KidLit Forum

THE FROG PRINCESS
Alexander Afanasyev




1. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexander Afanasyev was a Russian writer who published nearly 600 Russian folktales and fairytales. The first edition of his collection was published in eight fascicules, earning him the reputation of the Russian couterpart to the Brother Grimm. Afanasyev became interested in old Russian and Slav traditions and short stories in the 1850’s when he began to think about a collection of folktales.
Suffering from tuberculosis, Afanasyev ended his life in penury forced to sell his library to enable himself to eat. He died in Moscow aged 45.

2. ABOUT THE TALE - SUMMARY

One of the main fairytales written by Alexander Afanasyev is “The frog princess”.The story is about a king who had three sons and he wanted them to get married. He suggested them to make an arrow and where would the arrow land, there the sons will marry. The eldest son shot his arrow and a princes’s daughter brought it back. The middle son was brought the arrow by a general’s daughter. The yougest one was brought the arrow by a FROG. Prince Ivan ( his name) was very unhappy but there was nothing he could do but marry the frog. One day the king wished his daughters-in-law to bring him GIFTS to see which of them was the most skillful. Again Prince Ivan thought everyone would laugh at him, so he wept and fell asleep. The frog went out into the streets, cast off her skin, turned into a maiden and cried for nurses who brought her a finely woven shirt. When Prince Ivan awoke, he was very happy and brought the shirt to the king. The king loved it and said he would wear it on holidays. The other brothers brought their shirts, too, but the king didn’t like them very much. Another day, the king wanted to see if the brides knew how to bake BREAD. This time the frog was aware she was spied by a chambermaid, so she mixed her dough and put it in the oven, but when the chambermaid was gone she again cried to the nurses and they baked a loaf of bread for her king to eat it on Sundays and holidays. Prince Ivan took the bread to his father and he said it was good enough for a holiday, it was not slack-baked like his elder daughters-in-law. The last test was A BALL, in order to see which of his daughters danced best. Prince Ivan started weeping but the frog said not to, because she’d be ready for him. He left for the ball and the frog cast off her skin and dressed herself in a “marvelous raiment”. She came to the ball and Prince was overjoyed and the guests clapped their hands at such a beauty. The guests began to eat and drink, the princess picked a bone and put it in her sleeve, then she drank from a cup and poured the last drop into the other. She finished dancing and all that she had created, vanished. The ball was over, the Prince went home , found the skin and burnt it. She arrived, looked for the skin but it was gone and she said to her prince that she could have been his, if he hadn’t burnt the skin, then she vanished. A year went by, and Prince Ivan longed for his wife. The second year he prepared for a journey to find her. He arrived at an old lady who said that his wife doesn’t remember him and sent him to another woman, her sister. Her sister sent him to the other sister who was winding gold thread, wound it around the spindle and put it in a box, locked the box and put the key somewhere. He took the key, opened the box, took out the spindle, broke it just as he was told, cast the top in back and the bottom in front of him. Suddenly Elena the Fair appeard. She said she almost married another. Then she took a magic carpet, sat on it with the Prince and flew into Russia and for some reason, the other man couldn’t get there.
Soon Ivan and Elena began to live and prosper for the glory of all people.


3. ANALYSIS

I liked the story very much. I think it’s a beautiful story that can be read by children, too, especially because it has lots of fairytale elements, a bit of magic and a happy ending which most of us and the children adore.
Of course the tale is met in multiple versions with various origins. An Italian variant titled “The Frog”. A Greek variant called “The Enchanted Lake”. Another variant is intitled “The Frog Prince” written by Paul Friedrick Meyerheim in 1889 and also“The Frog King” by Brothers Grimm. In 2009 appeard also the Disney film “The Princess and the Frog” based on this story.


4. MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

According to Vladimir Propp’s theory, this story also has positive and negative characters. The villains in this story are the other daughters-in-law, who try to spy on the frog to discover her tricks, so that to be successful in front of their father-in-law, but because they aren’t fully honest, they fail. I sensed a real competition between the boys’ brides and also a type of kindness and positive thinking of the frog. The positive character seemed to be Prince Ivan because he wanted his father to be happy about him and not to dissapoint him by not marrying a “frog”, which happened to be the most beautiful princess in the end. So, I guess he got what “he deserved” because of his kindness.
The magical helpers or the side-kick characters in the text were not only the nurses but also the three grandmothers, the sisters who helped the Prince find his bride.

5. AARNE – THOMPSON – UTHER CLASSIFICATION

According to Aarne – Thompson – Uther classification, we are dealing with Animal Tales type where we have an animal as a bride, but a very clever animal, that knows how to do things right to fulfill the wishes of her father-in-law on the one hand, and the wishes of her bridegroom on the other.


6. MORAL

The tale comes along with a moral, from my point of view, and that is NEVER to lose faith in you and TRUST your instincts and your wishes might come true.


7. THE STYLE

This story is, by all means, addressed to children, too, because of the style used by the author with simple words, not too long sentences. It’s a text that had wit, magic elements and a happy ending, in a few words, a text that had everything to capture everybody’s attention.



8. BIBLIOGRAPHY


* Afanasyev, Alexander. “THE FROG PRINCESS”-Russian Fairytales

* sourse : wikipedia.com- Information about the author.