PrincessFrogA Burmese Folk Tale

retold by Olivia Thetgyi • Illustrated by Lisa Mertins

“Wait, sisters! I’m hopping as fast as

I can!”

The two girls wrinkled their noses at their

stepsister, who bounded toward them, her eyes

bulging, her tongue hanging out, and her face a shiny

green. In fact, all of her was green. She was a frog.

“Hurry up, Mi Pa, or we’ll miss the hair-

washing ceremony!” the girls shouted, stamping

their feet. They were dressed in their finest

htamains and headed for the palace. Today the king

of Burma’s youngest and most handsome son would

choose his bride. Just as Mi Pa caught up with her

stepsisters, they turned on their slippered heels and

sped through the palace gates.

HI ! I ’M CR ICKE T . A H TAMAIN I S A LONG CLOT H WORN AROUND T HE WAIS T L I K E A S K IR T .

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For a moment, Mi Pa looked as if she

might cry. Then she collected herself and

hopped the rest of the way to the gate. “Hello

there!” she trilled sweetly at the gatekeeper.

“I’ve come to meet the prince!”

The guard peered down at her. “The

invitation is for young ladies, not little frogs.”

“Oh, please, sir!” she cried. “The letter

said any maiden could attend, and the fact I

was born a frog never bothered my parents.

Besides,” she said, batting her eyelids, “I’m

sure a big, strong soldier like yourself has

better things to do than keep little frogs like

me out!”

T HE HAIR-WASHING CEREMON Y WAS CONDUCT ED DU RING T HE B U RMES E N EW

Y EAR IN MEDIEVAL T IMES . I T S YMBOL IZED P U R IF ICAT ION AND RENEWAL .

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“Oh, all right,” the guard grumbled, but he smiled as he

swung open the gate.

Mi Pa leaped up the path to the palace pond, where a

throng of damsels had gathered, dressed in silken htamains and

gauzy blouses. Her stepsisters stood at the far end of the pool,

elbowing other girls out of their way. Prince Thura himself,

dressed in a golden paso and dazzling white shirt, was casually

scanning the crowd. Then he undid his tightly bound hair. The

young women did the same, and together they rinsed their

tresses in the pool. Mi Pa gracefully dipped the top of her head

into the water.

After the prince’s attendants had dried and combed his hair,

he cried, “With so many lovely maidens to choose from, I can’t

decide which one of you to marry. So I shall throw this crown of

jasmine into the air. Whoever it falls upon shall be my wife!”

Up went the white wreath, spinning around and around. For

a long, slow moment, all eyes focused on the flowery circlet. Mi

Pa closed her eyes . . . and felt soft petals caressing her head.

She looked up to see the jasmine crown flopped over her eyes.

Across the pool, her stepsisters fainted.

Despite his initial dismay, Prince Thura kept his

word and married Mi Pa. But his disappointment gradually

turned to admiration. They spent hours deep in conversation

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A PASO I S A H TAMAIN WORN B Y MEN .

in their wing of the palace, and Mi Pa prepared his favorite

dish, a mouth-watering pork curry, searing hot with chilies and

spicy with ginger.

One morning, several months after the wedding, the prince

stumbled into their royal suite. He collapsed groaning onto a

couch and covered his eyes with a hand.

“What ails you, my love?” asked Mi Pa from her silk cushion,

where servants were fanning her.

“My father wants to choose an heir before he retires. But

since he can’t decide which of his sons to pick, he’s set us an

impossible task: to find a golden deer in seven days!”

Mi Pa hopped over to her husband. “Never mind, darling. I’ll

help you find that deer myself!”

The prince sat up, his face alight with hope. “You will? Oh

thank you, Princess!”

The prince hummed as the servants prepared dinner, but Mi

Pa’s thoughts were racing. How was she going to find a mythical

creature in one week?

The next day, Mi Pa went to the temple to pray for

guidance. The head monk saw her sad face and asked, “What

troubles you, Princess?”

“Oh, Saya-daw,” she sighed, “my husband has to find a

golden deer in a week in order to be king! Where can he find

such a creature?”

MEAN T HE HAD T O MARR Y T HE Y EAT B UGS , OF P R IN CES S ?

P R IN CE T H U RA K EP T HI S EV EN T HOUGH I T

F ROGS AREN ’ T SO S HE I S A WORD , BAD–EXCEP T WHEN HER , WIL L S HE P R INCES S !

T U R N IN T O A

IF HE K I S S ES

A F ROG . COU R S E . 5

“A difficult task, but not

impossible,” the monk replied. “Long

ago, the forests to the south of the

city were full of such deer. They were

hunted until only a handful remained.

Although nobody has seen one for

many years, it is still said that a

golden deer will follow a true heart.”

Mi Pa thanked the monk for his

advice and returned to the palace to

prepare for her journey. Her servants

carried her in a litter to the forest,

but when the trees grew too dense to

continue, Mi Pa jumped down and

proceeded on foot.

After roaming the woods for

a few days, Mi Pa saw a glint of

gold through the trees. She hopped

toward it, calling, “Please wait. I

need your help!”

The patch of gold stopped moving,

and the deer turned to look at her.

“Why would a princess need my

help?” he asked.

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“It’s my husband—he needs to find a golden deer so he can be the

next king!”

“And you want to help him so you can be queen,” said the deer,

lowering his head to nibble at a clump of grass.

“No!” Mi Pa cried. “I want to help him because he’s sweet and

kind and true to his word. He married me because of a promise, even

though, as you can see, I’m no beauty.”

The deer raised his head and laughed. “Enough! I will help your

prince win his challenge.”

Mi Pa thanked the golden deer, and they hurried back to the

palace. They met the prince just as he was about to face the king

empty-handed. He looked in wonder first at the deer, then at his wife.

“Go on!” Mi Pa said, smiling.

Everyone in the room gasped when the prince entered with

the golden deer, sunlight bouncing off its body in dazzling rays.

Prince Thura’s brothers looked on in shock. The eldest

brother, Sithu, clutched the leash of an ordinary deer coated

with gold dust, which flew off in clouds whenever the deer

flicked his tail. Thura’s middle brother, Nandar, stood with his

arm around a gold statue of a fawn.

The king embraced Prince Thura. “My heir!”

But Sithu and Nandar grumbled about beginner’s luck, so

the king set his sons a second task: to find the magic food that

never spoils.

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“What are we to do now, Princess? I doubt even you could pull

off two miracles,” said Prince Thura when they were alone again.

“Don’t be silly, my love! This task will be easier than the last

one,” Mi Pa replied. But inside she was worried.

The next day, Mi Pa visited her old schoolteacher, a scholar

who knew more myths and legends than anyone else. “I have

heard about a dish that never spoils,” he said, “but it is kept by

a terrible ogress. Only a thief or a great warrior could wrest it

from her!”

“Well, I’m neither, but I’ll do my best,” replied Mi Pa bravely.

The scholar drew a map showing where the monster was

rumored to live, and she set out the same day.

By nightfall Mi Pa found herself before a house of bones

built into the side of a hill. She shook with fear but knocked on

the door anyway.

The door flew open, and the ogress thrust her head out,

rolling her enormous eyes and baring tusklike teeth. “What do

you want?” she roared.

“To borrow your magic dish of food that never spoils.”

“And what will you give me in return?” the ogress sneered.

Mi Pa gulped. “Whatever you want, but I must return with

the dish before the week is out.”

The ogress grinned horribly. “Then you shall be my maid

until then. I’ve never had a princess clean my house before!”

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The ogress set her to work, clearing away bones and the

half-gnawed limbs of people and animals. Mi Pa wanted to run

away, but she remembered the prince waiting for her at home.

She continued cleaning, and soon the house was spotless.

On the fifth day, the ogress said, “Having a princess for a

maid is a handy thing, and I’d like to keep you here forever. But

you’ve been a good little frog, so I’ll give you what you asked for.”

She rummaged around in her treasury, then handed Mi Pa a

black-and-red lacquerware bowl of dried fish and boiled rice. It

didn’t look magical, but Mi Pa kept her doubts to herself. She

thanked the ogress and hastened home.

She caught up with her husband just as he was about to see

the king. “The magic dish!” she panted. He thanked her and

hurried into the throne room.

The king was already admiring the other princes’ offerings:

gold pagoda-shaped containers holding richly spiced curries.

But after three days in the hot sun, the curries had turned to

rotting mush while Prince Thura’s food had stayed fresh. The

king again declared him the heir.

Sithu and Nandar complained once more, so the king

assigned them a final task: to bring him the most beautiful

woman in the kingdom.

“We won’t have to look far for this one,” Sithu said, elbowing

Nandar gleefully. It was true: their wives were lovely to look at,

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with gleaming black hair, ebony eyes, and full red lips.

Back in their suite, Thura took his wife’s tiny webbed hands in

his and told her the news. “But you can pull something off, right?”

“S-sure,” Mi Pa said. She was suddenly very aware of her

slimy green skin and bulging eyes.

Over the next week, Mi Pa tried every beauty potion and

pot of makeup she could lay her hands on. But the potions,

mixed for humans, backfired horribly, turning her thirty-

seven different colors before wearing off. And let’s face it, she

thought, red lips would look terrible on a frog.

Mi Pa was miserable as she waited with her husband to see the

king on the seventh day. She wanted to crawl into a hole or, better

yet, jump into a pond. The prince’s brothers smirked at each other

and their wives tittered when the couple entered the room.

The king thoughtfully regarded the three wives. Then he

stood up and embraced Prince Thura. “My son, you are truly my

rightful heir!”

The women gasped in shock, and their husbands sputtered

in anger. The king motioned them to be silent. “You may be

wondering why I chose Mi Pa over your wives, so I will explain.”

He turned to Prince Sithu. “My son, your wife is lovely, as

anyone can see. But she is known throughout the kingdom for

being greedy and ill-tempered.” Sithu’s face turned red with

rage, and his wife bowed her head in shame. “And your wife,”

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the king continued, turning to Nandar, “is infamous for bullying

and beating the servants.” The woman’s jaw dropped, and she

looked ready to protest, but her husband hushed her.

“Whereas you,” the king said, turning to his youngest son,

“have brought Mi Pa, who is kind and gentle and, from what I

hear, the very reason you were able to pass the other two tests.

That certainly makes her the most beautiful woman here and a

fitting queen for any king!”

Sithu and Nandar looked furious but could say nothing.

Their wives grumbled over being beaten by a frog. But Prince

Thura and Mi Pa returned home to celebrate and prepare for a

long and prosperous reign. I WONDER WHO T HE K IDS T HE S T OR Y ’ S OV ER , HAP P ILY S HE ’ S A F ROG WIL L LOOK L I K E? EVER AF T ER , AND S HE ’ S WHO WIL L BE S T IL L A F ROG ! WEIRD . MEW Y- RIBBI T . Q UEEN !

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Fiction Tales & Legends 840L • 1918 words

Art © 2010 by Lisa Mertins

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