Princess Karelia kissed one hundred and forty-nine frogs before breakfast. She stared at the crowd of frog-holding peasants awaiting her now and wished once again that there was some way to escape this unpleasant duty.
The king's voice was a mere whisper. "I never knew we had so many frogs in the kingdom." He turned to Karelia and smiled. "Courage, my dear. I'm sure we'll find him soon."
Princess Karelia allowed the king to lead her slowly back to her seat at the front of the room. The chains attached to her legs made it impossible for her to move swiftly. The king could ill afford to risk the only beautiful princess within a hundred miles of his kingdom escaping. He needed her to find his son, Prince Frederick, who had turned himself into a frog.
If only she'd inherited her father's hooked nose or her mother's moustache, she would not be here today. But no, she had to be beautiful, unlike her sister Matilda who had only to appear before the king and be sent home immediately.
She'd tried making herself fat but the servants watched her diet carefully and insisted she have plenty of exercise and fresh air to maintain her beautiful appearance.
Once, she'd managed to find a knife and she'd toyed with the idea of permanently disfiguring her face. Alas, she lacked the courage and instead sliced off her beautiful hair, certain that a nearly-bald princess would be considered ugly.
Immediately, all the court ladies and servants adopted the style, claiming it made her even more beautiful.
The situation was hopeless.
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