The Frog Prince Retold

Jacques and Chérie

Cooper and Jacinta were two very well-known Xionss; they loved Justice and Harmony and were devoted to The Fairies Ana, Belinda and Kathléna, wise and caring rulers of La Paz4. La Paz Fairies could be in any number of places at a time and were always nearby if you looked carefully enough or called for them. At this very moment, we find them in the Northern part of France where the adventures of two young heroes, Jacques and Dominique5- begins with gifts given to them at their Consecration ceremony.

 

Just 3 days old, Dragon-fighters are consecrated to The Fairies between the 3rd and 7th days of their life. People can be born into Dragon-Fighting families or join-up later but eventually, each individual needs to make the decision to be a Dragon-Fighter for themselves. Typically at a Consecration ceremony; Kathléna reminds the guests that becoming a Xions is a personal choice and no one can make it for you. She thanks and encourages the Dragon-fighters who consecrated their children, and committed to teaching them to love justice and harmony along with the art of Dragon-Fighting in the hopes that they will one day be better Dragon-Fighters than themselves.

When a Dragon-Fighter makes a vow to The Fairies to love justice, promote harmony and fight dragons- if their heart is sincere The Fairies accept them as a citizen of La Paz, give them a royal title and a job to fulfil. When the Fairies grant gifts Kathléna always gives each child a unique ability, while Ana and Belinda give to all the girls beauty and grace and to each Boy handsomeness and charm.

The wise Fairy Kathléna looked down at the sleeping twins and said softly “Prince Jacques, I give you Discernment, may you tell good from mischief; right from wrong and

walk in the path of Harmony and Justice your whole life long” and turning to the sleeping baby girl, she said softly, “Princess Dominique; I give you A soft heart, may you bring sincerity to the proud, peace to the angry and joy to the disheartened”.

Cooper and Jacinta were greatly respected in their area of influence; they owned a successful business, were accomplished sportsmen and finally people respected them because they lived their lives promoting harmony and justice. In fact they restored peace to the community once they frightened off some very tough dragons from the area. After the festivities, our Dragon-fighters thanked The Fairies, gave them presents and requested their advice on a few pressing matters involving their area of France. When The Fairies needed to go, they hugged them goodbye, and wished them a safe journey.

As children, Jacques and Dominique were inseparable. They loved helping in the family Business- Jaybirds Barrels, working on carriages with their uncles Thane and Denver, caring for the family horses with Uncle Daniel but the thing they loved most was racing in the local Barrel/Buggy races… Basiclly, the person who has the most barrels left in their wagon while racing around the obstacle course in the fastest time… WINS and is crowned King or Queen of the event. There is always a driver and an archer in the cart at any one time, the archer shoots mechanical dragons that try to tip over the cart as the driver manoeuvres the horse and buggy. You might be surprised to know that Jacinta, had been Queen 12 years running and taught the twins everything they needed to know about racing, and Cooper was the Archery ace who also sewed the uniforms that Jacinta designed each year.

As teenagers things changed, Dominique had become friends with Jacoba. Jacques could never quite decide why, but he just didn‟t trust that sneak. Perhaps it was the fake way she smiled around him and seemed to be nasty to anyone who competed with her (even if they unaware of the competition), then there was all the tantrums she used to throw when she wanted something or someone to do what she wanted. He expressed his concern to his mother, Jacinta, who told him about his gift from The wise Fairies and advised him to trust himself and be careful.

Jacques had a very good reason to be distrustful of Jacoba, who was only friends with Dominique because she wanted to marry a Dragon-fighter; or more specifically, Jacques. You may, like me, find her behaviour ridiculously strange, as she did not actually believe in dragons. So why did she insist on marrying a man committed to fighting them? Because she thought he was the most handsome man in Western Europe. Alas, the more she tried to influence Jacques, with her posing and vanity, the less he was impressed. In fact he deliberately went out of his way to not be around her, spending much more time with his friends sparing and honing his archery skills.

Dominique realised eventually that Jacoba was not a good friend for her to have. She was sick of getting into trouble for things that she and Jacoba did and always having Jacoba shift the blame entirely onto her. Dominique began to feel guilty for the nasty way she treated people just to feel accepted by Jacoba. Her mother helped her to set some healthy boundaries which annoyed Jacoba so much that she found some other “friends” to boss around. Dominique made new friends, who were not so manipulative and everyone in the region breathed a sigh of relief.

When Dragon-fighters turn a certain age and level of maturity, it is their mission to find a Xions woman who is his peer,rescue her and get married. So when he reached the age of 21 and seven months, Jacques said goodbye to his parents and Dominique and set off early the next morning on Proteus, his creamy winged-horse, to rescue Cariña of, Spain who was said to be trapped in a tower and guarded by a terrible dragon; the journey was quite uneventful. When he reached the tower, he thought it strange that it was so easy to pass the dragon that was sleeping by the gate. When he reached the lady in the tower, he was overwhelmed by the smell of coffee, but he recovered quickly with the words, “You are Cariña? Someone who loves Justice and Harmony and is a citizen of La Paz"

“Oui” said the lady who had beautiful silky ebony coloured hair and glowing mocha skin. But there was something about her smile that was not quite right, it seemed to be unkind. "That's odd, she should have said “Sí,”‟ thought the hero to himself, and he decided to test her. In Spanish he said “Are you sure you are the ugly Dragon-Fighter Cariña?”

“Sí,” held the woman with a big nervous smile, Jacques supposed it was intended to calm his suspicions, but it only made them worse.

“You are as beautiful as toad‟s warts,” he said, coming over to play with her hair.

“Gracias” she replied. Jacques pulled the hair, and the wig came off.

“Jacoba! I will never marry you!” he cried.

Jacoba revealed from her disguise, glared at Jacques. Her features twisted into a look of scorn and rage. She cackled evilly, “He eh he he hi! I‟ll turn you into a frog!” she replied. As soon as she said “frog”, she gave a wave of her magic wand and our hero started shrinking and turning brown.

“The only way you will turn back into a Dragon-fighter again, is if a woman kisses you... Before another frog does, that is, and beware you have exactly 13 months to marry her or Croak croak croak.” She cackled again. “If I can‟t have you than no one shall!” she screamed as she disappeared in a puff of dust.

Jacques hopped- with some difficulty, onto his flying horse; he was thankful that Asaph was obedient, smarter than a regular horse and patient as he began the long hunt for the woman who would free him from his amphibious prison. All around Europe, Asia and the Middle East, he went looking for a Dragon-fighter to kiss him. From a frog‟s perspective it was difficult to tell his Dragon-fighter peers from a regular woman… But each time he got anywhere near a lady, the reaction was the same... She would scream and run away, and pretty ones were the worst.

One month before his twenty-second birthday Jacques began to get very homesick, he decided to go back to his chateau in Paris. He thought of how much he would like to see his sister on their birthday and it crossed his mind that "Perhaps Dominique could persuade one of her friends to give him a kiss".

It was his birthday when Jacques hopped through the gates of the place he called home; he was surprised at how big his place looked. In his excitement he forgot to be discreet and was jerked out of his visions of hugs, food and a bath by a blood-curdling scream and witnessed two young ladies running away from him, bellowing “Aaaaah it‟s a toad, ewwww gross!”

“Aaah! A toad! Where?” He shouted jumping with fright onto the nearest thing he could reach which turned out to be a young ladies dress. She screamed and kicked him off.

“Ouch! Whatchit Lady!” but before he could explain any futher that he was not in fact a toad, but a brown frog and he was really the party-girls brother…

Aunty Alisha, who cooked most of the time came out (she was usually very nice to Jacques and would make him eggs on toast every morning, but he had just scared a dozen young ladies in her care, and she was busy organising the party) this time she said to the girls, “Don‟t worry, it‟s just a little frog” as she gently picked him up and put him out of the yard she shouted for the girls benefit, “If you don‟t leave my girls alone, I‟ll turn you into dinner for Daniel‟s pet griffin!”

“Jacques wondered if Ganymede would really eat him… Aunty Alicia doesn‟t recognise me, why would the griffin?” Jacques said to himself with a dejected sigh as he hopped out of the grounds. It was hard to hop onto his horse with so many bruises; muscles and bones hurt that he didn‟t even know he had. “Well, no lady in Europe, Asia or the Middle East is interested in helping me, perhaps I can go on a ship and try my luck elsewhere,” he thought as he flew to Calais.

Jacques ordered Proteus to fly home as he sneaked aboard a ship, called the De Colores. He was almost invisible among some barrels and ropes, biding his time until the ship was well out to sea. Being small meant he could stay hidden quite well, however on the day it started to rain the frog part of him could not resist hopping out to dance and sing. He was so busy enjoying himself that he did not realise that he had an audience.

If Captain Joshua Glimmer-Sword was surprised to hear a frog aboard his ship singing in French, he was amazed to hear him begin singing in Spanish, the captain‟s own language.

When Jacques realised he had an audience, he started to croak. But Joshua tricked him into talking and inquired how the little frog could talk in human languages, Jacques replied that the captain should sit down and make himself comfortable then began telling the whole story of Cariña, Jacoba and his trip around Europe.

The Captain told Jacques that he was Cariña‟s cousin and how she had been liberated from her tower by an English Dragon-Fighter Carlos, last year. Due to the sad death of his grandfather, Carlos and his new bride had to leave the De Colores to fight dragons around his grandfather‟s area in England, as many green dragons had snuck past when the chief was down. Joshua also mentioned that the ship would arrive in New Caledonia in a few weeks and encouraged our little brown friend that perhaps Jacques would have more luck finding a fearless lady who would kiss him there.

As the ship docked they thanked each other for the French and Portuguese lessons, they had given and received to pass the time and wished each other a safe journey.

Little frogs don‟t like sand very much, it is hot and salty, but soon Jacques was almost dancing in the forest. He was so happy he started to sing again. Bouncing along, Jacques observed a distraught lady; an angel-like beauty who took his breath away with her lovely red hair, soft curls and expressive blue eyes that usually sparkled with joy when she was happy. But today she was sitting by a well crying. As he hopped over to her and asked what was wrong, Jacques recognised her as one of Dominique's friends, Chérie, the sister of Carlos. She was so upset that it didn‟t appear strange to her that she was talking to a frog.

Chérie told him that her ball was at the bottom of the well. She‟d tried to get it out but her fishing net was too short and the tree branch could not grip it. The ball was made of gold and it was the last gift her grandfather had given her, just before he died. She had been sitting thinking of him when the ball slipped from her fingers into the well and now she was worried she would never see it again.

Jacques said “Shall I dive in and fetch it for you?”

“Really, you would do that for me?” Chérie whispered through her tears.

“It would be my honour”

“Thank you. What can I do in return?” She asked, a ray of hope entering into her eyes.

“Well, now that you ask, could you kiss me Chérie, if I get the ball back for you?”

The frog asked tentatively.

“Oui” she agreed.

So Jacques took a huge breath and dove into the cold water, picked up the ball and began to swim back to the surface.

Cherie reached down, picked up the frog and the ball, thanking him with much joy; she planted a kiss on his cheek.

The little frog started to feel himself changing back into a man. When the metamorphosis was complete, he thanked Chérie, who now recognised her friend‟s brother, Jacques. Cherie could barely contain her shock, seeing a frog change into a man would be astonishing enough for any person. She jumped with fright, and when he turned around and he looked like someone she knew, Chérie had to pinch herself to keep from fainting and to make sure she was not dreaming.

“Jacques?” she stammered, still concerned that it was a trick

“Oui”, he said excitedly getting ready to hug her… he was so happy to be a man again he did not recognise, at first, that Chérie was concerned.

“Ok,” she said holding up her hands and taking a step backwards “if you are really Jacques, than you would know what my favourite animal is”

“Butterflies, that was a bit easy, you have at least a thousand.”

“Did I really see you as a frog? Or am I dreaming?” she whispered pinching herself again.

Jacques once again told the story of Jacoba and his adventure, as they walked back to her grandmother‟s place where Chérie and her mother were vacationing.

They spent some wonderful days on the islands of New Caledonia where Jacques asked Chérie to be his wife and they were married by a small ceremony in time to keep him human, and saved their reception for France where their friends and family could celebrate with them. Chérie had one condition upon his proposal; never eat insects again... There were her 1000 pet butterflies to consider.

The happy couple continued in the family tradition of Barrel making and racing they had two children born in the same year; Amy, who loved to tinker with her uncles on the carriages and Lucas a boy who couldn‟t keep still, he lived to race. But the siblings had a second claim to fame as they were always known to their friends as the mer-twins… little did their friends realise that they were merely the second best swimmers in their part of the world, their father was the best.

Activities

1. There are some colourful words in this story, highlight some you might like to use in a sentence today

2. Join the words to their synonyms

Bestowed Angry Incredulous Profusely Distraught Ethereal Enflamed Pretentiousness

Vexed Given Upset surprised made it worse Heavenly/angel like show-off freely

3. Think of a time you have fun away from something that appeared scary, what can you do to overcome that fear?

4. The two animals, Proteus and Ganymede have one thing in common, they are both moons in our solar system, seriously… go look them up, they ROCK! PS: See how many other moons you can find in my stories.