"the frog prince continued" by jon scieszka is a picture book parody 'sequel' to the tale of "the frog prince" (the fairy tale version written by the brothers grimms), in which a princess kissed a frog which then turned into a prince.
they were supposed to have lived happily ever after, but as the 'continued' version told us, it wasn't all a happy ending. why? because the prince still retained some of his froggy habits, like hopping around on furniture, or catching flies, which he tended to do all day as well as constantly staying by the pond.
now, missy princess wanted him to do some princely activities, like slaying a dragon. so princess nagged him all the time and one day he got so fed up with her nagging that he ran away into the woods in pursuit of finding a kindly old witch to turn him back into a frog.
in his foray into the forest, he found a witch who agreed to cast a nasty spell on him because she thought he was the prince who had to kiss sleeping beauty back to life. well, our toady prince happened to know his fairy tales and had second thoughts about that nasty spell so he ran as fast as he could.
deeper in the forest, he found another witch who offered him a half-eaten apple. he figured this was the same darn witch and the same darn apple that did that dwarf-loving snow white in so once again he ran away from her as fast as his little princely feet could run.
he then came across a strange sweet-smelling house with yet another witch who was willing to turn him back into his old froggy self. but when he was about to enter the strange house, he took a small bit of the wall and tasted it. tasted of cinnamon and what's that, oh shit, gingerbread! since, as said earlier in the story, he knew his fairy tale rather well, he figured this was the witch that had designs on hansel and gretel. soooo, as the witch was scanning her recipe book for roasted prince, he high tailed it way deeper into the forest.
-o0o-
i hate to spoil your reading pleasure but the end of the story will have to come on sunday. (i ducked, you missed!)
for the mad hatter's theme this week, the frog prince continued. you may participate in the theme or you can view the mad hatters album here
http://365project.org/madhatters/365. and just in case you want to see the entries for this theme, please click on the tag below and it'll get you right there.
@olivetreeann - thank you, ann.
@bill_fe - thank you, bill.
@altadc - thank you, alta.
@678tabby - tee-hee! thank you, june.