Frog King

Overview

The frog first speaks from a deep forest well beneath a lime tree, where the youngest princess has dropped her golden ball. Hunt’s translation describes his thick head emerging from the water. He refuses her offered clothes, jewels and crown, instead demanding companionship: a place beside her, food from her plate, drink from her cup and space in her bed. She promises everything while privately dismissing the possibility that a water animal could be her companion. He retrieves the ball in his mouth, but she runs home despite his call that he cannot move as quickly. His next-day arrival changes the apparently private woodland bargain into a public household obligation. He climbs the marble stairs, knocks and recalls her promise; when she slams the door, her father requires her to let him in. The text makes the princess’s fear and unwillingness visible rather than presenting an immediately affectionate relationship.

At the table the frog asks to be lifted to her chair and then to the tabletop. Later she carries him upstairs with two fingers and leaves him in a corner, but he demands to share the bed and threatens to appeal to her father. Her angry throw against the wall breaks the enchantment; no kiss occurs in this selected episode. The resulting prince explains that a witch transformed him and that the princess alone could deliver him, although the witch’s motive and initial encounter remain untold. The next morning his servant Faithful Henry arrives with eight white horses adorned with ostrich feathers and golden harness chains. Henry had enclosed his heart in three iron bands against grief. Their successive cracks during the homeward journey are mistaken for carriage damage until he explains his joy. The title’s Iron Henry therefore refers to a second extraordinary motif, not an iron-bodied frog or a mechanical creature.

Origins & earliest records

This profile follows tale 1, The Frog-King, or Iron Henry, in Hunt’s 1884 translation of Grimm’s Household Tales. The Grimm collection underwent repeated nineteenth-century revisions. The wall-throwing restoration and servant’s three bands identify this selected witness; the familiar kiss ending requires its own edition or retelling rather than substitution here.

Records & interpretation

The full tale directly supplies the well, bargain, unwilling palace encounter, witch explanation and iron-band aftermath. These are collected literary events, not observed amphibian behaviour or medically verified heart restraints. Edition-specific details allow comparison without treating a transformed prince as a naturally occurring frog species.

In the literature

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Household Tales, tale 1: The Frog-King, or Iron Henry

   Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; translated by Margaret Hunt · English translation 1884

   Specific public-domain collected tale inspected. The selected English edition is a literary witness, not a transcript of a universal oral version.

2. 02

   Household Tales: 1 The Frog-King, or Iron Henry

   Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm · 1884

   Margaret Hunt’s English translation, London: George Bell and Sons, 1884; Gutenberg e-text identifies Hunt. Translation date corroborated by the Wikisource scanned title page and National Library of New Zealand catalogue.

Family, evolution & connections

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textGrimm/Hunt, Household Tales, tale 1Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

Frog King

Image associated with the exact linked encyclopedia article; consult credited file description for its interpretation.