The Benevolent Frog or The Frog and the Lion Fairy is a French literary

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

, written by

Madame d'Aulnoy Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (1650/1651 – 14 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French author known for her literary fairy tales. When she termed her works ''contes de fées'' (fairy tales), sh ...

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

included the tale in ''

The Orange Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

'' with the title ''The Frog and the Lion Fairy''.

Synopsis

A king's capital was besieged, and he sent the queen to safety. She found it very dreary and resolved to return, despite her guards. She had a carriage made for herself, and took advantage of a distraction to escape, but the horses bolted past her power to control and she was thrown and injured. A gigantic woman, wearing a lion skin, was there when the queen regained consciousness. The woman introduced herself as the

Fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

Lioness. She invited the queen to her home, a frightful cave peopled with ravens and owls, having a lake with monsters, but with little and poor food. There, she told the queen to build herself a house. The queen pleaded with her, and the fairy said that the only way to appease her was fly pasties, which the queen could not make. The queen lamented that the king would never know what became of her. She saw a raven eating a frog and rescued the frog. The frog told her that all the creatures in the lake were

once human Once Human is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, founded in 2014 by music producer and former Machine Head/Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader. On September 4, 2015, the band released their debut album '' The Life I Remember' ...

and had been turned to these forms for their wickedness, which seldom improved them. The frog also explained that she was a demi-fairy and her powers lay in her hood of roses, which she had laid aside when the raven caught her. She and her frog friends caught the flies for the queen, who made a fly pasty for the lion fairy. She then started to build a hut. She found it difficult and the frog sent her to rest and built it. The lion fairy wondered who helped her and demanded a bouquet of rare flowers; the frog asked a friendly bat to gather them. Then the frog told her future: she would not escape, but have a beautiful daughter. The king discovered the wreckage of his wife's chariot and assumed she was dead. The princess was born, and the queen persuaded the lion fairy, who would gladly have eaten her, to let her raise the child. One day when the child was six, the frog went to find the king. It took her seven years, in which time the lion fairy took the queen and princess hunting, which lessened her cruelty, because they were able to bring her quarry. The frog arrived in time to find the king remarrying, but the letter she carried convinced him that the queen was alive. With a ring from the frog, the king set out to rescue her. In the forest, he saw the lion fairy, in the shape of a lioness, carrying the queen and princess on her back. The lion fairy imprisoned the queen and princess in a castle on the lake, and told all the monsters, who had fallen in love with the princess, that the king would take her from them. The king overcame the lion fairy, but she distracted him by pointing to the castle, and vanished. After three years, a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

offered to rescue them if the king gave him a delicious food when he asked for it. The king agreed, and the dragon defeated the others. They found themselves in the king's capital. A prince fell in love with the princess and wooed her. He went to make arrangements for the wedding. The dragon demanded the princess for his dinner, by means of a

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

ambassador. After a time, the dragon offered to spare her if she married his nephew. The princess said she had promised to marry the prince and could not marry another. The frog went to the prince and gave him a marvelous horse to reach the

. He fought and killed it, freeing a prince who had been held prisoner inside the dragon's body. The prince and princess married.

Legacy

The tale was one of many from d'Aulnoy's pen to be adapted to the stage by

James Planché James Robinson Planché (27 February 1796 – 30 May 1880) was a British dramatist, antiquary and officer of arms. Over a period of approximately 60 years he wrote, adapted, or collaborated on 176 plays in a wide range of genres including ...

, as part of his ''Fairy Extravaganza''. He also translated the tale as ''The beneficent frog'', and renamed it ''The Queen of the Frogs'' when he adapted the tale to the stage. The story was also translated as ''The Beneficent Frog'', by

Laura Valentine Laura Belinda Charlotte Jewry (married name Laura Valentine, pen names Mrs. S. Valentine and Aunt Louisa; 1814–1899), was a Victorian English writer primarily known for her children literature. Her work was often produced in children series in ...

, in ''The Old, Old Fairy Tales''. In another English translation, erroneously attributed to Charles Perrault, the tale was titled ''The Friendly Frog''.Johnson, Alfred Edwin. ''Old-Time Stories told by Master Charles Perrault''. New York: Dodd, Mead. 1921. pp. 138-173.

References

External links

''The Benevolent Frog''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benevolent Frog, The French fairy tales French literature Lions in literature Fictional frogs Works by Madame d'Aulnoy