To make a long story short, this is the only frog picture I have for you today. And...it really has nothing to do with the fairy tale (of course, neither did any of the others I found!). I just thought it was cute.
I hope everyone is doing well today! I’m super excited, because in this post I get to talk about a fairy tale I truly love. The Little Green Frog is a French fairy tale. I’m not sure when it was written or who created it, but it was collected by Andrew Lang in his The Yellow Fairy Book. The story is particularly interesting to me because of two things.
Firstly, the characters in The Little Green Frog actually have names. This might not seem too strange to you, but if you look back through my last several blog posts, you’ll notice that I haven’t named too many characters. A lot of fairy tales don’t bother giving their dramatis personae names. They are often just referred to by their rank or species - for example, a peasant, a prince, or a little white cat. While named characters are present in several fairy tales, they are more uncommon than their unnamed colleagues.
The second thing I really love about The Little Green Frog is its similarities to The Princess and the Frog. Both have a character who has been transformed into a frog; only true love can save this character. The difference that really piqued my interest in the story is that The Little Green Frog is about a female who has been transformed into an amphibian. I love finding fairy tales that reverse the gender roles of other fairy tales!
Now that I’ve told you my favorite parts, I suppose I should tell you the full story!
Once upon a time there were two neighboring kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms was ruled by a king. One was named Peridor and the other Diamantino. These kings were cousins, and were protected by fairies.
It can be hard for royalty, who is used to getting its own way, to remember to be kind. This was the case with both kings, but Diamantino was the worse of the two. He was quite hurtful to his wife Aglantino, and the fairies eventually killed him because of it. Diamantino had a daughter, Serpentine, at the time of his death, but she was so young that the fairies took her to raise her, leaving Aglantino to rule as regent in her stead.
At the same time this was happening, King Peridor was being quite thoughtless to his own wife, Constance. To punish him, the fairies made her die. It was only after her death that Peridor realized how badly he had treated Constance, and how much he missed her. Despite his grief, he remained a fair and good ruler, and he raised his son Saphir by himself.
Saphir grew up to be a kind prince, well-educated in all subjects by a vast army of tutors. When he was fifteen the fairies began to meddle with his life. There was a room in his castle that Saphir was quite fond of, and it was here that the fairies placed a magical mirror. It took several days for Saphir to notice it, but when he did he could not be torn away from the room. Within the mirror was not his reflection, you see, but a beautiful maiden. As he watched her she would move about her room; it was quite like viewing her through a window.
The young prince quickly lost his heart to the girl in the mirror, and the next three years of his life were spent admiring her. During this time King Peridor became ill with grief over his wife’s death. By the time Saphir was eighteen, Peridor was nearly bedridden.
Saphir was stricken with worry for his father, but he felt another strong emotion at the same time. The girl in the mirror had recently received a mirror of her own - one that looked just like his. Saphir was never able to make out who it was that she saw within it, but the figure was undeniably male. The poor lovestruck prince was filled with jealousy because of this.
One day, King Peridor decided that he was going to die. He was alright with this; it would allow him to see his wife Constance again. Until the time of his passing, Peridor closed himself off in his bedchambers, asking only that the windows be left open to allow him a slight breeze of air. As he lay in his bed, something flew through the window!
It was the most magnificent bird the king had ever seen, with a tail of blue and gold. There were rubies and diamonds upon it, and on its head the bird wore a crown. I imagine it looked something like this:
King Peridor gazed at the bird, and the bird gazed back at him. As it watched him he began to feel stronger and more alive. This continued until the king felt quite himself again.
At that point he stood and began to try to catch the bird. It evaded his every move, eventually flying out the window. The king ordered his servants into his room and told them of the bird, asking them to find it. They attempted to do so, but to no avail; the bird was gone.
In its absence King Peridor began to feel weak once again. He set a reward for the capture of the bird, one high enough that every peasant left the fields to try to find it. Their efforts were in vain, and the bird remained free. The king was soon bedridden once again.
Prince Saphir was quite worried for his father - enough so that he quite forgot about the maiden in the mirror. The prince decided to set out on his own quest for the bird, hoping to succeed where so many others had failed. He ignored the protests of his courtiers and left the castle, determined to find the cure for his father.
Saphir searched all of the usual hideouts for birds without any luck. He was discouraged by this, but continued on his search nonetheless. One day he stumbled upon a deep, shadowy forest. Within this forest was the richest grass and the most vibrant flowers Saphir had ever seen. He decided that this was the place where the bird would make its home, and swore not to leave the forest until he had searched every inch of it.
Later, after a long day’s search, Saphir was racked with thirst. He happened upon a little pond and knelt to take a drink from it. As he pulled out his drinking cup (because princes are apparently fancy and too good to drink from their hands) a little frog hopped into it.
Saphir was quite annoyed by this - he was thirsty, and the frog was in the way of his drink! He brushed it out of the cup and lowered it towards the water...only to have the frog hop into it again! Saphir was quite angry, but found himself surprised as the frog began to speak to him. It told him to quench his thirst and then lie down and listen to the frog’s words, because it knew where the bird was.
The prince did as he was told and listened to the frog. She told him of a nearby castle, and made the prince promise to do exactly as he was told. When he agreed, she gave him a tiny grain of sand and told him to plant it outside the gate of the castle - this would open the gates and make the inhabitants fall asleep. He was then to go to the stables, find the most handsome horse, and ride it back to her. Saphir was warned to not deviate from her instructions in the slightest.
The prince set off and soon came upon a magnificent castle made of precious stones and metals. He obediently planted the grain of sand outside the gates and watched as they swung open. True to the frog’s words, all of the castle’s residents were fast asleep. Saphir quickly headed for the stables and found the finest horse there. He was just about to mount it when he saw a magnificent saddle near it. Not thinking, the prince seized the saddle - and the denizens of the castle immediately woke up!
Saphir was led before the king of the castle, who took pity on the boy and let him go. Quite ashamed, the prince returned to the frog and was berated fiercely by her. After a time her wrath lessened and she agreed to give him another chance. Saphir was given a tiny grain of gold this time, and told to plant it just as he had the sand. He was then to avoid the stables and head instead for a bedchamber within the castle, where he would find a lovely lady. Saphir was to carry her back to the frog, and not do anything she had not told him to do.
Once again the prince set out. He planted the grain of gold and went through the open gates, carefully avoiding the stables. Saphir was quickly able to find the bedchamber the frog had spoken of, and the maiden on the bed within. He woke her and convinced her to come with him, though she insisted that she be allowed to dress first. Not seeing any harm in her request, Saphir agreed...but the moment her hand touched her dress, the castle inhabitants awoke!
For the second time Saphir was dragged before the king of the castle, who was quite angry with him this time. The fairies intervened and softened his heart, so Saphir was allowed to leave once again. He knew that he needed to return to the frog, but was quite afraid to do so; after all, he had now disobeyed her twice.
Saphir eventually worked up the courage to return to the frog, and found her even more angry than she had been before. He apologized profusely and tried to explain, but she remained furious. Eventually his humbleness led the frog to give him one last chance. She warned him that she would not help him again if he should fail.
This time Saphir was given a grain of diamond. The frog told him to avoid the stables and the bedchamber, and to go instead to the garden. There he would find a tree made of gold with emerald leaves; atop it would be the beautiful bird. He was to cut off the tree branch and carry it and the bird back to her - and nothing else!
The prince left the frog and headed for the castle. He planted the diamond grain outside of the gates and walked through them as they opened. Ignoring the other buildings, Saphir headed straight for the garden. There he saw the tree and the bird, just as the frog had said he would. The bird remained asleep even as Saphir cut the tree branch off. The prince noticed a golden cage that would carry the bird, but took care to ignore it and left the castle.
Saphir headed for the frog’s pond - but once there, he was shocked to see a quaint castle and a beautiful woman. All thoughts swiftly fled Saphir’s head as he recognized the woman as the maiden from his mirror.
At his exclamation she blushed, but assured him that it was really her. She revealed that he was the man she had watched in her own mirror, and that she had been just as shocked to see him as he was her. Saphir slowly regained his composure and thought to ask the woman where the frog who had helped him was.
At this she blushed once again, and explained that she had been the frog. The fairies who had raised her and transformed her into a frog, and told her to give directions to the first person to come to her. She had been mortified to see Saphir, since she was in the form of an ugly frog, but had done her utmost to help him. Serpentine then inquired as to why Saphir wanted the bird.
Her face fell as he explained the king’s illness. Saphir wanted to know what was wrong, but Serpentine was slow to answer. She eventually told him that she had no memory of her parents, and that for all she knew she was a lowly commoner. To hear that Saphir was a prince was heartbreaking, as she could not allow him to marry below his stature.
Saphir protested and declared his love for her, but Serpentine would not hear of it. She was determined that he should marry an equal.
They might have continued like this for quite some time, were it not for the fairies. One arrived in a chariot along with a beautiful woman, much to Saphir and Serpentine’s surprise. The fairy introduced the woman as Aglantine, Saphir’s aunt, who hugged both of them. They then gathered in the chariot and set off for Saphir’s castle.
The king was on the roof, watching what the doctors believed would be his last sunset. As soon as they were within range the beautiful bird took off from the chariot and flew to the king, who was immediately cured. The fairy and her party arrived shortly thereafter. Much to King Peridor’s joy the bird was transformed into Queen Constance, who had never really died. Serpentine was revealed to be the daughter of Aglantine, and therefore a princess. She was overjoyed at this news, and she and Saphir arranged to be wed.
This is one of those rare fairy tales that ends with: and they all lived happily ever after.
I hope you guys enjoyed the story! I love that the fairies didn’t really kill Constance, and that Serpentine wasn’t even confused to be turned into a frog. One wonders what being raised by fairies would be like...were transformations common in her childhood?
As always, questions or comments can go below or be emailed to me. I want to know - would you guys like me to keep doing fairy tales for a while, or would you prefer I switch back to mythology? Please tell me your preferences, and I’m totally open to requests!
I’ll be back next week with a reader’s request. The fairy tale is called One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes, and is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. I’ll see you guys then!
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