The Frog Princess Novel Book 1 (Completed)

Chapter 5

"What's wrong?" Frog asked. He had to ask me twice before the question pierced my bubble of misery.

"Oh," I said, peering at him through tear-filled eyes. "It's you."

"I'm glad you're so thrilled to see me," Frog said. "But you still haven't answered my question. What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. "I'm a frog and it's your fault! This wasn't supposed to happen. You said you would turn back into a prince. You never said I could turn into a frog!"

"What do I look like, a gypsy fortune-teller? No one ever told me this might happen. I'm sorry. I can't imagine why it did. But it's not so bad, you know. Being a frog, that is. I've been a frog for quite a while. It really does have its advantages."

"Oh?" I sniffled. "Like what?"

Frog shrugged. "You won't have to marry Jorge, for one. Life is less complicated as a frog. Why, I can do whatever I want to, like stay up all night or sleep all day. I don't have all the responsibilities or the worries that I used to have, either. You can't imagine how much of a relief it is not to be asked to slay a dragon or behead an ogre or shut down the troll extortion rings under the bridges, although I must admit that I was very good at all three. Now I only have to worry about finding enough food

and being eaten."

"Those sound like pretty serious worries to me," I said.

"Not if you keep your wits about you and pay attention to what's going on. Which is something you need to learn to do."

"I guess I have been a little preoccupied."

"Do you think so? Come on! A dozen dragons could have landed here and toasted you for lunch and you wouldn't have noticed. You're lucky that I'm the one who climbed onto this log! But don't worry. I got you into this, so I'll teach you what you need to know."

"You don't have to teach me anything! Just undo whatever you did and turn me back into a princess!"

"I wish I could," said Frog. "Except I have no idea how to do it."

"Then you'll have to help me find out! I may not have been the happiest princess, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a frog! I can't believe this happened! At first I thought it was all a dream, but ... Say, where did you go, anyway? I didn't see you around when that dog came."

Frog shrugged his smooth green shoulders. "When you kissed me and I didn't become my handsome, princely self again, I admit I was a little upset. It took a while before I noticed that you weren't around anymore, at least as a human. By the time I realized what must have happened, that dog was there and you were hopping around like a lunatic. You disappeared, but it was easy to find you since everyone in the swamp was gossiping about the crazy talking female frog who couldn't swim any better than a newly hatched tadpole."

"I thought I swam quite well!" I said, remembering my pride in my newly learned skill.

"Maybe for a rank beginner."

I couldn't help it. My lip began to quiver.

"Don't do that!" he said. "This is fresh water and you're going to make it salty!"

Two big tears rolled down my cheeks. I sniffled louder.

"Now what's wrong?" Frog asked impatiently.

"Everything!" I wailed. "I've been trying so hard and I thought I was a good swimmer and now you tell me that I'm not and I'm a frog and I don't want to be and I'm scared and now on top of everything else I'm hungry!"

"Maybe if you kissed me again, you'd feel better," said Frog, leaning toward me.

"What?" I said, so surprised that I stopped crying. "Why would I want to do that?"

"It might cheer you up."

"I don't think so!"

"Well, then, maybe we'd be lucky and it would reverse the spell."

"And maybe we'd be unlucky and something worse would happen, although I can't imagine anything worse than being turned into a frog." I began to sniffle again.

"So!" Frog said quickly. "You said you're hungry. Now, that's something we can fix."

"What do you eat?" I asked, rubbing my eyelids with my fingers.

"Whatever comes along. Just watch me. You'll get the idea."

Frog hopped to the tip of the log and sat motionless. He sat still for so long that by the time he finally made his move, I'd become bored and fidgety and almost missed seeing what he did. A dragonfly about the length of a grown man's thumb zigzagged past the end of the log. Without warning, Frog leaped, opened his mouth, and flicked out his tongue. Before he hit the water, Frog had curled his tongue back into his mouth, dragging the dragonfly with it.