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One fine afternoon, a beautiful princess is playing in her room at her father's home. She's wearing her favourite blue dress and playing with a golden ball. She looks out of the window, and she sees the good weather outside. 'It's a really nice day, today!' she says. Then, she goes out for a walk in the country. She takes her golden ball with her. She loves playing with this ball.

When she comes to a pool of water, she stops and sits down next to it. A green frog is watching her. The princess has her golden ball in her hand. She loves sending the ball up, up, up from her hand, and then catching it when it comes down. She does this again and again. But, after many times when she catches the ball in her hand, there is one time when she doesn't. This time, when her golden ball comes down, it goes into the pool.

The princess gets up, and she looks down into the water of the pool. Her golden ball is in there, she knows. But she can't see the bottom of the pool, and she can't see her favourite ball! She says, 'Oh no! My golden ball! I want it back! I don't want all the fine things in my father's house. I'm going to give all of them away. But I want my golden ball. It's my favourite thing in all the world.'

After she finishes speaking, the green frog speaks to her. 'Princess, why are you making all this noise?' he asks.

'Oh! Help me!' she says. 'Dear frog! My favourite golden ball is in your pool. It's at the bottom, but I can't see it. I want it back!'

The frog answers, 'I understand. Listen, princess. I don't want all the fine things in your father's house, but I can help you.'

'Can you find my golden ball for me?'

'I can, princess,' the frog says.

'Oh, that's great!' the princess answers. 'But I want to say, "Thank you!", dear frog, for your help. How can I do that? Tell me.'

Then the frog says, 'Love me, dear princess! Open the door of your father's home to me. I want to visit you there. In the day, I want to eat with you from your golden plate. At night, I want to sleep with you on your golden bed. Say 'yes' to these things, and I can find your golden ball for you.'

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After she finishes speaking, there is a new knock at the door, and again the frog says:

'Open the door, my princess dear,

Open the door to your friend. I'm here!

Did you forget our words at the pool?

I remember them. I'm no fool.

Then the king tells his daughter, 'You gave your word to the frog, and a promise is a promise. Go and open the door to him.'

The princess listens to her father. Then she goes and opens the door to the frog, and he comes into the room. The princess goes back to her chair at the dinner table. And the frog comes close until he is sitting at the princess's feet.

Take me in your hands,' he tells the princess. 'Then put me near you on the dinner table.'

After she does this, the frog tells her, 'Put your golden plate near me. Then I can eat from it.'

The princess says. 'Help me, father! What can I do?'

The king says to his daughter, 'You gave your word to the frog, and a promise is a promise. Eat with him from your golden plate!'

She puts her golden plate near him, and he eats with her. After they finish, the frog says, 'Now I am tired. Take me up to your room and put me on your golden bed.'

The princess says. 'Help me, father! What can I do?'

The king says to his daughter, 'You gave your word to the frog, and a promise is a promise. Sleep with him on your golden bed.'

The princess takes the frog in her hand, and she goes up to her room. In her room, she puts the frog on her golden bed, next to her head. He sleeps there all night.

The next morning, the frog gets up early. He leaves the princess's golden bed, and he goes from her room. Then he leaves the house with no breakfast.

'Good,' the princess says. 'Now, I'm never going to see.

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That evening, the princess is having dinner with her father, the king, in his house.

Before they finish eating, they hear a noise outside. Something with no shoes on its wide feet is coming up to the door. Soon after that, there is a knock at the door, and somebody outside the house says:

'Open the door, my princess dear.

Open the door to your friend. I'm here!

Did you forget our words at the pool?

I remember them. I'm no fool.

Then the princess runs to the door, and she opens it. She sees the green frog at her feet. She remembers him from the pool that morning, and her face goes white. Then she closes the door fast, and she goes back to her chair at the dinner table.

Her father, the king, sees her white face. 'What's the problem, daughter? Who's at the door? Why is your face white? Please tell me.'

'There's a frog at the door, father,' she says.

'A frog?' the king says. 'But why?'

Then the princess tells her father all about her morning. 'Earlier today, I went for a walk in the country. I took my favourite golden ball with me, and I played with it there. I can do that for hours. But one time I didn't catch my ball, and it went into a pool. After that, a frog near the pool said to me, "Can I stay with you in your father's house? Say 'yes!' to that and I can get your golden ball from under the water for you!"

The princess looks down for a minute.

'Go on,' the king says.

The princess goes on. "I need this frog's help," I thought. "And, with no help from me, he can never get to my father's house!" Then I said to him, "OK. Find my favourite golden ball and give it back to me. After that you can stay with me in my father's house!""

She looks at her father.

'But now, that frog is here at the door,' she says. 'He came here with no help from me, and he wants to come in. Help me, father. What can I do?'

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him again.'

But she is wrong; because that night, she hears a noise outside and a knock at the door. The frog is back, and he says:

'Open the door, my princess dear,

Open the door to your friend. I'm here!

Did you forget our words at the pool?

I remember them. I'm no fool.'

When the princess opens the door, the frog comes in. He sits near her at the dinner table, and he eats from her golden plate. And then he goes up to her room with her. He sleeps near her on her golden bed until the morning. Then, again, he leaves with no breakfast.

The next night is no different.

But when the princess gets up the morning after that, something is very different. There is no frog in her room now. A nice young man is sitting on her bed. He's looking at her with beautiful green eyes. He takes her hand in his hand, and he tells her: 'Dear princess, thank you. I am King Ranocchio. When I was twenty-one, I came from Italy on a visit to this country. That visit changed my life. I met a bad fairy near a pool here, and I was a fool. I wasn't very nice when I spoke to her, and I didn't use very good words. She really didn't like me after that, and she wanted to do something very bad to me. Before I could go, she changed me into a frog. She told me, "You're going to stay as a frog in this pool until a princess helps you. After you eat from her golden plate, and sleep on her golden bed for three nights, you can end the spell. But you can't tell anyone about it!"

'Did many princesses want to help you?' the princess asks.

'No,' Ranocchio answers. 'Nobody wanted to help - until you came to the pool with your golden ball. You're different!'

'Am I?' the princess asks.

'Yes, my dear princess, Ranocchio goes on. 'And because you're different, you ended the bad fairy's spell. Thank you for that. And now I want to take you with me. We can visit my country, Italy. There you can be my wife.

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And we can stay together for many years. Do you say, "Yes!" to all of this?'

The young princess stops and thinks about it for a minute. But she soon says, 'Yes' to Ranocchio.

After that, they go and tell the princess's father. He is very happy for his daughter.

Ranocchio sends a letter to his mother in Italy, and he tells the old woman all.

Some days later, a fine golden coach with eight beautiful white horses stops at the door of the king's house. One of Ranocchio's men from Italy is driving the coach. When he sees King Ranocchio again after many years away, he feels very happy.

Then, Ranocchio and the princess say goodbye to the princess's father. They get into the golden coach. After that, they leave for Italy. The princess gives her golden ball to her father before she goes.

'Take my golden ball, father. I'm not going to need it because I'm bored with it now. I loved playing with it before, but now I have King Ranocchio! He's more interesting,' she says.

When the golden coach gets to Italy, the princess meets Ranocchio's mother. Later, King Ranocchio takes the princess as his wife. They are very happy together for many years, and they have three fine children together – one boy and two girls.

Now, before I finish, can I tell you something funny? The children of the princess and the Frog-King Ranocchio are very interesting. They don't like wearing shoes on their wide feet. All three of them love swimming a lot. And they all have beautiful, big, green eyes! 'Why is this?' you say. Don't ask me. I don't know!