Fairy Tale Friday: The Frog Prince

Alpha, about a year ago -- oh how he hated this suit.

Okay, so what we’ve got is a prince who, for whatever reason, has been cursed to wear a frog suit and it makes him sad.

Now, while I have no problem coming up with a few perks to being a frog – off the top of my head? Strong green legs, for one – our young prince doesn’t like it. Maybe because no girls will kiss him, which I’m made to understand is something guys really like, so. I guess I get why he doesn’t appreciate the frog suit.

But I can also understand why nobody wants to kiss him. When I imagine the texture of something slimy touching my lips, I think of a horrible smell, putrid decay, stickiness stretching into long strings. 

And of course it’s almost impossible to keep stuff out of your mouth once it’s been on your lips (it says here the average woman will consume 6 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime? I have no idea if that’s really true, but I do know one of my first instincts after putting chapstick on is to lick my lips.) 

On top of the slime, there’s also the chance that the frog may be poisonous.  I’ve often wondered if that played a part in the original story.

Regardless, no one’s kissing our prince, though inside he is a sweet, kind, person. Or maybe he’s cruel? Maybe he’s a techy without many social skills. But then, why am I assuming a techy would automatically have fewer social skills? Perhaps that label is a frog suit, of sorts.

Fairy Godmother -- link to original here

Perhaps all labels are curses we put on each other to rationalize our want to disassociate from things we don’t understand. And we’re all just waiting for a fairy godmother to lift the curse and make it better. Or a princess to come along and see past the suit into the “real” person inside, hoping she’ll kiss away the ugliness to make it better.

My initial reaction to the label/frog suit idea is: “Duh, just do away with the labels. Obviously what we’ve got here is a prince, not a frog.”

But I know that’s not a very realistic approach to life because, even if something seems obvious, it’s hardly ever entirely the way it seems. Theories are always good in theory, eh?

Labels have their place in society. They are a great organizational tool, among other things. I suppose what I don’t like about imposing frog suits on people is that we use the suits to justify cruelty and hate. “It’s okay if I’m blatantly offensive to this guy, because he’s    (fill in the blank)   ."

I don’t know what the answer is. Do you?

I do know, though, that I hope someday my little prince will be loved, frog suit or not. I hope he will be accepted and encouraged, rather than pushed out and discouraged. I am his mama, and I see the prince; but even if others see a frog, I hope they’ll respect him anyway. 

And lest you be disappointed at my (mis)handling of “The Frog Prince,” take a look at a punnier version put on by the Fractured Fairytale folks:

Total pages logged as of today: 160 (Apparently the pep-talk worked and I'm that much closer to deadline. Counting down to 5 days, 4 chapters left.) 

Moment of Magic today:

Here are some of my visuals for tonight's writing --

Again, what stories do they create in your mind? I dare you to write one down and see where it'll take you... 

Link to original here

Link to original here

Link to original here