The Frog Prince

“The Frog Prince” is a well-known fairytale, and I think it’s safe to say we’ve all become familiar with some version of the story.  When people in our society think of the story, they tend to think of a romantic tale of a kind princess kissing a frog who then turns into a prince.  Thinking the topic would be good for looking at herps in literature, I did a little research on the story and found some pretty interesting stuff.

                As it turns out, “The Frog Prince” is thought to be the first fairytale written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Brothers Grimm.  These two brothers are well known for creating fairytales with a dark plot behind it, with examples like Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White (the original story has her stepmother wearing red-hot metal shoes at the end of the story that leads to her death).  These stories have been retold to seem less brutal for children, and “The Frog Prince” is no different.  If you’ve never heard the original story, here’s a short summary:

                The story starts with a princess going into the woods to play with her favorite toy: a golden ball that she throws in the air to catch.  However, she throws it too high, and the ball falls into a well so that she could no longer see it.  A frog hears her crying, and offers to get the ball for her for a price.  If she makes the frog her companion by giving him food and shelter, she can get her ball back.  The princess agrees, but when she gets her golden ball she goes back on her promise and returns home without the frog.  The next day the frog came to the door.  When the princess’s father finds out what she had done, he makes her keep her promise.  She takes the frog up to her room to sleep in her bed, but when she gets there she throws him against the wall to kill him.  The frog then transforms into a handsome prince, and the princess keeps her promise to be his companion.  The two of them return to the prince’s kingdom, and everyone is happy.

                The tale doesn’t exactly send a good message with a princess who would only love someone when they’re attractive, so the whole “kissing a frog” plotline seems much nicer for children.  Even with the story change, it reveals how our society tends to think of frogs.  In the original story written in the Middle Ages they’re seen as ugly animals that the princess doesn’t want to touch.  Even in the newer version of the princess kissing the frog, it is a story of a princess loving an ugly thing that then becomes beautiful.  So sadly, the negative view of frogs hasn’t changed much through time.  That might be one reason there isn’t much publicity when it comes to conservation of anurans.  After all, it’s easier to sell a fluffy animal than a frog.  Hopefully that view will change through education, because frogs deserve a good reputation after all this time.

Here's the full story if you're interested:

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/frog.html#grimm2