Fairytales of Famous Authors Compared to Disney Cartoons with proper respect etc

Story 34: The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker in 2002-2003 P2

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 will be contained in this chapter. 14 chapters left in this idioms book as a whole.

The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker.

Chapter 4

I opened my eyes and blinked. My head felt woozy; nothing would come into focus. Gradually my vision sharpened, but everything looked different somehow. The colors seemed brighter and there were more of them. An enormous butterfly flew past, its wings seesawing up and down through the air. It wore beautiful reds and shades of purple that I'd never seen before.

  "Oh!" I said aloud, flinched at the timbre of my own voice. It sounded strange in my ears and talking made my throat feel funny.
  My nostrils flared at the sour smell of decaying vegetation and swamp muck. The leaves in the trees rattled loudly in the wind while the hum of a million insects nearly deafened me. Thump! Something heavy hit the damp soil by the edge of the pond. Thump! It came again,  louder and closer. Heavy breathing filled the air.
  I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. Still dazed, I looked down. The ground was much closer than it had been only a few moments ago; the clumps of dirt were larger as well. A pair of webbed feet and long, muscular legs stretched out in front of me. Puzzled, I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them to look again. The legs were attached to a short, plump body covered with mottled, green skin. My brain refused to acknowledge what my eyes told me. I lifted my hand and wiggled my fingers. Four green crooked fingers twitched. Suddenly, I understood: I wasn't looking at some other creature. I was looking at myself!"
  "What's this? What's happened? How did  this———" I babbled. My heart raced as panic set in. "I'm dreaming, that's it! I'm home in bed and I'm dreaming!"
    Thump! Whatever I'd heard before was coming closer. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my body to the ground. "I'm imagining this. If I ignore it, it'll go away." I said aloud. My Mother derided me for having a vivid imagination, but this was too much even for me!
Thump! Thump! Thump! Something large and wet pressed against my back, snuffling hot, smelly air from my head to my feet. It felt so real, I thought, and opened first one eye, then the other. An enormous white dog with short, dirty fur loomed over me, studying me intently with its huge red-rimmed eyes. My Father's dogs were all brown or black or gray. This dog was a stranger to me and all the more frightening. I shuddered as if pushed me with its nose, tumbling me over onto my side. It snuffled me once more, then opened its carnivorous mouth wide. My stomach churned from the smell of the dog's breath. A big drop of hot, stinky slobber dripped onto my head.

   This is not a dream, I thought. With a convulsive twitch, I rolled to my feet and leaped as far and as fast as I could. My movements were clumsy and uncoordinated, but I leaped again and again, each time putting more and more distance between the dog and myself. One final leap, a half twist, and a flop, and I landed in the water with a splash.
   "Frog!" said the dog as it belly-flopped into the water after me. "Come back! I need to talk to you!"
    Too frightened to answer the dog, I flailed my arms and tried to get away. Although I'd grown up near the water, I had never learned how to swim. As clumsy as I was, I was sure that if I ever stepped into water higher than my ankles I would drown. I floundered, thrashing my arms and legs and going nowhere. The dog lunged for me again, creating a wave that washed me towards the middle of the pond. Drawing up my legs, I kicked hard and shot through the water, away from the dog and its crushing jaws. It worked! I thought, surprised at myself. I did it again. The water rushed past as I hurtled forward, barely missing a tiny sunfish. I twisted around and rose to the surface to look for the dog. Dashing back and forth in the shallow water at the edge of the pond, the beast was no longer a threat.
   A wave of relief washed over me. I did it! I thought. "I got away from that giant dog all on my own! I can do anything! Gleefully, I twirled around in the water. I splashed from one side of the pool to the other, and when I grew tired of kicking, I ducked my head and blew bubbles. Floating on my stomach, I watched the minnows dart past in a frenzied formation. I enjoyed every minute of it, delighting in the sensation of the warm water coursing against my skin. As a Princess, I had never been able to go outside unencumbered by heavy fabric and long skirts. The new feeling of freedom was exhilarating!
     Eventually, I rolled onto my back and gazed up at the wispy clouds high in the clear blue sky. I wonder what happened to Frog. I hadn't seen him since my transformation. It occurred to me that maybe it was a trick. Maybe we had switched places and he was now a human. But how could that have happened without my seeing it? Besides, although he might be obnoxious, I didn't think he was sneaky.
   I climbed onto a partially submerged log, and I thought about all that had happened that day. In the excitement of my escape from the dog and the discovering of my newfound abilities, I hadn't really thought about what I would do next. I was alone in the swamp with no one to turn to. What was I going to do?
     Distraught, I hunched down and began to cry. I hated crying and almost never did. My Mother had told me many times that a Princess should never cry in public, but I knew that sometimes a person just couldn't help it. Large tears rolled down my cheeks and plopped onto the rough bark of the log. I was so miserable that I didn't notice Frog climb up beside me.