In the following days, the frog became the darling of the court. He sat at the dinner table, holding his end of a conversation on any number of subjects. And he loved snapping up flies in the most acrobatic of moves, to the delight of those that watched. The princess took care of him, reluctantly, at first, but then they began to share ideas and talk of things that mattered to them. The frog was a wonderful listener and he actually seemed interested in what she said, as opposed to her maids, who had to listen and were supposed to be polite. Having the frog was so much more than just having a pet. One day, they were having a talk by the window and the princess ran her fingertip between his eyes (he really loved this).

"You know . . . I am so glad that my father made me keep you. In fact, I am almost glad I dropped my golden ball into the pond." She smiled and saw him smiling back, but then he always seemed to be smiling anyway.

"All right." The girl said with a little bit of concern.

"Would you kiss me?"

She saw him gulping and could swear that the creature blushed, but he was still very green. Her eyes shifted and she looked around the room, anywhere but at him. Why would a frog want her to kiss him, she wondered. Fighting a slight grimace at the idea, she finally asked, "Why?" Shrugging, the frog said it just seemed

the thing to do, for he truly loved her and he thought that perhaps she loved him. Her face twitched and she almost giggled, because the image she had, were they to kiss, was so silly. Then covering her mouth, the princess did giggle and the frog's mouth turned down at the corners, in rejection.

"Oh, why not?" the girl sighed heavily and stood up. She picked the frog up, held him at eye level and just like she did when she had to eat Brussels sprouts, the princess took a deep breath and just did it.

There was an instantaneous popping sound as her lips touched the frog's. A bright light flashed and her eyes opened to see a cloud of puffy white smoke and she was no longer holding the frog. Taking a few steps back, the princess could not figure out what had happened and she began to search the floor, through the dissipating smoke. Stooping over, she waved her hand back and forth, fanning the vapor.

"Oh my." She said with a small gasp when she saw what was there.