The Frog Prince Revisited

15-Oct-12 - Jill picks up books for our granddaughter Evie who, at three years old, is just starting to read, and one of them she's found recently is called 'How to be a Little Princess', by Caroline Repchuk, published by Paragon books in 2004. It's a sweet little book with tips on such as how to keep your hands smooth and clean, and how to bake a cake to capture the heart of your handsome prince (they do say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach). The book also covers some of the potential pitfalls of becoming a princess: wicked stepmothers, ugly sisters and kissing frogs.

This reminded me of a time, twenty-odd years ago, when I was staying in a routière (transport café) in Libourne, near Bordeaux. Over the bar was a postcard (strangely, written in Spanish) which translated as 'before you meet your handsome price, you have to kiss a lot of frogs.'

Going back still further, I remembered writing a story for a children's comic some 30 years ago on a similar theme. It went like this:

A young girl, having read the story of the frog prince, became convinced that this was her path to stardom. Playing near a pond at the bottom of the garden one day, a frog appeared wearing a tiny gold coronet. and announced that he was the prince, and that if she kissed him she would become a princess. Immediately, she picked up the frog and kissed him and, in a moment, was transformed into a frog herself, albeit with a tiara. Feeling rather let down, she said "I though I was going to be a princess". The frog replied "you are: my mum and dad are the king and queen of this pond. I'm the prince, and now you're the princess. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" She sighed: "Well, not exactly."

And the moral of this tale is: check the small print before you sign.