The Frog King Prelude

By: Phillip Cicchinelli

After reading “The Frog King” (similar tales include “The Frog Prince“), creative writing students answered this question: Why was the prince turned into a frog? This is Philip’s response.

Let’s look back on an old tale, one about a cursed prince, a bratty princess, and a faithful servant. Most know how this tale ends, but very few actually learned of its beginning. Now, we turn back the clock to find out how the prince first found himself in his amphibian form.

We must go back two years before the events of the old tale, to when the prince first ruled over his kingdom. While he proved himself skillful in leadership, he had a few other qualities that differentiated him from his future counterpart. This version of the prince was a bit bratty, not unlike the young princess, and made life tough for his servants. This only worsened until only one servant was left, the man who would become Iron Henry.

Henry was forever faithful to the prince, something that wasn’t lost on the young ruler. Henry became the prince’s prime confidant, someone who the prince could turn to in his time of need. While the prince held a minor grudge against his staff for leaving him, he softened his ways and soon his servants came back to him, a thing that he was very grateful for. However, that bratty streak never left entirely, and it would soon get the prince into trouble with a spiteful old witch, who decided to teach him a lesson.

About a year before the events of the main tale, the prince was out for a ride on his horse, only to see a vegetable garden off to the south. Henry, who frequently accompanied the prince on these rides, informed him that the garden he saw belonged to an old witch, who was known to curse those who trespassed on his property. The prince asked if the hut and garden were a part of his kingdom. Henry said yes, and the prince replied that, in that case, he was the witch’s ruler, making everything the witch owned his own. Henry said that while this was technically true, the old witch had never bowed to the previous kings and was unlikely to respect the young prince’s authority. The prince didn’t care though, and started collecting many of the old witch’s produce.

When he was a few minutes into this endeavor, the spiteful witch came back, only to see someone stealing from his vegetable patch. He stalked up to the prince and asked who he was. The prince pronounced his identity to the witch, as well as his right to everything the witch owned. The witch was almost amused by the brat, but his anger kicked in shortly after, and he cursed the young prince, turning him into a frog, saying that he wouldn’t be free until he could find someone who was even more of a brat than he was. With that, the witch departed, leaving the prince to his fate as a frog.

A few seconds later, Henry, who had snuck behind the bushes when the witch had made himself known, ran up to the prince and apologized for hiding, but it was the only thing he could do. The prince, realizing the ramifications of his plight, quickly forgave his servant, knowing that if Henry had intervened, he would have received a similar, if not worse, fate. From there, the two discussed what they should do next. The prince, remembering a letter he had received two weeks ago from a neighboring king who had used the letter to vent about his bratty daughter, decided to head west, wanting to see if the king’s daughter, who was comparable in age to the prince, was capable of breaking his curse. Until then, he left Henry in charge of his kingdom, knowing that the faithful servant would keep everything straight until he returned.

From there, the two went their separate ways — the prince going to the princess’s kingdom, and Henry returning to the prince’s palace, waiting in misery for his ruler to return. And so, our tale ends. Of course, this is far from the end of the story, but now the context has been made known. I thank you for joining me and bid you a good day until another story makes itself known.