pond and disappeared beneath its dark surface.\u00a0 The princess paced on the bank.\u00a0 When, at last, the frog reappeared with her ball in his mouth, she clapped her hands with joy, and as soon as he had dropped it at her feet, she snatched it up and ran away.\u00a0 She resolved never to visit the pond again and never to take the ball outside the castle yard.<\/p>\n

That evening, when the princess and her parents were at dinner, there came a scratching at the door.\u00a0 A footman opened the door, and who should enter but the loathsome frog.\u00a0 He hopped across the room, leaving a wet trail behind him.\u00a0 The king was surprised to see a frog in his dining hall, but he thought of himself as lord of all the creatures in his realm, not just the human ones, so he looked down at the frog, who was the largest and ugliest of the species the king had ever seen, and asked what he wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did your daughter a service, and she made me a promise.\u00a0 I have come to redeem that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The king looked at his daughter.\u00a0 \u201cIs this true?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but—\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the promise was?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo eat and drink with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The king nodded his permission, and the frog leapt up onto the table at the princess\u2019s place.\u00a0 His long, pink tongue shot out to her plate again and again, wrapping around pieces of food and slurping them into his gaping mouth.\u00a0 At a gesture from her father, the princess lifted her cup of wine to the frog\u2019s slimy lips.\u00a0 Her stomach churned, but she held the cup steady until he had drained it dry.\u00a0 Her parents ate in silence, trying to hide their own disgust at the spectacle.\u00a0 The frog, for his part, seemed content.\u00a0 At one point, he burped, and a dead fly from an earlier meal fell out of his mouth onto the tablecloth.\u00a0 A hovering servant stepped forward and brushed it onto the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going up to my room!\u201d the princess announced, getting up so suddenly her chair tipped over behind her.\u00a0 The same servant righted it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will have to carry me,\u201d the frog said in his deep, gurgling voice.\u00a0 \u201cI am not good on stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d said the queen.\u00a0 \u201cWhat does he mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Mother, he wants to sleep in my bed, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas this also a promise?\u201d the king asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was,\u201d answered the frog.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen so be it.\u201d\u00a0 The king scowled at the princess, and with a moan and a grimace, she picked up the frog, who was surprisingly heavy as well as cold and slippery.\u00a0 She held him out away from her body as far as she could.\u00a0 Her arms ached with the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is too much,\u201d the queen protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said yes,\u201d the king insisted.\u00a0 \u201cIt is his due.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her room, the princess carried the frog to a far corner and set him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is where you will sleep,\u201d she said firmly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not what you promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

The princess cringed.\u00a0 Would he tell her father?\u00a0 Would her father really make her welcome this odious creature into her bed?\u00a0 Did all promises have to be kept?\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t she rewarded the frog enough?\u00a0 Why did he expect so much?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t her feelings count for anything?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve changed my mind,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYou ate from my plate, you drank from my cup, and you may spend the night in my room, but I do not want you in my bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frog stared at her with his bulging eyes, but he made no move to leave the corner where she\u2019d placed him.\u00a0 She went to her bed, lifted the blankets, and crawled under them, not bothering to change into her nightdress.\u00a0 After some tossing and turning, propping herself up on one elbow a few times to peer across the room at the frog in his corner, she finally fell into a fitful sleep.<\/p>\n

Some time later, she felt cold.\u00a0 She groped for her blankets, which had slid from her shoulders.\u00a0 Waking up fully, she realized the coldness was very specific.\u00a0 The backs of her knees were cold.\u00a0 Cold and wet.\u00a0 She sat up quickly and reached down.\u00a0 Her hand found the frog and ripped him out from under her skirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was cold,\u201d he protested.\u00a0 \u201cYou promised.\u00a0 Your father said—\u201d<\/p>\n

In a fury, the princess threw the frog against the wall.\u00a0 His body made a very satisfying splat sound, and he slid to the floor, where he lay motionless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you I\u2019d changed my mind!\u00a0 I won\u2019t have a frog in my bed!\u201d<\/p>\n

She stared at the frog.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t see any blood, but he wasn\u2019t moving.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t sorry for what she\u2019d done.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t care if it brought her trouble with her father. \u00a0Then she saw one of the frog\u2019s long hind legs twitch. \u00a0Slowly, he drew himself up and squatted there blinking at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be left alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.\u00a0 At least, she thought it was a nod.\u00a0 Since he had no neck to speak of, it was hard to tell.\u00a0 She braced herself for his return to the bed for a second try, though he didn\u2019t look as if he had the strength.\u00a0 She felt a tiny spark of pity for him.\u00a0 But she swore to herself that if he approached, she would throw him again.\u00a0 If she had to, she would kill him, though she didn\u2019t want to.\u00a0 She only wanted him to be reasonable, to listen.<\/p>\n

He limped back to his corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I have a pillow?\u201d<\/p>\n

She tossed him the largest, softest one from her bed and lay down again, her heart beating fast.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t think she\u2019d be able to sleep, but just before dawn, she did drop off.\u00a0 The room was bright with mid-morning sun when she awoke.\u00a0 Immediately, she looked over to the frog\u2019s corner.\u00a0 Much to her surprise, a man was stretched out there asleep.\u00a0 A young man.\u00a0 Not as young as she or the stable boy, but definitely not old.\u00a0 And he was dressed in emerald green garments as fine as any her father owned.<\/p>\n

Just then, he opened his eyes and stood up.\u00a0 \u201cGood morning, my lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u00a0 Where is the frog?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt your service.\u201d\u00a0 The young man made a pretty bow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean…?\u00a0 You can\u2019t mean…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, but I do.\u00a0 And thanks to you, I am returned to my normal shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not thank me.\u00a0 If I was any help to you it was by chance and against my will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been patient for a long, long time, waiting for someone like you to take me to her table, to let me—\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I threw you against the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was of your own will, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The princess blushed.\u00a0 Then she held her chin up.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t ashamed of what she\u2019d done, even now with this handsome, polite stranger before her.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t apologize.\u00a0 It was she who was owed an apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it was my will.\u00a0 And I\u2019d do it again.\u00a0 No matter what the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I guess that\u2019s your good fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYours as well, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The princess felt at a disadvantage having this conversation from her bed, so she got up.\u00a0 She was glad she was still in her day clothes, rumpled though they were.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should go downstairs to see my parents.\u00a0 My father, the king, will want to know about…all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all, surely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be most interested in this morning\u2019s surprise.\u00a0 In how you are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course.\u201d\u00a0 The courtly young man offered her his arm.\u00a0 She hesitated a moment, then stepped forward and took it.<\/p>\n

She could walk along the hall and down the staircase perfectly well on her own, of course, but she saw no need to be rude.\u00a0 She had an inkling this young man might be around for a while.\u00a0 Her father would want to question him.\u00a0 Her mother would flutter.\u00a0 She herself would like some time in his company to learn more about him.\u00a0 She already knew one important thing, besides the fact that he had been a frog, and that was that he could appreciate a girl with a mind of her own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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