Polish Fairy Tales. Antoni Józef Gliński

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      THE FROG PRINCESS

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      HERE was once a king, who was very old; but he had three grown-up sons. So he called them to him, and said:

      "My dear sons, I am very old, and the cares of government press heavily upon me. I must therefore give them over to one of you. But as it is the law among us, that no unmarried prince may be King, I wish you all to get married, and whoever chooses the best wife shall be my successor."

      So they determined each to go a different way, and settled ​it thus. They went to the top of a very high tower, and each one at a given signal shot an arrow in a different direction to the others. Wherever their arrows fell they were to go in search of their future wives.

      The eldest prince's arrow fell on a palace in the city, where lived a senator, who had a beautiful daughter; so he went there, and married her. The second prince's arrow struck upon a country-house, where a very pretty young lady, the daughter of a rich gentleman, was sitting; so he went there, and proposed to her, and they were married.

      But the youngest prince's arrow shot through a green wood, and fell into a lake. He saw his arrow floating among the reeds, and a frog sitting thereon, looking fixedly at him.

      But the marshy ground was so unsafe that he could not venture upon it; so he sat down in despair.

      "What is the matter, prince?" asked the frog.

      "What is the matter? Why, I cannot reach that arrow on СКАЧАТЬ