THERE WAS ONCE a poor farmer who had four very beautiful daughters, which he loved. To the most beautiful of them all, the youngest, and as he loved her even more that the others, he always showed special treatment to the point that he had spoiled her and did every favor imaginable. Yet he felt bad that he was poor, and that the only present he could give her all these years with his very few savings was a green ball. “I hope that one day you find your Prince”, he told her every night before going to sleep, then kissed her on the cheek and covered her with a blanket.

One ordinary day that the father was working in the field, the young daughter took the ball and went to the big forest near their hut. She there found a well and sat next to it, then took her ball out and started playing with it to pass time. When the ball accidentally fell in the well, however, so disappointed was she that she burst into tears. The more time passed, the louder she cried, until in the end, her cry could be heard to the ends of the forest.

A disgusting frog then came out of the well, who told her: “If you really want the ball, I can get it for you, but what will you give me in exchange?”

“Whatever pleases you, good frog”, the young girl answered.

“I want you to love me, and to be your friend in your play. To let me sit beside you on the tabletop and eat from your plate, to drink from your glass and to sleep next to you in your bed. If you promise me all that, I promise to bring you the ball”.

“I promise to you what you want, so long you bring me my ball back”, the young girl answered, thinking that a frog could not possibly ask her to be her friend.

The frog then jumped straight into the well’s water and returned a moment later with her ball. The girl was so happy that the tears disappeared from her cheeks in an instant. She then took the ball and returned to the hut where her dad and the other three girls waited for her.

Many days later, a young Prince in a shining uniform knocked on the hut’s door. The peasant greeted him and summoned his youngest daughter, who was impressed to hear that a true Prince had come to ask her hand. She got dressed and prepared, and after making sure she was as beautiful as possible, went to meet him. He then told the farmer:

“A few days ago, your daughter agreed to welcome me in your home, if I returned her the ball which she lost in the well. Today I came to see if she will keep her word”.

The daughter then realized the frog with the human voice that she met at the well was in reality a handsome Prince, the one which she waited for all her life. She kissed him on the cheek, then showed him around her house, as well as her toys. He then placed her on his wagon and took her for a ride so they could enjoy the moonlight together. Near the river where the wagon stopped, he offered her beautiful roses, then kneeled before her and presented her with a golden ring which he had in his pocket, so as to propose to her. He then told her:

“In reality, I am nothing but an ugly frog, but… I’m no commoner, but rather, the King of Frogs, and I could have any frog-wife I would want for a wife”.

He then explained to her that he had asked a witch to give him a human shape, which would last as long as the moon was still in the sky, so he could present himself to her. Initially she was disgusted in the thought that a frog was talking to her, yet the more he kept speaking, the more she felt drawn in to him, to the point that she didn’t even think of interrupting him.

“I’ve never seen any creature more beautiful than you and should you kiss me, you will transform into a frog like myself and come with me in my Kingdom, or otherwise, I will denounce my throne so that you take me with you in a fishbowl so as to be by your side”.

The young girl thought about it, and realized that no human would have been as willing to make a sacrifice as big for her.

She then replied: “Let me be your Queen then”, and gave him a big kiss. Then they both transformed into frogs and the wagon that was carrying them became a water lily which carried them all the way to the frog’s Kingdom, where they married and lived happily ever after.