The frog is supported by the king as he gives order to the princess to do what she promised when she hesitates. In a simple and direct way, the frog firmly demands what the princess had promised.

The word” love “is therefore a bit too strong in the translation. “Lieben” would be “to love” while “lieb haben” would rather be “like” (I like you). But we have to put this in perspective because “lieb haben” is weaker than “lieben”. “Lieb haben”: we have translated with “love”. “Werth haben”: is no longer used it could be translated as “cherish”. Note that in German the Grimm brothers use the terms ” werth und “lieb haben”. They differ primarily by the sequence of demands in the list: the demand for love comes last in the list of 1812 and first in 1857. Comparison 1812/1857īoth versions are practically identical. On the other, it goes much further ( “if you will love me …., let me eat from your tiny golden plate and drink from your tiny cup and sleep in your tiny bed” ). On the one hand this relationship is presented as a child relationship ( “accept me as a companion and playmate, and let me sit next to you at your table” ), The frog wants something quite different. “Lust auf etwas haben ” means that we are now glad to have pleasure in the future. Note that the German term “Lust” we have translated as “pleasure” alludes to a future pleasure. In the version of 1812 the game gives pleasure. In the version of 1812, it is rather the ball that was her favorite toy, while in the 1857 version the game with the ball gets favorite. In version 1857, she goes there whenever it was hot. In the version of 1812 it seems that the Princess goes into the forest only once.

The brothers Grimm added a lot of elements in the version of 1857: the sisters of the princess, their beauty and particularly her own, the forest becomes dark. In our case we believe it is necessary to choose the word well, for it is nowhere alluded to a jet or a water source, but the “Brunnen” will be later described as very deep so that the princess’s ball disappears from view when it falls into the well.įountain would rather be a “Springbrunnen” in Germain.

The place is doubly distressing: the dark forest and the deep well.Įmphasize here that the German word “Brunnen” can be translated as “fountain” or “well”. The type of game, throwing a ball and catching it underlines the princess’s innocence. The favorite game is played by the princess near a well in the dark forest. Everything is possible.įrom the beginning, the story evokes the beauty (of the princess), but also the wonderful medieval environment (castle, King), which is not necessarily reassuring (the dark forest). Especially in this case, as the text says: “when wishing still helped,”. This type of sentence puts the reader in another world very far from that experienced by the reader. Moral of the story: If you already have peace and harmony you don´t need more.The tales of the Brothers Grimm most often begin with the phrase “Once upon a time” or “long time ago”. That is why frogs hide every time they see a stork, repenting of having asked for a king. You already had peace and harmony, but wanted a king to rule you, now it is the stork who will govern you. “These are the consequences of your acts. Then the frogs, angry again, begged Zeus to save them from the danger of the stork. When Zeus heard the daring frogs, he sent a stork to eat them one by one. Only one of them approached the trunk to meet the King Zeus had given them.īut when the frog realised that it was just a trunk floating on the water, she called her mates and they jumped onto the trunk one by one to get it all muddy. The angry frogs reproached Zeus for not having sent them a real king. When the frogs heard such a tremendous noise, they lept frightened into the water. When Zeus heard this, he struck a lightning bolt against a trunk near the pond. All the frogs went to ask Zeus, their God, to send them a king.

The frogs who desired a king moral