She was watching him carefully, her green body suspended in the water. Her eyes were barely visible on the water line while her legs were extended and her webbed feet were inches above the bottom of the pond. She had noticed him before and wondered why he made her feel the way he did. He was a human after all and she saw plenty of humans as they searched for their lost balls in her pond. But, this was the first one that interested her. Maybe he was the one she was waiting for. She had been told stories by the ancient toads of mysterious beginnings and omens portending her greatness. She was the Princess of the pond, but the stories hinted at more. She was impatient to begin her life and this boy felt as if he might be part of it.
He stomped about the pond angrily searching for his special golf ball imbedded with gold leaf. He had hooked his shot on the 7th tee and watched his ball sail into the pond next to the dark forest surrounding the golf course. He was angry because this ball had been given to him just last week by his father. His father wanted to reward his son’s dedication to golf (actually, to anything and since golf was the only thing, it had to do) and he had this ball made especially for his son’s sixteenth birthday. He had won his first tournament the day after his birthday with the ball, a truly unusual gift. Unusual was important to him because the usual was so common and he deplored the commonplace.
Deep and dark inside of me
ready to discover
what I’m meant to be?
I wonder, wonder, wonder.
She was motionless as he approached the spot where his ball was buried in the mud at the bottom of the pond. He took his club and began to probe for the ball. She moved toward him, when he noticed her approach, he spoke to her, “Hey puddle splasher, do you know where my ball is?”
She surprised them both when she replied, “Oh human one, I know well where it is, but what will you give me for your orb of gold?”
They looked at one another with wonder, until the boy recovered his composure and said, “Get me my ball and I will take you to live at my father’s mansion where you shall want for nothing.” He looked at her and waited for her reply thinking to himself, what beautiful legs, they look delicious.
Her mother emerged from the woods and hopped up to his golf bag.
“Daughter dear, remember the promise of your greatness, humans only destroy and if you go with him you will be destroyed, just like your father, killed by a golf ball at the hands of the uncaring humans. I beg you to stay and be patient with your life.”
“Mother, Mother I will go, you can not stop me now or ever, for I know my mind and have been promised that I will want for nothing. Is that not what has been foretold for me, to want for nothing, to live as a queen. Is that not what you are, the Queen.” replied her daughter.
Staring into her daughters eyes the Queen spoke softly, “Indeed daughter of mine, promises have been made, a future has been foretold, and I am Queen of that which I know. Go if you must, but the magic you possess is powerful and I know there will be a test.”
“Hey, what are you two blabbing about, are you going to get my ball or do I have to go hire a backhoe and dig it out myself?” whined the young man while he swung his club in preparation for the next hole. “If you are going with me get my ball and hop in the pocket of my bag so I can finish this round before dark.”
Get his ball and hop into the pocket she did, ready to begin a life of extravagance and joy.
**********************
She soon discovered she had been deceived. The boy’s idea of wanting for nothing was to give her all the flies she could eat. He would bring bag after bag of dried flies, she remembered the fresh taste of flies on her tongue as she captured them at her mother’s pond. She was trapped by her own decision. This was not a place of joy, she was so unhappy that she stopped talking to the boy. He became angry and stopped visiting her at the pond in the mansion’s north wing on the second floor. There was plenty to do in her extravagantly furnished room where the pond was located, but she was alone and sat all day at the window staring at the world she missed.
One day, after a long absence, the boy came to her room. He looked at her and said, “Puddle splasher, I think I am ready to eat you. You have stopped talking and that was the most uncommon thing about you. Now the most uncommon thing is your big fat legs. Tonight I am going to have them for dinner.”
When she heard these words she became angry. Truly angry for the first time in her life. Until now she had thought things would get better, but now she realized what a stupid little princess she had been and was angry at herself for not listening to her mother. She was so angry smoke began to come out of her ears. She felt like she was being boiled. Her body changed from green to red. As she gazed at the boy she spoke these dark words from deep within her.
“You silly fool,
I am not here for you to eat,
but to find out what makes me great,
I know now that what I want
is for you to become as me
and learn to hop.”
As soon as she uttered the curse, the boy became a big, dark green, handsome bull frog sitting next to her on the floor. She quickly hopped out the open door and he followed, out of the house, across the lawn, and eventually they arrived at her mother’s pond. There was her Mother sitting on a lilly pad in the middle of the pond. Next to her were the ancient toads and all the frogs of the pond watching as the two newcomers approached. When the toads realized who it was, they began to sing.
“Hail O Princess,
Hail to thee,
Welcome Home,
What is it you will be?”
The princess and the new frog jumped into the water and swam to the lilly pad next to the Queen.
The princess announced to all,
I have returned and plan to stay,
for this is where my greatness lay,
not in the human world,
for sure that is a terrible place to stay.
The magic in me is becoming strong and
I have brought a human who is now a frog
She realized there was much to learn about how to handle her magic, but right now she had a lot to teach this new frog who would become the King when her mother retired and they became the rulers of the pond.
The new frog sat on his lilly pad and thought to himself, “This is truly unusual.” He sighed and jumped into the water to test his webbed feet wondering to himself, “If I eat frog’s legs, am I a cannibal?
As far as I know, they are still there to this day, living a life of extravagance and joy together.
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