Dances with Frogs
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Once upon a...
Lily Pond A collection of short stories and re-fashioned fairy tales by Linda Myro Judd
Dances with Frogs
Once upon a time, in a valley, far, far, away, there lived a yuppie princess. Her favorite pastime was to visit the Lily Pond with her iPod and play music and dance with the little green frogs beneath the shade of the giant oak trees. But one day they were in hiding.
Dances with Frogs
One day, Princess Penelope went to the
Lily Pond to escape the end of summer heat. She looked around for all the little green frogs, but only saw one huge green frog sitting atop a boulder. Standing next to the huge boulder by the edge of the pond, she found a lovely dainty table with one chair. On the table sat a dainty plate of delicious looking tea cakes. But the plate was not full of tea cakes. She looked up at the frog. She saw crumbs all over his green belly. Obviously, he was no ordinary frog. He liked tea cakes. He croaked and burped and looked pretty happy. The frog noticed that she was staring at him. “Hello, Princess Penelope,” the frog said in a melodious voice. She gasped. She realized she was being rude staring at him, but her eyes opened wide with surprise to hear a frog talking. “Who are you? How can you talk?” “Please, allow me to introduce myself, I am Rupert, a friend of your cousin, Prince Ralph. Please join me for this most delicious Tea Party with tea cakes.” Her jaw dropped in a most un-lady-like fashion. After a moment, she took a breath, closed her mouth, and gathered her wits. “You must be kidding. This is most unusual. 1
Once Upon a... Lily Pond
Who put this table here?” “Please don’t be alarmed, Princess. Your cousin, Prince Ralph, suggested that I come here. I must thank him. He had the tea table set up by his servants.” The Princess was deep in thought. She made no response. Her eye brows furrowed and she looked at him with questions in her eyes. Rupert could see that he needed to further explain, “Ralph told me of an experiment for me, set-up here, to remove the spell I’m under. He suggested that I dance with you by the Lily Pond.” “I came here to dance with the little green frogs, and they are not here,” she declared. She grilled him with questions. “Where are they? And why didn’t my cousin tell me about you? How do you know him?” “So many questions!” Rupert sighed. “Prince Ralph is my best friend and we often chat at Goose Down Lake.” Rupert began to wonder if Ralph’s plan would work. It didn’t seem like an experiment, and if it worked, this would be a dream come true. Princess Penelope was the lovely girl of his dreams. And if his dreams came true, he would be the luckiest prince in the world. However, she didn’t know that he was 2
Dances with Frogs
really a prince under a spell. And it didn’t seem like she was going to dance with him. He said, “Please, have a seat, enjoy this beautiful tea party and the delicious tea cakes. I would love to pour for you, but, as you can see, I am a frog. And it’s not polite to pour with one’s feet.” “You are no ordinary frog, I’ll give you that.” She sat down, gracefully, because she w a princess. She decided to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. She poured herself a cup of tea. “This is lovely, sitting here by the Lily Pond. I’m surprised the little green frogs are gone. What happened to them, Rupert?” “I believe they were scared off by the noisy servants.” Princess Penelope ate the tea cakes with dainty fingers and smiled with satisfaction. Rupert looked around and asked the Princess, “Did you bring your iPod?” “Yes I did, and my earbuds too. I like to dance to the music. It makes me feel like I’m all in a world of my own underneath the trees. Why do you ask?” “Prince Ralph mentioned the servants would set up speakers under the table.” Princess Penelope looked and there they were. She plugged in her iPod. And instantly 3
Once Upon a... Lily Pond
they were surrounded by music. A dancing tune played. The music brought magic to the feet of everyone listening. Rupert began to tap his big green, webby toes. Princess Penelope twirled around the feathery ferns and danced across crunchy leaves beneath the nearby shady oak trees. Her dress billowed as she spun around the trees dancing a jig. Then Rupert began to feel something happening to his green arms and legs. When Penelope had danced around the biggest oak tree three times, Rupert leaped off the huge bolder. Magically in midair, he changed into a man with curly brown hair, wearing a handsome, but muddy royal uniform. He landed on his feet near the table. Just then the dancing tune ended and Penelope turned to the table. “Oh!” she said. Before her stood a man with deep brown eyes. She was surprised, She was full of questions. Somehow she felt as if she knew him, “Who are you?” The prince smiled, “I am Prince Rupert Henry Thomas Rengsdorff, at your service.” “Ahh,” she said, with a happy look in her eyes. “The experiment worked.” She extended her hand towards him, in a gesture of greeting. Rupert bowed, took her 4
Dances with Frogs
hand and lightly kissed her knuckles. On the iPod, another dancing tune began. The prince bowed and asked, “May I have this dance Princess?” She smiled and curtsied. “Yes, I would love that.” For the rest of the afternoon they ate tea cakes and danced around the trees by the Lily Pond. Finally, Princess Penelope sat down to catch her breath. She smiled and looked at him. “What a delightful mysterious and magical afternoon.” Prince Rupert leaned against the large boulder and returned her look with a grin of his own. Seeing that the princess was happy, the little green frogs returned from hiding in the Lily Pond. “Oh, look,” she said. The prince turned and saw the little green frogs leaping around joyfully. He chuckled. Penelope was still curious, “How did you become a frog, Rupert?” “A few days ago, just as I returned from a voyage across the sea with information for my father, the king, an evil witch, hidden in the shadows on the dock, followed me from the ship. She turned me into a frog and captured me with a sack. She dumped me out 5
Once Upon a... Lily Pond
in the woods and grilled me with questions. But all I could do was croak. After a couple of hours she stalked off and left me and she never returned. I’m lucky, three days later Ralph found me at Goose Down Lake the same day I my voice returned.” Prince Rupert escorted Princess Penelope back to her castle. Then he went home to give his father the report on his voyage across the sea. The King was ecstatic about the safe return of his son and held a celebration. At the party, Penelope teased Rupert and asked if he had any tea cakes. He laughed and said “Nope!” Then he took her hand, she smiled and they danced all evening. The prince and the princess became friends on that remarkable day. They may have lived happily ever after, but you never know in today’s economy if you’re going to find the perfect yuppie palace.
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Acknowledgements Thanks go to my writing friends Chess Desalls and Carl E. Trautman for their keen sense of storytelling. They helped me develop my first fairy tale, “Dances with Frogs,” in Once Upon a... Lily Pond, a collection of my online-only short stories.
Text copyright © 2016 by Linda Myro Judd All rights reserved Frog Illustration by Michael Thoenes, DrawingTeachers.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Once Upon a... Lily Pond is a collection of online-only short stories by Linda Myro Judd. The characters and events portrayed are used in a fictitious manner and are the products of the author’s imaginings. Any resemblances to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events are purely coincidental.
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Once Upon a... Lily Pond
A collection of short stories and re-fashioned fairy tales by Linda Myro Judd. Starting with the fairy tale of Princess Penelope, who Dances with Frogs, Linda has started an online-only selection of short stories.
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