The pedars (crows in my dreams) and the peviras (sparrows in my dreams) were squealing with joy. The witch with no name had turned the dreadfully boring blond prince into a frog. He was hiding, living in a well. Apparently only a an equally dreadful boring blond child of a neighboring king (a princess please note) can rescue him. Child being the operative word here. This child is finally manifested before the well of the frog prince. She is playing with an ornamented toy – a golden ball. How useful that would have been as toy, we can’t imagine (given that we like to hand out cheap plastic ones to our children today). In any case, the golden ball disappears strategically into the well – and the spoilt golden haired child makes a deal with the devil (only our frog prince). That in return of the ball she will give the frog a good time, play with him, share her food with him and even let him rest in her bed. And, this is where I find the story charming – our golden haired child promises him all this no doubt but only in word. She wants the ball back, so she lies. She has no intention of being best buds with the frog.
But are liars allowed. Especially female liars? The King, the child’s father finds out. The frog reports to the Palace – your daughter has not kept her word, she had betrayed a friend. The princess is punished – ‘keep your word’ the King orders. So here is she, the fascinating child, interesting precisely because she doesn’t want to entertain the frog. Anyway, she is stuck with her new companion. The frog plays with her, dines with her but when he sleeps away in her bed, she can’t take it anymore – she flings the sleeping frog against the wall – in fit of rage. Be nice to animals you would say. But this is no animal – it is the prince turned into a frog who can turn back into a prince only if he is so dashed against the wall. And so we all get the happy ending we all were waiting for – the child is charmed that the frog is a blond prince afterall. A fit companion for her childhood. Or so the story tells us.
Image Attribution Text: Wildling Prince by Sonakshi Verma (©Sonakshi Verma, 2016), for The Time Teller written by Sonali Sharma, published under a CC BY 4.0 license on StoryWeaver. Read, create and translate stories for free on www.storyweaver.org.in
