nd
said,
"Now push your golden plate a little nearer, so that we may eat
together."
And so she did, but everybody might see how unwilling she was, and the
frog feasted heartily, but every morsel seemed to stick in her throat.
"I have had enough now," said the frog at last, "and as I am tired, you
must carry me to your room, and make ready your silken bed, and we will
lie down and go to sleep."
Then the King's daughter began to weep, and was afraid of the cold frog,
that nothing would satisfy him but he must sleep in her pretty clean
bed. Now the King grew angry with her, saying,
"That which thou hast promised in thy time of necessity, must thou now
perform."
So she picked up the frog with her finger and thumb, carried him
upstairs and put him in a corner, and when she had lain down to sleep,
he came creeping up, saying, "I am tired and want sleep as much as you;
take me up, or I will tell your father."
Then she felt beside herself with rage, and picking him up, she threw
him with all her strength against the wall, crying,
"Now will you be quiet, you horrid frog!"
But as he fell, he ceased to be a frog, and became all at once a prince
with beautiful kind eyes. And it came to pass that, with her father's
consent, they became bride and bridegroom. And he told her how a wicked
witch had bound him by her spells, and how no one but she alone could
have released him, and that they two would go together to his father's
kingdom. And there came to the door a carriage drawn by eight white
horses, with white plumes on their heads, and with golden harness, and
behind the carriage was standing faithful Henry, the servant of the
young prince. Now, faithful Henry had suffered such care and pain when
his master was turned into a frog, that he had been obliged to wear
three iron bands over his heart, to keep it from breaking with trouble
and anxiety. When the carriage started to take the prince to his
kingdom, and faithful Henry had helped them both in, he got up behind,
and was full of joy at his master's deliverance. And when they had gone
a part of the way, the prince heard a sound at the back of the carriage,
as if something had broken, and he turned round and cried,
"Henry, the wheel must be breaking!" but Henry answered,
"The wheel does not break,
'Tis the band round my heart
That, to lessen its ache,
When I grieved for your sake,
I bound round my heart."
Again, and yet once again t
|