(Note: the tale is published in the original translation by Elek Benedek.)
It was neither here nor there, but somewhere there was a king and his three daughters. All three were beautiful, but especially the youngest. She was so beautiful, so beautiful that you could look at the sun, but not at her.
Near the king's palace there was a lot of woods, in the middle of a lot of woods, in the shade of an old reed tree (linden tree - ed.), a well. Every day, when the weather was warm, the little princess would walk into the forest and sit down by the well. There she would sit for a long time and when she got tired, she would take out her golden ball and play ball with it. It was his favourite game.
But what happened once? It happened that the ball did not fall into the little princess's hand, but fell to the ground and rolled down the well.
It rolled in and disappeared at that moment. In vain did the little princess look and examine it: the well was deep, she could not see the bottom, - there was a bullet, there was no bullet! Oh, wept the little princess, her poor head was in great grief. Suddenly she hears someone talking to her:
- What's the matter, Princess, why are you crying so bitterly?
He looked around, but saw no living soul. Yes, it was not a man who spoke to him, but a big, stunted frog from the well.
- "So you spoke to me," said the princess, wonderingly, "I weep because my golden ball fell into the well.
- 'Don't be sad,' said the frog. - I'll take back your golden ball. But what will you give me if I bring it up from the bottom of the well?
- Whatever you wish, my sweet frog. My clothes, my pearls, my jewels, even my golden crown.
Said the frog: I have no need of your clothes, your pearls, your precious stones, fair queen. Nor do I want your golden crown. But if you promise to be my good friend and playmate, if you promise to let me sit at your table, eat from your golden plate, drink from your golden cup, sleep in your golden bed, I will bring you the golden ball.
- I promise you everything, said the little princess, but bring up my dear golden ball! But she thought of something else. She thought, "Go on, frog, go on, you'll stay here in the well, and you won't sit at my table. But of course!
The frog needed no more than to hear the promise of the little princess, and, hopping down to the bottom of the lake, in a moment he had risen to the surface of the water, brought the golden ball in his mouth and gave it to the little princess.
Hey, was the little king happy! She jumped and danced for joy and ran home with her lovely toy.
- Wait, wait, cried the frog, take me with you, I can't run like you! But he could croak as fast as he could, and the princess didn't even listen to him, she ran home and forgot the frog as if he hadn't existed. And what could the frog do? He landed on the bottom of the lake, very sad.
Well, well, well, but it was not as the little princess had imagined. The next day at noon, when they were all sitting at lunch, the king, the queen, the princesses and the court, they heard something splashing, splashing, jumping up and down on the marble garadich (stairs - editor) outside, and then suddenly it splashed down by the door, knocked and spoke:
- Open the door, little princess!
The little princess runs to the door, opens it, peeps through the opening, and there sits the frog, right in front of the door. Suddenly she slammed the door, sat back down at the table, but there was no food, and her heart was pounding with fright. The king saw this and asked:
- What's wrong, my little girl? What frightened you? Is there some giant standing at the door, trying to take you away?
- "No, no," said the princess, "it is not a giant, but a little frog, standing at the door.
- What does that frog want from you?
- Oh, my dear father, when I was playing in the woods yesterday, my golden ball fell down the well. I cried bitterly, and then a frog fetched the ball from the bottom of the well. And as he wanted it so much, I promised to be his playmate, but who would have thought that this mischievous frog would come here? And now he is here, and wants to come in to see me.
Meanwhile the frog knocked a second time and called out:
- Open the door, open the door, pretty princess! Have you forgotten what you promised me yesterday? Open the door at once!
Said the king:
- Verily, my sweet daughter, what you have promised, you shall keep. Go and open the door.
The little princess got up from the table, opened the door, and the frog, hop, hop, splash, splash, hopped across the room, right next to the little princess's chair.
- "Take me up," he said to the princess.
The little princess fidgeted, reluctantly, but the king spoke angrily:
- Pick it up!
So he picked up the frog, and it jumped from the chair straight onto the table and said:
- Now push the plate closer to me so we can eat together.
She pushed him to her, but then she was so scared that she shivered. The frog began to eat heartily, but the little princess lost her appetite. And when the frog was well fed, she said:
- Now I've eaten enough, I'm tired, I'm sleepy, take me to your room, lay me down on your silk bed, and let's sleep.
But now the "pot is broken". The little princess wept, and the palace resounded with her weeping. That she should lie beside the cold, hateful frog! She would rather die!
- "But so be it," snapped the king, "if his help was good, let it be good to lie with him. Go!
Like it or not, he had to take the frog's cold body and carry it to his room. He did, but in the room he threw him into a corner and he lay alone in the soft silk bed.
- Not till then'! said the frog. I am tired, I am sleepy, and I want to sleep as well as you do. Get thee up to thy bed, or I'll tell thy sweet father.
The little princess got out of bed with a great witch, picked up the frog and threw it against the wall.
- Here, go to sleep, you naughty, naughty frog!
But what happened at that moment? Hey, a great miracle happened. Listen to me. The little frog turned into a prince, but such a handsome prince that the princess was speechless with wonder.
- "Who are you, what are you?" asked the princess, when she had recovered a little from her astonishment.
Now the prince told her in a nice line that he had been turned into a frog by an old witch, because he did not want to marry her daughter. Only the little princess could have freed him from the well, no one else, or he would have remained a frog for the rest of his life.
- Will you come with me to my country? - asked the prince.
- "I will go with you to the ends of the earth," said the little princess.
The next morning they looked out of the window, and there was a lovely carriage under the window, with eight white horses in front of it, and John, the prince's faithful servant, sitting on the back. This servant loved the prince so much that when the prince turned into a frog, he died of grief and sorrow, and to keep his heart from breaking, he put three iron bands around his heart.
Well, now it was a pleasure! The prince and the little princess got into the carriage, and John mounted the buckboard, and spun the horses between them, and galloped faster than the wind, and faster than thought.
They were a long way from the city when the prince hears something banging.
- Hey, John, the prince shouted ahead, something has snapped on the carriage!
John called back:
- It is not the carriage, sire, but a wreck of iron that has burst near my heart. When you became a frog, I put three iron rings on it, so that my heart would not break. Now one of them has burst.
The carriage galloped on, and suddenly the prince heard another great crash.
- Hey, John, I tell you, there's trouble in the carriage.
- 'No harm done, sire,' the second tyre bounced off my heart.
The carriage went on, and just as they came to the prince's palace, the tyre blew so loudly that the horses were frightened.
- Hey, John, did the carriage break down?
- It didn't break off, sire, only the third tyre popped off around my heart!
In the blink of an eye, the carriage rolled into the courtyard of the palace. There the prince gently lifted the little princess down, led her up to the palace, seated her on a golden throne, and then they called for a priest, swore an oath, and had a wedding for seven countries.
They are still alive today, if they are not dead.
(Collected works of the Brothers Grimm, translated into Hungarian by Elek Benedek)
