The Prince's Kiss
By monogatari
Letizia S. Margo

A prince’s kiss has a certain charm attached to it. I can broke any spell and defy any misfortune. Thus, well, princes don’t have any difficulties getting wives, do they? After all, it’s everybody’s dream to have a love life like those in fairy tales. Especially when you live in an era  where Prince Charming really exists. Although, the competition is harder when the amount of princesses exceeds the amount of princes. In an era where single princes are scarce, the desperate single princesses have to try extra hard to stand out and have the prince find her. So to speak, a natural selection in action. Survival of the fittest, or in this case, the flashiest.

 I said before that single princes are scarce. But don’t keep your hopes up yet. Yes, scarce doesn’t mean that there’s no single prince in the whole world. But those who are single are mostly either: a) underage, b) incredibly ugly, c) a deranged psychopath, d) studies dark arts, e) a coo-coo lunatic, or the worst, f) sexually disoriented.

 And aside from that, allow me to introduce our main character, the hero of this story. He’s a very mature prince. He is wise in words and graceful like a swan. He is loved by all because of his kind heart and his caring personality. But, alas, he hasn’t found the love of his life yet. He searched high and low, north to south, east to west, and still have found the one he would call lover. Yes, folks, he’s single. And the best part of all, he’s not included in any of those categories above.

 ‘What a loathsome tragedy this is!’ The King said every now and then. ‘My son, the prince! He’s smart, wise, kind, gentle, and graceful! Far better than any of the princes I have ever met!’ he snorted, insulting the neighbor country’s prince who likes to show-off. Well, we do understand the King’s frustration. I mean, where did the prince go wrong? He’s perfect! Oh, except one fact that he’s a frog.

 That’s right, people; meet our hero, the frog prince.

 It is said that the prince is like that because of a terrible curse that can only be lifted by a kiss from a princess. But who would kiss such a hideous creature? Surely only a princess with a heart made of pure gold. And let me tell you, that’s harder to find than a decent single prince.

 It’s still raining heavily when the fateful encounter occurs. Our hero was looking for shelter from the rain when he saw her. A beautiful princess, with hair as bright as the summer sun and a smile like a warm spring wind. She smiled and asked the frog prince to shelter from the rain together.

 The princess introduced herself. Her name was Eurydice. The frog prince said to himself, ‘She is not alarmed by my appearance; she must be the one that can lift this curse!’ Then the frog prince told her everything about the curse. ‘Oh my!’ the princess exclaimed ‘What a terrible thing to hear! Can I help?’ The frog prince explained to her how to lift the curse and she agreed to help.

 The golden-hearted princess kissed the frog prince with no feelings of disgust at all. As the curse was being lifted, his form is starting to change. From an ugly and hideous frog, he grew taller to a handsome young man. In a blink of an eye, he has turned into a handsome 24 years old single prince with green eyes and brown hair.

 The prince thanked the princess and proposed to her. ‘Such a wonderful princess with a wonderful kind heart! She must be the one meant for me!’ he said to himself. But, alas, the frog prince’s misfortune continues. The princess was already married to a king of the neighboring country named Orpheus. He was the frog prince’s friend. He knows just as well as anybody else that he couldn’t possibly compete with Orpheus. So, the frog prince sadly bid her farewell when the rain stopped.

 Suddenly, someone attacked him. He dodged swiftly just in time. Puzzled, he continues dodging the attacks from that mysterious man. But when he was about to run for it, someone hit him at the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

 When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see an unfamiliar ceiling. He quickly understands the situation. He was kidnapped. But who? Who would’ve hold grudges at him?

 The door burst open and a few guards marched in. Our hero knew this means their leader was coming to ‘greet’ him. He was surprised to see that the culprit was a king from a sister country. The king then claimed that next week he’s going to marry the king’s daughter.

 But then, suddenly a group of people entered the room. The frog prince recognized them as the king, queen, and prime minister of another sister-country. ‘What is it that brings you here?’ the king then asked the rude intruders.

 ‘He’s not marrying your daughter. He and my daughter have been engaged since birth.’ the king replied. Of course, ‘tis a lie. Who would’ve wanted to marry the frog prince if he was his ugly old self?

 While they were bickering, another group came from behind. He saw a large hole on the wall and again, noticed the intruders as kings or prime ministers. He then understands the circumstances. They all want him to marry their daughter. Now that he’s a tall and handsome brunette, he can get any princess he wants. Now the only problem is to choose…

 A loud bang woke him from his daydreaming. A country has fired a canon from his ship to the royal quarters. If they don’t hand over the prince soon, they will not hesitate to start a war. The king refuses and an all-out war started. That gruesome war ran for 3 years and was well-known for the amount of casualties. It’s was called The Frog War I.

 The frog prince tried to comprehend the situation. When he was a frog, nobody likes him because of his looks. Now that he’s extremely handsome, a war ran for 3 years just to win his love. What a funny world we live in.

 Before he could even ponder more, he was kidnapped (again) by the northern country. They begged him to cure their beloved Princess Aurora from an eternal sleep, a curse that can be lifted by princes. He decided to help, being a very nice prince. When Princess Aurora woke up, she fell in love at the first sight at the prince and proposed him. Before the prince even have time to answer, seven little dwarves burst in and begged the prince to help THEIR princess. Their princess has swallowed a poisonous apple and the only cure is (again) the prince’s kiss. The prince quickly galloped to the misty forest to save Snow White. On the way there, he saw a big bad wolf chasing a little hooded girl. He defeated the beast (well, he IS the main character of this story. Main characters always win) and saved Little Red Riding Hood. Yet another girl that he impressed and charmed.

 After he saved Snow White, he set sail to the eastern country, to the exotic Arabian Desert. On the way, a terrible storm started and the ship drowned. He was saved by a mermaid, who (also) fell in love with the frog prince. She left him at the cliff and went to a witch to gain legs so that she can meet the prince again. As soon as she gets her legs, she’s going to follow the prince to the eastern country.

 When she finally got to the harbor to sail to the eastern countries, she saw more than a hundred princesses waiting to board the ship also. A hundred girls, all like the same prince, and they’re in the same ship. In short: a time bomb. Soon enough, the Frog War II occurs when the eastern countries princesses joined TFPFC (The Frog Prince Fans Club) and it’s bigger and scarier than any of the war ever written in the history.

 Tired, hurt and sweating like crazy, our hero finally reached his destination. An old cave with a large rock covering it.

 ‘Open sesame!’ he exclaimed.

 The rock moved by itself, giving the prince a way in to the cave. He went inside and ignored the gleaming gems, golden coin and beautiful robes. He’s only here for one purpose: The magic lamp.

 He found it and quickly escaped the booby trap in that cave. Outside, he rubbed the lamp and a genie came out.

‘I will grant you three wishes. Money, wealth, power, popularity I can give you all.’ The genie said to the frog prince.

’My wish is only one.’ He said to that genie  ‘Turn me into a frog again.’

The genie granted his wish and he’s back to his old form. And HE lives happily ever after.

-C'EST FINI-