A frog's kiss
N Miller
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It is often said "you have to kiss many frogs before you find your prince". I have heard that phrase countless times, but decided to give it some thought today. Let me start by exploring definitions of terms used in that statement. What makes a frog and what makes a prince? A frog is defined as "a tailless amphibian with a short squat body, moist smooth skin, and very long hind legs for leaping" while a prince is defined as "the son of a monarch". Looking at these definitions it doesn't make sense why an amphibian should be compared to a human, so I felt it wise to do some more delving. I stumbled upon the story - Frog Prince. This story weaves a tale of a spoiled princess who slowly becomes friends with a frog who eventually magically transforms into a prince. There are different versions as to the basis for transformation. While more modern renditions claim the frog was changed by a kiss, the original grim version maintains that the spell was broken by the princess throwing the frog against a wall in disgust. Earlier versions of the tale attribute the emergence of the prince to the frog spending a night on the princess's pillow.
I would like to explore the phrase though from different perspectives. Firstly, in looking at other "fairy tales" that have been told about princesses finding princes, I can't recall any others in which a frog plays such a prominent role in the sequence of events. These stories however still ended with happily ever afters. Why then do we struggle to elevate the importance of the frog? Another perspective focuses on the phrase being coined from a story in which the princess was involved with just a frog who eventually became a prince. Her love life prior to the incident though not actively explored, did not seem to be brimming with past frogs. Only the star frog was mentioned in this story. As such, this makes me query the validity of the first part of the famous phrase being focused on in this article. Should it have read "you have to kiss ONE frog before you find your prince"? Or maybe if the story gave a little more background we would have an exact number to put in there. Unfortunately, all these technicalities are only relevant and peculiar to the princess in this tale and may not be generalizable to other "princesses".
I fear that I may start to ramble more than is necessary if I continue with this piece, and in so doing contribute to hyping the importance of the frog. That said, I shall conclude by stating that "one princesses frog may be another's prince", if indeed all conditions necessary for this occurrence exist. What is your perspective?
