Household Tales · Chapter
The Frog-King, or Iron Henry explained
A princess loses her golden ball in a well and reluctantly promises a frog that he can be her companion in exchange for retrieving it.
What happens
A princess loses her golden ball in a well and reluctantly promises a frog that he can be her companion in exchange for retrieving it. The frog appears at the castle and, at the king's insistence, she fulfills her promise. When she finally throws the frog against the wall in anger, he transforms into a handsome prince, explaining he was bewitched. They marry and travel to his kingdom, accompanied by his faithful servant Henry, whose heart had been bound with iron bands that break with joy.
Themes in this chapter
Promises and Their Consequences
The princess's promise to the frog, though made lightly, must be honored, leading to her eventual reward.
Transformation and Redemption
The frog transforms into a prince, symbolizing redemption through the princess's acceptance and loyalty.
Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
The princess's initial selfishness is corrected, and her eventual obedience leads to a happy marriage.
Characters to notice
- the princess
The youngest princess, beautiful and initially careless with her promises, who eventually learns the importance of keeping her word.
- the young King
The prince transformed into a frog by a witch, who is freed when the princess accepts him.
- Faithful John
The prince's loyal servant who bound his heart with iron bands out of grief and joyfully breaks them upon his master's deliverance.
- the king
The princess's father, who insists she honor her promise to the frog.
Key passages
“In old times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face.”
Long ago, when wishes could come true, a king had many beautiful daughters, but the youngest was so lovely that even the sun marveled at her.
Opening establishes the fairy-tale setting and the princess's extraordinary beauty.
“But the frog when he had received this promise, put his head into the water and sank down, and in a short while came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass.”
After the princess promised, the frog dove into the well and soon returned with the golden ball in his mouth, tossing it onto the grass.
The frog fulfills his part of the bargain immediately.
“Then she was terribly angry, and took him up and threw him with all her might against the wall. 'Now, thou wilt be quiet, odious frog,' said she. But when he fell down he was no frog but a King's son with beautiful kind eyes.”
In a fit of rage, she hurled the frog against the wall, but instead of harming him, he transformed into a handsome prince.
The climax where the frog's curse is broken through the princess's action.
“Faithful Henry had been so unhappy when his master was changed into a frog, that he had caused three iron bands to be laid round his heart, lest it should burst with grief and sadness.”
Faithful Henry was so grieved when his master became a frog that he had three iron bands placed around his heart to keep it from breaking.
Introduces the loyal servant and the symbolic iron bands.