That very evening they heard something tap tapping at the door low down,
and a voice cried out:
“Open the door, my hinny, my heart,
Open the door, my own darling;
Mind you the words that you and I spoke,
Down in the meadow, at the World's End Well.”
“Whatever can that be?” cried out the stepmother, and the girl had to
tell her all about it, and what she had promised the frog.
“Girls must keep their promises,” said the stepmother. “Go and open the
door this instant.” For she was glad the girl would have to obey a nasty
frog.
So the girl went and opened the door, and there was the frog from the
Well of the World's End. And it hopped, and it skipped, and it jumped,
till it reached the girl, and then it said:
“Lift me to your knee, my hinny, my heart;
Lift me to your knee, my own darling;
Remember the words you and I spoke,
Down in the meadow by the World's End Well.”
But the girl didn't like to, till her stepmother said “Lift it up this
instant, you hussy! Girls must keep their promises!”
So at last she lifted the frog up on to her lap, and it lay there for a
time, till at last it said:
“Give me some supper, my hinny, my heart,
Give me some supper, my darling;
Remember the words you and I spake,
In the meadow, by the Well of the World's End.”
Well, she didn't mind doing that, so she got it a bowl of milk and
bread, and fed it well. And when the frog, had finished, it said:
“Go with me to bed, my hinny, my heart,
Go with me to bed, my own darling;
Mind you the words you spake to me,
Down by the cold well, so weary.”
But that the girl wouldn't do, till her stepmother said: “Do what you
promised, girl; girls must keep their promises. Do what you're bid, or
out you go, you and your froggie.”
So the girl took the frog with her to bed, and kept it as far away from
her as she could. Well, just as the day was beginning to break what
should the frog say but:
“Chop off my head, my hinny, my heart,
Chop off my head, my own darling;
Remember the promise you made to me,
Down by the cold well so weary.”
At first the girl wouldn't, for she thought of what the frog had done
for her at the Well of the World's End. But when the frog said the words
over again, she went and took an axe and chopped off its head, and lo!
and behold, there stood before her a handsome young prince, who told her
that he had been enchanted by a wicked magician, and he could never be
unspelled till some girl would do his bidding for a whole night, and
chop off his head at the end of it.
The stepmother was that surprised when she found the young prince
instead of the nasty frog, and she wasn't best pleased, you may be sure,
when the prince told her that he was going to marry her stepdaughter
because she had unspelled him. So they were married and went away to
live in the castle of the king, his father, and all the stepmother had
to console her was, that it was all through her that her stepdaughter
was married to a prince.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account