Once upon a time, a poor winemaker and his wife desperately wanted a child. They prayed to God to give them a child, saying “We don’t care what kind of child, even if it were a frog!” God heard them and sent them a daughter, but not an ordinary one, a frog girl.
The man and his wife loved their frog daughter deeply. One day, people came and whispered, “Isn’t that just a frog?” The couple felt ashamed and decided to hide their frog daughter whenever there were strangers around. The frog girl grew up without friends, only seeing her father and mother. She played in the vineyard while her father worked. Many years passed. While her father ate his lunch, the frog girl sang for him. Her father affectionately called her his Little Singing Frog.
One day, the youngest son of the czar rode by. He stopped to see who was singing so sweetly. He saw no one and asked the old man who it was that could sing so beautifully. The old man, still ashamed of his frog daughter, lied to the young prince: “No one is singing here!” The next day, the young czar rode by again and heard the same sweet voice.
“Old man,” he said, “I’m sure someone is singing. It’s a very sweet girl! If I find her, I am willing to marry her. Then I will take her home and introduce her to my father, the czar!” “Don’t be too hasty,” replied the father. “I know what I’m saying and I mean it. I would marry her,” the prince assured. “Okay then,” said the winemaker, “we’ll see.” The father looked up in the tree and called out, “Come down, Little Singing Frog. This prince wants to marry you!”
The frog girl jumped out of the tree and appeared before the prince. “She’s my own daughter,” said the winemaker, “even though she looks like a frog.” “I don’t care what she looks like,” said the prince. “I love her singing and I love her. I want to marry her. My father, the czar, has ordered me and my brothers to come with a bride tomorrow. The brides must give my father a flower. Whoever brings the most beautiful flower will take over my father’s kingdom.”
Then the prince bowed deeply to the frog girl and asked, “Little Singing Frog, will you be my bride and come to the palace tomorrow with a flower?” “Yes, my prince,” answered the frog girl, “I will, but I would like to come to the palace in style. Would you send me a snow-white rooster from your father’s yard?” “I will,” promised the prince. And that same evening, a snow-white rooster showed up at the frog girl’s home.
The frog girl prayed to the sun. “Oh sun,” she said, “I need your help. Give me a golden dress, woven from your golden rays, because I don’t want the prince to be ashamed of me when I meet his father.” The sun heard her prayer and gave her a golden gown. Instead of a flower, she chose a wheat stalk and climbed on the rooster on her way to the palace.
Upon arriving at the palace, people didn’t know what they were seeing. The frog girl in the golden gown on the snow-white rooster no longer looked like a frog at all, but like a lovely young woman on a white horse! And the other two girls who were to marry the prince’s brothers looked quite ordinary next to her. The first girl had a rose in her hand. The czar was unimpressed. The second girl brought a carnation. The czar sighed and shook his head. Then he saw the wheat stalk of the bride of the youngest prince, and his eyes began to gleam.
“This is exactly what I was looking for. This lady is so beautiful and yet she knows what has value. Look, because she brought me a wheat stalk.” And so it happened that the little frog girl, for whom her parents had been ashamed for years, married a prince and got a place on the throne beside him.
