The old woman stood in directly in my path, a scowl on her face, making her seem uglier.
'Please move out of my way,'¯ I said, trying to be polite even though I had a long way to go and a short period of time in which to get there.
'Not on your life,'¯ said the woman. 'I have a bone to pick with you, Highness.'¯
She said Highness as if it were a dirty word. Sighing, I got off my horse and stood on the road in front of the old hag. She looked familiar. Where had I seen her before?
'Do you know the tale of the little man who spun straw into gold for a princess in exchange for her firstborn child?'¯ she asked.
'Of course I do!'¯ I said. 'That was my mother! I'm the child that she saved from the little man, Rumpelstiltskin, by guessing his name. Why? What do you have to do with it?'¯
'That little man was my son! My little Rumpy! And your mother killed him! Lost me my only son! Lost and gone forever he is. Well, I'll show her! She'll lose her only son, you! From this day forth you shall be a frog!'¯
She waved her hand in the air. I felt strange, as if I was shrinking into myself. Then I blacked out.
When I came to I was on the bank of a small pond. Thinking I'd feel better if I splashed some water on my face I hopped'wait a minute! I hopped!
I looked at my reflection in the pond and saw a green frog face looking back. That witch! She had turned me into a frog! I couldn't believe it! Now I would never get to where I was supposed to be going. Mother and Father would be so worried about me. Not to mention how furious my fiancƩe, Princess Natalie, would be when she found out that I was a frog.
'I'm a frog! I'm a frog! I'm a stupid, warty, green frog!'¯
I could talk! Not only was I a frog, I was a talking frog! What had that witch done to me? More importantly, where had she sent me?
I looked around me. There was grass, flowers that seemed to tower over me, and a stone wall. A very curvy stone wall. Curious, I hopped over to it. I was hopping around the wall, or what ever it was when I heard a loud splash from above me and then equally loud sobbing. It was very feminine sobbing too and seemed to be coming from the other side of the whatever-it-was. I hopped over there as fast as I could and saw a mass of green cloth before me. It was a lady's skirt! As I looked closer I realized that I had seen it before. It belonged to my fiancƩe, Natalie! Why was she crying?
'Girl, why are you crying?'¯ I asked, thinking that if I used her name she would be more startled than she was when she met a talking frog.
'Where are you?'¯ she asked. Her voice was much louder than I remembered but then, I was a frog. I was much smaller than she was.
'Down here,'¯ I said, or croaked to be more precise. 'By your feet.'¯
She bent down and looked at me.
'A frog! A talking frog. How did you learn to talk? What are you doing here? You sound an awful lot like my fiancĆ©, Prince Nathan. But that's silly. Can you help me?'¯
I smiled (if a frog can smile). Natalie was a sweet girl and I loved her very much but she sure could talk. I answered her questions in the order she'd asked them, the way I usually did.
'When I was very little. Trying to find out why you're crying. I think so. What's the problem?'¯
She looked at me, her big brown eyes full of tears.
'I dropped a very special golden ball down this well and now I can't reach it. I've tried lowering the bucket down there to scoop it up but it didn't work and now I don't think I'll ever get it out!'¯
She began sobbing again, very loudly and right near me. I was nearly deafened but I had an idea that would get her to stop crying and get the ball back. I knew how important it was to her. I had given it to her as a birthday present.
'Uh, Princess! Princess, don't cry! I can get your ball back!'¯ I shouted, trying to be heard over her wailing.
She stopped crying and looked at me again.
'How can you get my ball back? You're just a frog."
"A talking frog," I reminded her. "Lower me down the well in the bucket. I'll get the ball and then when I call up to you that I've got it you'll pull me up and I'll give you the ball."
She smiled. "All right. If you get it for me I'll give you anything you want."
She picked me up and put me in the bucket. It was huge and wet and it smelled rather bad but this was Natalie, the love of my life. I would do anything to make her happy.
Natalie lowered me down into the well, which was fairly empty and not that deep. As the bucket got closer to the bottom I scrambled up the side and looked over it. I could see the golden ball shimmering. The bucket hit the bottom. I hopped out of the bucket and landed with a plop in the water. Quickly I swam to the shining ball and picked it up with my front feet. Then I swam back to the bucket, dropped it in, and hopped in myself.
"I've got it!'¯ I called up to Natalie.
"Oh hurrah!" she cried and began pulling the bucket up as fast as she could.
When the bucket reached the top she took out the golden ball and slipped it in her pocket.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, kind frog! How can I repay you?"
I thought for a moment. As a child I had heard stories of people who were turned into animals by witches and stayed that way until their true love told them that they loved them. I figured if I could get back to Natalie's home and prove that I was who I was she would say she loved me and the spell would be broken. So I said, "You must take me home with you and let me be your companion. Let me eat from your plate and sleep on your softest pillow. Talk to me and tell me about yourself. Be my friend."
"Befriend a frog?" she asked, obviously shocked.
I nodded. "You said you'd give me anything I want. What I want is to be your friend. And if you don't agree I'll take that ball back out of your pocket and throw it back in the well."
Natalie gasped. "You wouldn't!"
"I would," I said. "So, will you take me home with you and be my friend?"
"Oh fine! Hop onto my shoulder. But remember, we're no more than friends. I'm engaged to be married, you know, and if Prince Nathan found out I was having an affair with someone, or something, else, he'd be furious!"
"You bet I would," I muttered. She didn't hear me. I hopped onto her shoulder and she began walking back to the castle.
At dinner that night Natalie explained to her father about how I had gotten her ball for her and how she had agreed to be my friend in return.
"But Father, I can't imagine what Nathan would say if he knew. I mean, me! Friends with a frog! It's so silly!"
"A frog?" asked her father, raising his eyebrows. "Is this one of your crazy stories, Natalie? Frogs don't talk."
During this whole conversation I had been sitting on the chair next to Natalie and she had been putting the parts of her dinner that she didn't like down in front of me. When I heard the king insulting Natalie's stories (which I happened to love) I spat out my green bean, hopped onto the table and looked straight at him.
"Most frogs don't talk, Sire, but I do. Princess Natalie is telling the truth."
The king's mouth dropped open in shock. "Y...you talk!" he exclaimed. "And you sound just like Prince Nathan! Doesn't he, Natalie? Maybe this is one of his tricks. He's not here right now. I just bet he's under the table talking for that frog. This isn't funny, Nathan."
"I haven't seen Nathan all day, Father! He's not here. This is just a frog. A talking frog, but a frog."
This seemed to be a good opportunity to tell Natalie exactly who I was. "Actually, Princess, I am Prince Nathan." I smiled, hoping that she would believe me.
Natalie looked at her father and he looked back. Then they both looked at me and burst out laughing.
"You! Prince Nathan! That's preposterous! Nathan isn't a frog!" laughed Natalie. "Stop fooling around. Go back to your chair and eat your food. And don't try to trick me again! You're no prince!"
Well, so much for that, I thought. I'll try again at bedtime. When she's half-asleep. So, at bedtime, Natalie carried me upstairs to her room and placed me on a hard pillow on the windowseat.
"What? You promised me your best pillow!"
She glared at me. "You lied to me at dinner. I know my fiancƩ well enough to know that he's not a frog. Good night."
She climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her head. I settled down on my pitiful pillow and waited. About an hour later I was fairly sure that she was almost asleep I hopped off the windowseat, onto her bedside table and finally onto the pillow next to her head.
"Natalie," I whispered. "Are you awake, love?"'
"Nathan?" she murmured. "Is that you? There's a frog on the windowsill who says he's you. That's not true, is it?"
"Yes, darling. You see, on my way here I met a witch who has a grudge on my mother, because of the episode with the weird little man and the golden straw. She turned me into a frog and sent me here. I'm the frog who got your ball out of the well and the one who sat next to you at dinner."
She rolled over so that her face was very close to me. Luckily her eyes were closed. If they hadn't been I doubt if she would have believed me. As it was she frowned.
"If you are that frog and that frog is Nathan, then how do I change you back?"
"I'm not sure, love. But in the stories, spells are broken when one of the two tells the other that they love them. Do you love me, Natalie? As a frog or a prince?"
She smiled. "I would love you if you were an ugly beast or the handsomest man alive."
I closed my eyes, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. "It didn't work," I said.
Natalie didn't reply. She was fast asleep. As carefully as I could, so as not to slip off the pillow, I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. It's not very hard to kiss someone when you're a frog and I suppose it's not hard for Natalie to kiss a frog because, in her sleep, she kissed me back. Then I hopped back to the hard pillow and tried to get comfortable. Eventually I managed to fall asleep.
The next morning I found myself very cramped on the windowseat. Natalie was still asleep, a smile on her lips from our kiss. I looked at myself. I was a human again! A prince! Me! Almost giggling with glee I stood up and walked over to Natalie. I kissed her on the lips. She woke up.
"Nathan! I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that you were the little frog who's asleep over there on the...where is he?"
"Ribbit," I said, grinning.
