Once Upon a Frog Page 2
“Maryrose! I need you!” I whisper-yell again. But she doesn’t appear in the mirror. “Will I land in the same fairy tale that Jonah and Prince are in?”
No answer.
The mirror is still swirling. It’s pulling me toward it as if it’s a vacuum cleaner and I’m a piece of carpet fluff.
I have to find Jonah and Prince! I have to!
Without further hesitation, I jump in.
I land with a hard splash.
Ouch.
Water soaks through the bottom of my pj’s. Argh. At least my watch is waterproof.
I quickly stand up and try to look around for Jonah and Prince. But it’s dark in here. And definitely wet. The water goes up to my knees.
“Jonah? Prince? Hello?” I yell out. My voice echoes.
Silence.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
WHAT IF I DID LAND IN A DIFFERENT FAIRY TALE?
Maybe Maryrose was mad at Jonah for having her memories and wanted to punish him? What if she’s mad at me for not telling her about Jonah’s memories sooner and wanted to punish me? What if I never see my brother again? What will I tell my parents?
Agh!
“Jonah?” I call out.
No answer.
My legs start shaking. My wet legs. My pajama bottoms are stuck to me and the water squishes through my flip-flops.
Ewww — what is that slimy thing on my big toe? I kick, and a green frog leaps onto a leaf.
I shiver. I’m in some kind of tiny, dark lake with a frog. Maybe there are snakes, too. I hate snakes! Does anyone like snakes?
“Jonah!” I yell out again. My heart is pounding. Where is my brother?
Okay, calm down, Abby, I order myself. Figure out where you are.
I press my hands up against a nearby wall. It feels like stone. The room itself is small. Only a few feet wide. And it’s circular.
Am I in a tiny, watery dungeon?
I glance up. Probably not — no bars at the top. And there’s blue sky above me.
Am I in a tunnel? No. Tunnels run sideways, not up and down.
Am I in a … well?
Yes! I look back down at the water. I think I am in a well. Okay, at least I know where I am. Not that it helps.
“Jonah!” I yell again. “Prince!”
I listen for Prince’s ruff, but I hear nothing.
I stare up at the rim of the well, hoping I’ll suddenly see Jonah’s face. But I don’t.
If my palms weren’t damp from well water, they’d be damp from fear.
I hate being separated from my brother.
Wait a minute. We went in through the same swirl, even if it wasn’t at the same time, so maybe that means we ARE in the same fairy tale. Maybe Jonah and Prince did land someplace nearby but I can’t see them because I’m stuck in this tiny well.
Uh-oh.
They couldn’t be underwater, could they? I crouch back down. The water isn’t deep enough to get lost in. It’s only to my knees. I would see a little kid and a furry dog if they were below the surface.
I kick my feet around just to make sure. No Jonah and no Prince.
I stand back up. “JONAH!” I yell as loud as I can.
“Abby?” I hear Jonah say. “Where are you?”
Yes! I feel a burst of relief. He’s here! We are in the same fairy tale! But where is he exactly?
“Jonah! I’m down here!” I shout, standing on my toes and waving my arms.
“Huh? I can hear you, but I can’t see you!” Jonah calls back.
“I’m in the well!”
My neck is strained from leaning my head back and staring up at the top of the well, but finally, Jonah’s face appears over the rim. Yay! I’ve never been so happy to see my little brother’s face!
“Hi!” I say, waving up at him. A fly buzzes in my ear, and I swat it away.
“Hi!” Jonah calls down, grinning. “There you are! I was worried you wouldn’t come through the mirror!”
Suddenly, I hear a familiar Ruff, ruff, ruff! Prince appears over the edge of the well, too, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
“Hi, sweetie!” I call up. “I’m so glad you’re both okay!” Then my relief turns to annoyance. “Why’d you guys go through the mirror without me? You’re not allowed to go without me!”
“Sorry!” Jonah says. He reaches over and pats Prince’s head. “This little guy wagged his tail into the mirror, and I guess that counted as the third knock. The mirror started to swirl superfast and then we got sucked in!”
“Mrowwwwww,” Prince says, with big puppy dog eyes.
Aw, I can’t stay mad at him. “Okay, you’re both forgiven. But don’t let it happen again.”
“How’d you get down there, anyway?” Jonah asks.
That’s the thing with getting sucked into fairy tales. We never know exactly where we’ll end up. We don’t know which fairy tale we’ll fall into or where in the fairy tale we’ll fall. “No idea,” I call up. “How’d you get up there?”
“No clue,” he says. “We landed near a tree.”
Seeing Jonah above helps orient me. The well feels about three times my height. I’m four and a half feet tall. Which means the well is about thirteen and a half feet deep.
Too bad my math skills aren’t going to help me get out of this well. “Can you look around for something you can use to help me out of here?” I ask Jonah.
“ ’Kay! Be right back!”
Ruff? my dog says, tilting his head at me.
“Go with him, Prince!” I say. “He needs your help.”
Prince bounds away.
“Who needs my help?” an unfamiliar voice asks.
An unfamiliar voice right next to me.
But the only thing next to me is the frog I saw before. The frog is perched on a leaf. Staring at me with its big, bulgy, amber-brown eyes.
The voice I heard must have been Jonah playing a trick on me. I look up at the top of the well. But I don’t see my brother anymore. But how did Jonah make his voice go that deep and croaky and come from so close?
“Very funny, Jonah,” I call up. “No more jokes! Just keep an eye on Prince, okay?”
“I am the prince!” the unfamiliar voice says.
AGAIN FROM RIGHT NEXT TO ME.
I jump back, flattening myself against the wall of the well.
The frog is staring at me. And I think he’s smiling. Do frogs smile?
I stare back.
A frog just talked to me! At least, I think it did. Unless I hit my head on my way in. “Did you say something?” I ask the frog.
“Yes,” he says puffing up his chest. “You mentioned a prince, and I’m a prince. I know it’s difficult to imagine in my current condition, but it’s the truth.”
I can clearly see him moving his froggy lips. The frog is definitely talking.
He’s about the size of a fist, green with a few brown spots on his back. Big for a frog. Not that I’ve seen that many frogs up close. He’s really kind of … cute. Elegant, really. He’s squatting, his four little legs on the leaf, as if he might hop away at any moment.
“Y-y-you’re a prince?” I stammer.
He tilts his head and stares back at me. “Yes,” he responds. “Hello.”
I’m in a well. With a talking frog. A frog who claims to be a prince.
This can only mean one thing.
Not true. It could probably mean lots of things. Like I really did hit my head and am now hallucinating. Or that someone has planted a microphone inside a frog and is pretending to make him speak. But in this case, I’m willing to bet that it means …
We’re in the story of The Frog Prince!
Hurrah! I love that fairy tale! True, I love most fairy tales. But The Frog Prince is one of my favorites. There’s a Disney movie based on it, too, but that’s called The Princess and the Frog. The movie is totally different from the fairy tale. It’s set in New Orleans and is about a regular girl named Tiana who turns into a frog after she kisses the frog prince.
>
But the original fairy tale, which my nana told me, starts with a princess. She is wandering around and drops her ball in a well. But there’s a frog inside the well! The frog offers to get the ball for the princess if she’ll be his friend and companion. She agrees. He gives her back the ball. But then she refuses to be his friend because he’s a frog. The frog finds her at her castle and reminds her of her promise. The princess’s father makes her keep the promise, so the princess takes the frog to her room, but she’s annoyed. So annoyed that she throws the frog against the wall, and presto — he turns into a handsome prince.
Yup. That’s the real story. People always think that the princess kisses the frog and that’s what turns him back into a prince. But that’s not what happens in the original story written by the Brothers Grimm. I don’t know where the kissing part came from. There are lots of other versions of The Frog Prince. Maybe it was in one of those.
“Hello there!” I say to the frog, feeling excited. “It’s so nice to meet you!”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” he says. He bats his long eyelashes at me shyly. “I’ve been hoping someone would come along. Someone I can trust, that is. I can’t talk to just anyone. I once tried to tell a boy my story and he lunged for me, saying he could probably sell a talking frog for a fortune.”
“That’s terrible!” I say. “Well, you can trust me,” I assure him.
“You’re probably wondering how a frog can talk,” he says, stretching out on the leaf. “I can talk because I’m actually human — well, I’m a human trapped inside the body of a frog.”
Of course I know that part, but I’m fascinated to hear the rest. The original story was sketchy on the details.
The frog lifts his pointy green chin. “My name is Prince Frederic. I’m heir to the throne of my kingdom. At least I was, until an evil fairy turned me into a frog.”
“But why?” I ask.
He hangs his head and looks like he might cry. “My own sister, Sophie, who wants the throne for herself, paid the evil fairy to do this to me.”
“How awful!” I say. I think of how Mr. Beast from Beauty and the Beast was turned into a beast. “Why did the fairy turn you into a frog, though?” I ask.
“My kingdom is called Frogville. I suppose my sister has a bad sense of humor.” Frederic laughs sadly. “Not long ago, I was sitting down to gourmet meals of steak and soufflés. Now I have to catch and eat flies.” He flicks out his tongue and catches one with a snapping curl. “Don’t think I find flies tasty just because I’m a frog. I definitely do not.”
“I wouldn’t think you did,” I say, feeling very sorry for Prince Frederic. He really is quite regal-looking, even as a frog. Yet here he is, hanging out in wells and munching on insects.
Frederic nods. Actual tears fill his big eyes. I never thought frogs could cry. Then again, I’d never imagined they could speak to people, either.
“All I want is to become human again,” Frederic says. “To become a prince again. To return to my kingdom and save my dear people from my terrible sister. She doesn’t care about anyone. She only values money and power. She is a tyrant. She locks everyone in prison! Even ten-year-old children!”
Oh, gosh. I’m ten. I would not want to go to prison.
Poor fly-eating Frederic! Poor ten-year-old children!
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “That’s terrible.”
He perks up, his little froggy shoulders lifting. “Will you help turn me back into a human?” he asks hopefully.
“Me? No!”
His little froggy shoulders fall. “Oh.”
I’d give him a big hug if I weren’t afraid of crushing him. “Not because I don’t want to! I know who will turn you back into a human and she’s coming! Any minute! Really! She’s going to drop her ball in the well. You’ll catch it. When she asks you to give it back, tell her you’ll give it to her only if she’ll be your companion. Got it? Then you’ll eventually get changed back into a person.”
“Got it!” he says, nodding happily. “I would make an excellent companion. I’m extremely strong for a frog. I do a lot of push-ups. Want to see?”
“Sure …”
“Abby?” I hear from above.
I look up. My brother is peeking into the well again.
“Jonah! You’re back! Do you have something to help get me out of here?”
“I couldn’t find anything,” he says. “I’ll keep looking. I just wanted to check on you.”
“I’m fine! Is Prince with you?”
“Yup,” Jonah says. “He’s chasing a bird. Oh! I think I figured out what story we’re in. The trees are really tall here! Really, really tall. Tall enough for giants! I think we’re finally in Jack and the Beanstalk!”
I snort. “We’re not. I promise, we’re not.”
Jonah pouts. “How do you know?”
“Because I’m in a well. And I’ve been chatting with a talking frog. A talking, royal frog.”
“So?”
Maybe Jonah hit his head on the way in.
“So … we’re in The Frog Prince!”
“Oh,” my brother says. “Boo. But, hello, talking frog!” He waves down into the well, his voice echoing.
“Hello, young man,” the frog calls up. “I am Frederic.”
“Hello, Frederic! I am Jonah!”
“And I am Abby,” I say formally.
“And neither of you will be my companion?” Frederic asks. He seems a little sad again. Now I feel bad that we can’t be the ones to turn him back into a prince.
“I will!” Jonah exclaims.
“No, you won’t,” I tell my brother with a sigh. “The princess is going to be his companion.”
“Oh, right, Princess Tiana.”
I shake my head. “No, not Princess Tiana. She’s only in the movie version.”
“Gotcha,” Jonah says. “So another princess is going to come by? And then what? She kisses the frog?”
“No one’s kissing anyone,” I tell him. “But yes, another princess is about to come by. She’ll be playing with a golden ball. She’ll drop it in the well by accident. The frog will catch it. The story will go on the way it’s supposed to. That’s the way this works.”
Jonah laughs. “Seriously? That’s never the way this works! We always mess up the story.”
That’s true. We do. “But not on purpose!” I say.
“Sometimes on purpose,” Jonah says.
I’m getting impatient. “Jonah, can we finish this debate once you’ve gotten me out of the well?”
“Okay,” he says.
“Thank you!”
I’ll definitely mess up the story if the princess sees me down here. When she drops the ball and it’s thrown back up to her, she might think I did it. It’s not like frogs are known for their throwing skills.
“Wait a minute,” Frederic says to me. “Are you saying that Princess Cassandra is going to be my companion and turn me human?”
“Well, I don’t know her name —” I begin.
“I’ve been trying to get her attention for days!” Frederic says. “Short blond hair? I thought I could talk to her, royal to royal. I thought maybe if I became her friend, she would help me. Maybe she’d force one of the fairies in her kingdom to turn me back. Or at least lend me the money to hire one of them. But she’s such a fast rider on her horse that I can’t keep up with her. I followed her here from her palace. And then I jumped down the well. I was hoping she’d get thirsty and stop to drink some well water and I’d finally be able to talk to her. That’s why I came to this kingdom in the first place.”
“How did you get here?” I ask him, curious.
“What do you mean?” he asks. “I hopped!”
I can’t help but smile. “Well, your plan was smart,” I tell him. “This well is exactly where you should be when the princess comes by. But it’s exactly where I shouldn’t be.” I glance up at Jonah, who is still hovering over the well. “We have to get me out!”
“But how?” Jonah
asks.
Good question. “I don’t know. Don’t wells normally have a bucket or something? Isn’t that the point of wells? To bring stuff up in a bucket?” I ask.
“What stuff?” Jonah asks.
“Stuff!” I kick my heel and hear a splash. “Like water!”
“Hmm. That sounds right,” Jonah says. “But I see no bucket.”
Crumbs. “There’s not one down here, either. What else is around you?”
I see Jonah’s head turning left, then right. “It looks like a forest,” he says. “But with really big trees. Really big ones. Giant ones. They could even be beanstalks! Are you sure we’re not in Jack and the —”
“Jonah, we are NOT in Jack and the Beanstalk! I am stuck in a well with a TALKING FROG!”
“Fine,” Jonah huffs. “It’s really hot up here,” he adds. “You might want to stay down there, know-it-all. Bet it’s cooler.”
My flannel pj bottoms are sticking to me. Not exactly comfortable. “I think I’d rather get out of the bottom of the well, thanks. Is there a rope out there?”
“No rope,” he says. “Not much of anything.”
I turn to Frederic. “Any ideas?”
“Can you climb up?” the frog suggests.
I feel the inside of the well to see if there are ridges or anything to dig my feet into, but it feels smooth. “Let me try,” I say, and attempt to pull myself up. I can’t. “I guess you wouldn’t be able to give me a boost,” I say to Frederic.
“My push-ups have made me strong,” he reminds me. “But not that strong.”
Ruff! Ruff, ruff! Ruff! I hear from above. Ruff! Ruff, ruff! Ruff!
Prince is barking the way he does when the doorbell rings. “What’s wrong?” I call up to Jonah.
“Someone’s coming!” Jonah says.
“It’s probably the princess!” I cry. Crumbs. I was hoping to get out of here first. Now what? I have to hide. So do Prince and Jonah! “Go hide!” I tell my brother.
“Where?”
“You said you’re in a forest. Go find a tree! Quick, so she doesn’t see you!” I say. “We want the story to continue the way it’s supposed to!”
Although what Jonah said before was right. We always mess up the stories.
“Whatever you say, Abby!” Jonah calls back. He ducks out of sight.