The Chronicle of the Golden Orb: Chapter 7
Chapter 7
In a kingdom by the sea a happy King and his loving Queen brought six beautiful princesses into the world. The King smiled every day to be such a blessed father, for each and every daughter was more beautiful than the last. Still, his heart yearned for a son to rule in his place one day, but he would rather have six daughters than six sons, all of whom would want a part of the kingdom when he died. So it was with no little anticipation that he awaited the birth of his seventh child. The court Vizier was called to prophecy over the birth and the stars were checked and rechecked to be assured of a happy result.
The king walked all along the walls of his castle each day worrying himself about his wife's condition and the possibilities inherent within the bundle of joy she carried. There were seven towers in the castle and each tower top had a room. Six rooms belonged to six daughters and the seventh was the labor room for the queen. As the king walked about the battlements and looked out at the view from the castle walls, each daughter, from eldest to youngest, came or was brought to the window of her individual room to watch as father passed, hoping that he would have some news to impart.
The day of his wife’s delivery he walked around the battlements again and again. The nurse for the youngest daughter was reluctant to bring the princess to the window when she saw his majesty's face as he made the circuit once more, but the two-year old called out and was dutifully brought to the window to see as he passed on his way again. The seventh tower drew closer and he quickened his pace to reach it. But the royal midwives stood on guard and refused to let him pass.
“No, Your Majesty. It is not time yet,” the head midwife stood in his path. “It’s for the good of the queen and her unborn child that we cannot let you pass. For you are extremely anxious and you’d only get in the way.”
With a heavy sigh the king again began his walk, praying earnestly to himself that this time a boy child would be born to the kingdom. He walked slowly from the seventh tower towards the first, hoping that they might call him back if the Queen requested him. By the time he came to the fourth tower his pace had increased exponentially; nearly running now, yet still preserving his kingly bearing, he hurried with lengthened stride and robes billowing after him.
When he rounded the corner of the fifth tower, he could hear crying. He had expected a single babe's voice raised in the first joyful cries of life, but instead he heard a stream of lamenting cries from many voices and many stations on the wall. A red-eyed midwife met him and stopped him from sprinting to the source of the cries.
"It's no use,” she said, tears streaming from her round eyes. " We did all we could. This one was too much for her."
"No." The king shouldered passed the startled woman. "What about the child? Is he all right?"
"A beautiful girl."
The king almost stopped at the words, but he suppressed the impulse and pressed on: "I must see to my wife… One last time."
The seventh princess was the most beautiful of all the king’s daughters. Her laughter called the birds from the trees and her tears put the rain clouds to shame. She was a joy to the entire kingdom, even her father, who was never cheered by anything else, for she reminded him of her mother. Still, when she left his side there were often tears in his eyes.
After the passing of their mother the king tended to spoil his daughters, the youngest most of all. On her sixteenth birthday, the sixteenth anniversary of his wife's death, he gave her a golden ball. The ball had appeared in the royal treasury two generations previously as part of the spoil from one of the old king's exploratory excursions. The old king had been an adventurer and an explorer and he had brought the ball back from a trip into the Holy Land along with some dingy lamps and shoddy rugs that lay in some remote corner of the castle storeroom.
The young Princess Mellody was well pleased with the gift and although the party festivities were only just starting she straight away went off by herself to play with it. Mellody had always been a solitary child, quiet in the company of her sisters and playmates and preferring to keep her own company.
Stopping by a favorite pond in the vast garden of the castle's secluded preserves, she tossed the ball into the air and watched the sunlight play off of it as it spun and fell back into her hands. And as she played she sang a song.
“Oh there is a thing…
Oh there is some beautiful thing,
That goes up in…
That goes up in the air as I sing.
Oh there is a thing…
Oh there is a laughing thing,
That flies through…
That flies through the air on a wing!”
And as she sang she threw the ball higher and higher, until the brightness of the sun streaming through the surrounding tree branches blinded her and she lost sight of the ball as it came back down to earth. It rolled into the pond and sank into the deep, dark waters.
The young Princess sat on the stone bench beside the pond and cried softly to herself, for although she had only played with the ball for a short while it possessed such beauty that she mourned at being so soon separated from it. Alongside the long damp grass bordering the pond, a large bright green frog hippity hopped. Its oversized eyes goggled at the young girl crying beside his home and he drew up close beside her.
"Why are you crying, princess?" the frog asked.
The princess, thinking it was one of her father's servants, replied automatically, "I have dropped my golden ball into the pond and I would ever so much like it back."
Hearing this reply, the frog leapt up onto the princess’s leg.
"I can retrieve your ball for you Princess. But if I do will you grant my boon?"
The princess was very surprised to see the great ugly frog on her leg and drew back. But her desire to have the ball returned was greater than her disgust at the squished wet face before her.
"Yes, Froggy. I shall grant you a boon if you bring back my ball."
So the fat little frog took a deep breath and jumped into the water and swam down and down to where the golden ball glinted on a bed of kelp. Opening his rubbery green mouth wide, unleashing many bubbles, he engulfed the bauble and began to swim back up to the surface. The way was hard because he had used much of his breath up in the retrieval of the ball and was burdened by the extra weight. But he struggled to the top with his powerful kicking strokes and flopped out onto the edge of the pond.
His mouth opened wide, his tongue lolled out and the golden ball rolled out onto the grass. The princess ran forward and carefully picked up the ball, wiping the frog saliva on the hem of her dress. She turned away from the gasping amphibian and ran back to the party, a bit frightened but exhilarated as well.
“Wait Princess!” the frog croaked after her. “Don’t forget you promised me a boon.”
However, the princess pretended not to hear his croakings and ran on unheeding. When she arrived back at the party the king, her father, chided her for running off before they had served desserts.
“I’m sorry father, but when you gave me this wonderful golden ball I had no thoughts left for flavored ice or sweet meats,” the princess said.
“Quite all right my dear,” her father acquiesced. “But remember royalty must show respect to guests and subjects in order to receive respect in turn. We grant boons to those beneath us so that they will serve us well. If we did not indulge our subjects, they would soon grow weary of our rule and seek to overthrow us. And part of showing respect is not to run off and do what you like when you are supposed to be on display for them.”
The princess paled at her father’s words, but nodded assent. The fat little frog weighed heavily on her mind and she felt a tinge of an unfamiliar emotion. Never before had she had any need to feel guilty.
That night when the king finished tucking her into bed, the princess lay awake staring up at the canopy over her head. Moonlight streamed through the tower window and far below she could hear the lapping of the moat surrounding the castle. A goodly number of dolls and toy animals lined one entire wall of her bedchamber. From this wall a soggy flopping noise now became audible to the princess.
“Flop, flip, floop, flop flop,” went the noise.
“Is someone there?” asked Princess Mellody.
“No one but I,” said a deep, dark voice.
“Oh good,” said Princess Mellody. “Wait! Who are you?”
“Forgive my intrusion, Princess.” The voice answered as it “flip, flop, flooped” its way closer to her. “I am the Frog you promised a boon. And I come in search of my prize.”
“I’m sorry I ran off, little frog” the princess said. “Present yourself before the court tomorrow and I will grant your boon.”
“Tomorrow then.”
And with that the frog flopped away.
The next day the entire royal court met in the throne room to hear the petitions of the commoners. The King sat upon his throne with his youngest daughter beside him; the six other Princesses were arrayed on either side according to age. The morning’s complement of petitioners stretched in a line out the door and through the winding hall. The commoners were cowed and kept orderly by the hulking armored guards stationed at attention throughout the large chamber.
“So you see, your majesty,” a petitioner was saying, “while the cow came from his herd he allowed it to graze on my land, and it destroyed one of my fences. I believe I should be entitled to some of the milk that it produces as payment for the damages.”
At this point the King was happily distracted from the banality of the proceedings by a commotion occurring in the back of the hall.
“Oh!”
“What in the…?”
“Look out!”
Exclamations rang out from the crowded line.
The king motioned to a nearby guard. “See what that hubbub is about.” The guard bowed and turned. He forced his way to the center of the disturbance. The guard soon returned, a perplexed expression on his face and a green intruder riding in his hands.
“This… frog…” the guard stammered. “Says he has an appointment with the princess Mellody.”
“He said, you say?” the king stared down at the frog-carrying guard. “Bring the creature forward.”
“Your highness,” the frog said, bowing when the guard put him back upon his flippers. “I have performed your daughter a service, and she has promised me a boon, so I came here today to collect it.”
“Is this true?” The king asked as he turned to his daughter.
“Yes,” the princess replied, her cheeks flush with embarrassment. “It is.”
“What is the boon?”
“Nothing more than a single kiss,” the frog replied standing straight on his hind flippers.
“Gasp!” went the petitioners.
“SNIKT” went the swords of the guards as they were drawn.
“I forbid it!” went the king, roaring. “What effrontery! What gall!”
And he would have had the frog thrown from the throne room then and there if the princess had not reached out and stayed his hands.
“Father, you have told me that we must be willing to do as our subjects ask. Although he is a strange subject, he has indeed given me a service, and the kiss is but a small thing. I am willing.” The princess’s eyes were sour at the thought of kissing the frog, but she smiled for her father’s benefit.
“As you say,” the king replied. “But I do not like this; this… talking frog stinks of strange magic.”
The princess got up from her throne and walked down to the dais where the frog stood. Kneeling on the floor, her long dress spread around her in a ring, she bent forward and kissed the frog lightly on his wet, green lips.
Immediately a transformation began to take place. The green bled from the frog’s face as his features began to stretch apart and his limbs shuddered and grew. The speckles on his froggy skin began to expand and darken and take on the quality of clothing. The princess fell backwards and the guards all rushed forward with drawn swords and spears to protect the princess. However, the guards drew back in surprise when before them instead of a horrible frog-monster stood a handsome youth wearing royal clothing and a golden crown upon his head.
“You have freed me from the curse, princess,” the youth exclaimed. “I am Prince François. And I was placed under a curse by a wicked witch who hoped to seduce my father and steal his kingdom away. A wise mole told me that the only cure for my curse would be to find favor in the eye of a beautiful princess. Hearing that this kingdom was blessed with more beautiful princesses than any other land, I spent many long years hopping here until I ended up in the pond of your garden.”
The whole kingdom rejoiced at the arrival of prince François and the king was proud to have such a noble guest. In the fullness of time François and Mellody fell in love and the king agreed to their marriage on the condition that if any of his grandchildren were born with webbed feet François would be exiled from the kingdom.