"Das Mahrchen von der Padde" ("The Tale of the Toad") is a German folktale collected by

Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching (19 September 1783 – 4 May 1829) was a German antiquary. His knowledge of subjects pertaining to Germany in the Middle Ages was notable. Biography He was born in Berlin, the son of Anton Friedrich Büsching, a ge ...

in ''Volks-Sagen, Märchen und Legenden''. It has been translated into English under the titles of "Puddocky" or "Cherry the Frog Bride". A similar tale is ''

The Three Feathers "The Three Feathers" (''Die drei Federn'') is a story by the Brothers Grimm, in their ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen''. It is KHM nr. 63. It is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 402, "The Animal Bride". A second variant of the tale also col ...

'', collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

in the nineteenth century.

Synopsis

The story opens with the heroine, who is so greedy for parsley that her mother steals it for her. As a result, she is called Parsley. The parsley comes from the garden of a neighboring convent run by an abbess. The girl is seen by three princes, and because of her beauty, they quarrel over her. The resentful abbess curses the girl for the commotion, turning her into a toad and sending her far away.. The king decides to allow fate to choose his successor from among his three sons. He sets them the task of finding a hundred-yard piece of linen fine enough to fit through a ring. While the two oldest princes choose to follow busier roads and collect bales of linen, the

youngest son The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers, and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters. In a family of many daughters, ...

sets out on a dark and lonely road. He comes into a marsh, where he encounters a toad which offers him the fabric he needs. It exceeds his brothers' discoveries. The king then sends them out to find a dog that can fit inside a walnut shell. Again, the toad provides. For the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

task, the king orders them to return with a bride. The one who obtains the most beautiful wife will be king. This time, the toad herself accompanies the youngest prince, riding in a cardboard carriage drawn by rats, with hedgehogs for outriders, a mouse for a coachman, and two frogs as footmen. When they turn a corner, the prince is astonished to see the carriage replaced by a beautiful coach with human attendants, and that the toad has become a beautiful woman whom he recognizes as Parsley. He is selected as the new king, and marries Parsley.

Variants

This story is closely related to ''

The Frog Princess The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that has multiple versions with various origins. It is classified as type 402, the animal bride, in the Aarne–Thompson index. Another tale of this type is the Norwegian ''Doll i' the Grass''.D. L. Ashliman, ...

'', wherein a transformed frog, the bride of the youngest son, performs better at three tasks to test the brides than the other sons' human brides. Edgar Taylor translated the tale as "Cherry, or the Frog-Bride", changing both the desired plant and the girl's name to Cherry, and grouped it with tales by the

. This translation was slightly revised and altered by Marian Edwardes and included as "Cherry the Frog-Bride" in ''Grimm's Household Tales'' (1912). In a very similar Grimm tale, ''The Three Feathers,'' there is no scene of garden theft, and the frog's origin is never explained. Andrew Lang translated the tale under the title of "Puddocky". In Lang's version, the owner of the parsley garden is a witch who demands that the girl be handed over to her, as in ''

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( , ) is a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of ''Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Brothers Grimm's story developed from the French literary fairy tale of ''Persinette ...

''. A Hungarian variant, ''Ribike'', shows the titular Ribike also obsessed with her favourite type of fruit, and later she helps the prince in

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

form.János Berze Nagy. ''Népmesék Heves- és Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok-megyébol (Népköltési gyüjtemény 9. kötet)''. Budapest: Az Athenaeum Részvény-Társulat Tulajdona. 1907. pp. 460-470. " The White Cat" is a literary version of the tale 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 ...

in 1697, featuring cats instead of frogs.

Gail Carson Levine Gail Carson Levine (born September 17, 1947) is an American author of young adult books. Her second novel, ''Ella Enchanted'', received a Newbery Honor in 1998.

adapted this story in her children's book ''For Biddle's Sake.''

References

External links

{{Wikisource, Puddocky
''Puddocky''
from ''

The Green 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 ...

''
Cherry, or the Frog bride version from the Grimm Brothers
Grimms' Fairy Tales German fairy tales Fictional frogs Fiction about shapeshifting Witchcraft in fairy tales Animal tales ATU 400-459

Synopsis

Variants

See also

References

External links