The Frog King or Iron Heinrich (German: Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich), also known as The Frog Prince, is a fairy tale, best known through the Brothers Grimm's written version; traditionally it is the first story in their collection. In the tale, a spoiled princess reluctantly befriends a frog (possibly meeting him after dropping a gold ball into his pond), who magically transforms into a handsome prince. Although in modern versions the transformation is invariably triggered by the princess kissing the frog, in the original Grimm version of the story, the frog's spell was broken when the princess threw it against a wall in disgust.[1] In other early versions it was sufficient for the frog to spend the night on the princess's pillow.
The story is classified under the Aarne-Thompson classification system as a type 440 story. Others of this type include the Scottish The Tale of the Queen Who Sought a Drink From a Certain Well and the English The Well of the World's End.[2] The Grimms themselves picked out The Well of the World's End as a variant.[3]
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Shapeshifting
The violent act of the princess, throwing the frog against the wall, is a common folkloric trait of undoing shapeshifting magic, and not even the most violent; in The Tale of the Queen Who Sought a Drink From a Certain Well and the English The Well of the World's End, the heroine must behead the frog to transform it to a prince. See also The White Cat [4]
The story in popular culture
A popular phrase related to this story is, "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your handsome prince." It is used to encourage women who have romance troubles. It is unclear where the motif comes from. Maria Tatar's The Annotated Brothers Grimm merely attributes it to "American versions of the story", without becoming more specific. Heiner states that it is unclear when this element was added to the story.
Modern interpretations
A chamber opera for children based upon "The Frog Prince" was recently written by Jacob A. Greenberg for Brown Opera Productions and the Providence Athenaeum.
A musical version of The Frog Prince, written by Dieter Stegmann and Alexander S. Bermange was presented at the Amphitheater Park Schloss Philippsruhe, Hanau, Germany as part of the Brothers Grimm Festival in 2005.
Mickey's Young Readers Library featured a version titled Donald and the Frog. In this adaptation, Donald Duck loses one of his oars during a rowboat race and promises to give his trophy to a frog who retrieves it for him.
Many retellings try to soften the princess's character. Many film adaptions create two female leads (such as the Cannon film version).
Peter Gabriel's song, "Kiss That Frog," from his 1992 album Us, is an obvious reference to "The Frog Prince." The King from Shrek 2 has an origin based on the Frog Prince story, as does Flycatcher from Fables.
The Walt Disney Pictures animated film The Princess and the Frog is loosely based on this story.
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Frog Prince |
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- The Frog Princess
- Anne Sexton, Transformations
- The Princess and the Frog
Books
- The Prince of the Pond, Jimmy the Pickpocket of the Palace, Gracie the Pixie of the Puddle, a trilogy by Donna Jo Napoli
- The Frog Princess. a novel by E.D. Baker
References
- ^ Heidi Anne Heiner,"The Annotated Frog King"
- ^ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Frog King"
- ^ Maria Tatar, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p 4 ISBN 0-393-05848-4
- ^ Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, p174-5, ISBN 0-691-06722-8
External links
- Nice old English version
- Fairyland Illustrated Frog Prince
- SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Annotated Frog King
- Frog Kings: Folktales about Slimy Suitorss
- The Frog Prince atStory Resources
- Elizabeth Barrette, "Frog Prince" (e-text)
- "Frog Prince 1978 Russian Cartoon"
- Archived audio recording of The Frog Prince, recorded as part of an ArtsSmarts educational project
- KIDOONS presents the Frog Prince for kids
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[[See also {Frog Prince performed live in SM Fairview}
September 2009 ]][[Link title]]
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