irst, I must tell you, he pressed me so
much, that I promised him he should be my companion. I never thought
that he could come out of the water, but somehow he has jumped out, and
now he wants to come in here."

At that moment there was another knock, and a voice said,--

"King's daughter, youngest,
Open the door.
Hast thou forgotten
Thy promises made
At the fountain so clear
'Neath the lime-tree's shade?
King's daughter, youngest,
Open the door."

Then the King said, "What you have promised, that you must perform; go
and let him in." So the King's daughter went and opened the door, and
the Frog hopped in after her right up to her chair: and as soon as she
was seated, the Frog said, "Take me up;" but she hesitated so long that
at last the King ordered her to obey. And as soon as the Frog sat on the
chair, he jumped on to the table, and said, "Now push thy plate near me,
that we may eat together." And she did so, but as everyone saw, very
unwillingly. The Frog seemed to relish his dinner much, but every bit
that the King's daughter ate nearly choked her, till at last the Frog
said, "I have satisfied my hunger and feel very tired; wilt thou carry
me upstairs now into thy chamber, and make thy bed ready that we may
sleep together?" At this speech the King's daughter began to cry, for
she was afraid of the cold Frog, and dared not touch him; and besides,
he actually wanted to sleep in her own beautiful, clean bed.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

But her tears only made the King very angry, and he said, "He who
helped you in the time of your trouble, must not now be despised!" So
she took the Frog up with two fingers, and put him in a corner of her
chamber. But as she lay in her bed, he crept up to it, and said, "I am
so very tired that I shall sleep well; do take me up or I will tell thy
father." This speech put the King's daughter in a terrible passion, and
catching the Frog up, she threw him with all her strength against the
wall, saying, "Now, will you be quiet, you ugly Frog?"

But as he fell he was changed from a frog into a handsome Prince with
beautiful eyes, who, after a little while became, with her father's
consent, her dear companion and betrothed. Then he told her how he had
been transformed by an evil witch, and that no one but herself could
have had the power to take him out of the fountain; and that on the
morrow they would go together into his own kingdom