A young princess loved to play with a golden ball near a deep well in the forest. One day she threw the ball too high, and it fell into the water. The well was so deep that the ball was gone. The princess began to cry.
"Why are you crying?" said a voice. It was a frog with big eyes, sitting on the water. "I can bring back your ball," he said, "but you must promise to be my friend. Let me eat from your plate and sleep in your little bed."
The princess wanted her ball, so she said yes. The frog dived down and brought the golden ball back to her. But as soon as she had it, she ran home and forgot all about the frog.
That evening, while the princess was eating, there was a knock at the door. It was the frog. "You made a promise," he said. The king, her father, heard this. "If you make a promise," he told her, "you must keep it." So the princess let the frog eat from her plate, though she did not like it.
At bedtime the frog wanted to come too. The princess was angry, but her father looked at her, so she carried the frog to her room. She was so upset that she wanted to throw him, but instead she kept her word and let him stay.
In the morning something wonderful happened. The frog was gone, and a kind young prince stood there. A witch had turned him into a frog, and only a true promise, kept even when it was hard, could break the spell.
The prince thanked the princess for keeping her word. They became real friends, and later they were married. The princess never forgot that a promise, big or small, must always be kept.
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