| Before you see the Disney film The Princess and the | | | | He realized he'd been an awful jerk, and turned back |
| Frog, keep this in mind: everything you know about | | | | into a prince. |
| the fairy tale may be wrong. | | | | Anika, however, chose not to forgive Heinrich's |
| You may know the story of the Frog Prince: a | | | | thoughtlessness. She and the prince did not get |
| handsome young prince was innocently minding his | | | | married, and they certainly never lived happily ever |
| own business when, for no apparent reason, an evil | | | | after. In fact, after that incident, whenever Anika |
| witch cursed him and turned him into a particularly | | | | and Heinrich crossed paths, she was polite but distant |
| ugly little frog. He was doomed to live in this | | | | to him. He accepted that he was never going to get |
| miserable, lowly condition until a princess with a pure, | | | | anywhere with her romantically, though in his later |
| loving heart saw past his ugly exterior and kissed him. | | | | years, he did become rather bitter about the lack of |
| Her purity and sweetness would break the evil spell | | | | a closer relationship. He's said to have circulated |
| and turn him back into a handsome prince-and the | | | | rumors that the princess was born with webbed |
| perfect boyfriend for the lucky princess. That's how | | | | toes, which were later corrected through surgery. In |
| the story goes, right? | | | | fact, webbed toes ran in Heinrich's family, though he |
| Wrong. | | | | himself did not inherit the gene. |
| Pick up Grimm's Fairy Tales and you'll read an entirely | | | | A fascinating variation on the fairy tale is "The Frog |
| different version. The true story of the Frog Prince is | | | | Princess" by Barbara G. Walker, from her book |
| better still. | | | | Feminist Fairy Tales. In it, a female frog aspires to |
| You see, the witch in the story wasn't really evil at | | | | marry a handsome and kind-hearted prince. She goes |
| all. Her name was Ellspeth, and as she told it in her | | | | to a good fairy of the woods, who agrees to |
| autobiography Ellspeth's Book of Shadows, Prince | | | | transform her into a human being if she can get the |
| Heinrich wasn't as innocent as he later claimed. He | | | | prince to kiss her. The clever frog succeeds, but her |
| refused to get out of her path as she walked up the | | | | success comes at a terrible price. Although the prince |
| mountain pass, searching for wild witch hazel. To add | | | | and the frog both end of living happily, their |
| insult to injury, he called her all kinds of foul names. | | | | happily-ever-after is spent apart. Female frogs, |
| Ellspeth cursed the ill-tempered young prince for his | | | | Walker notes in her introduction to the tale, are |
| own good, to teach him a lesson in manners. | | | | often larger and stronger than the males of their |
| When the princess (whose name was Anika) came | | | | species. For that reason, the frog makes the perfect |
| along, tossing her famous golden ball in the air, and | | | | symbol of the independent woman who can make it |
| dropped her ball into the bog that Heinrich called | | | | in the world, even without her handsome prince. |
| home, Heinrich saw it as his golden opportunity to | | | | Works Cited |
| take advantage of Anika. He offered to retrieve her | | | | "The Frog Prince," Grimms' Fairy Tales by the |
| golden ball from the pond, if she'd let stay at the | | | | Brothers Grimm. There are many editions; mine |
| castle. His plan was mooch off Anika and her father | | | | happens to be translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas, Lucy |
| the king, while all the while staying warm, moist and | | | | Crane and Marian Edwardes. New York: Grosset |
| comfortable in the royal palace. Anika agreed, but she | | | | & Dunlap, 1945. |
| could only put up with Heinrich's selfish, greedy ways | | | | "The Frog Princess," Feminist Fairy Tales by Barbara |
| for so long. When he wanted her to allow his slimy | | | | G. Walker. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996. |
| carcass to sleep on her pillow, Anika got disgusted | | | | "Relationship Basics: Never Kiss a Frog," The Magical |
| and threw Heinrich face-first into a stone wall. That | | | | Girl's Guide to Womanhood by Violetta |
| would have killed an ordinary frog. But in Heinrich's | | | | Marmalade-Spirit, as told to Erin E. Schmidt. |
| case, it made him wake up and smell the bogwater. | | | | Unpublished, 2008. |