Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Frog Prince And Other Stories

Rate this book
1 The Frog Prince brings back the princess' golden ball in return for eating and sleeping as her friend.
2 Princess Belle-Etoile follows her cousin Prince Cheri on last of three dangerous expeditions, protected by magic doves she saves.
3 Aladdin gains fortune and Princess Bulbul from the magic lamp genii spirit but angers his magician "uncle".

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1874

10 people are currently reading
108 people want to read

About the author

Walter Crane

647 books31 followers
Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century.

His work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
12 (13%)
4 stars
16 (17%)
3 stars
41 (45%)
2 stars
16 (17%)
1 star
6 (6%)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Serena.
324 reviews8 followers
February 27, 2019
Read for University.
Wow how fairy tales become problematic once you reread them as an adult. Especially the original versions.

The Frog Prince: The Frog answered, "Dresses, or jewels, or golden crowns, are not for me; but if thou wilt love me, and let me be thy companion and playfellow, and sit at thy table, and eat from thy little golden plate, and drink out of thy cup, and sleep in thy little bed,—if thou wilt promise me all these, then will I dive down and fetch up thy golden ball." - This is simply creepy. But wait there's more!

"I have satisfied my hunger and feel very tired; wilt thou carry me upstairs now into thy chamber, and make thy bed ready that we may sleep together?" - Wow it gets creepier!
In these stories there is a sense of male entitlement to extraordinarily beautiful women. This aspect of them is also the only factor that seems to matter.

Aladin:
"he one day chanced to see the Sultan's daughter coming with her attendants from the baths. He was so much struck with her beauty, that he fell in love with her at once, and told his mother that she must go to the Sultan, and ask him to give the Princess to be his wife." - Once again appearance seems to be the only thing that matters to men when observing females.

"Your son shall have his wish, if he can send me, in a week, forty bowls like this, carried by twenty white and twenty black slaves, handsomely dressed." - Black people are inferior in this picture story book. Black slaves are traded in order for Aladin to have the Sultain's daughter.
The Story of Aladdin literally shows the evil of capitalism. By having money and riches Aladdin is able to get everything he wants. He can control other peoples lives. He can buy/ trade any one or anything he wants simply due to his new found wealth.

In both stories neither female protagonost is named, empahsising that they are only there for "show".
Profile Image for Judy.
3,585 reviews66 followers
November 28, 2016
Two of these three stories are readily found in other locations, but I wanted to see Crane's illustrations. They have a different 'feeling,' than do the illustrations in modern books. For example the "exceedingly beautiful" daughter has a 'ski slope' nose that forms a straight line from the top of her forehead to the tip of the nose. And, she wears a chatelaine to which many intriguing items have been added.
Profile Image for Perry Whitford.
1,952 reviews79 followers
July 7, 2018
'The Frog Prince' begins with the best of all lines with which to open a fairytale, much better than 'Once upon a time...' if you ask me:

'In the olden time, when wishing was having...'

Unfortunately these characterless retellings go swiftly downhill from there. 'Princess Belle-Etoile' is a highly eventful fairytale which comes across as an illogical mess in this truncated version. 'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp' similarly reduces the story to it's bare essentials.

Oh, and I don't even particularly like Walter Crane's style of illustration.

The colours, yes, the actual drawing, not much.
Profile Image for Michele.
826 reviews55 followers
April 27, 2009
Richly detailed, colorful illustrations. (wood-engraving?)
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
6,340 reviews118 followers
June 6, 2023
The Frog Prince And Other Stories by Walter Crane - Come for the stories, but stay for the illustrations! Happy Reading!
Profile Image for Anne Patkau.
3,722 reviews71 followers
October 6, 2013
http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/20437 images
In elegant archaic speech, surprised Aladdin part of this set. Cannot find moral messages. Cook for passing old ladies? Save doves from immolation sacrifice and cold? Pretty words roll on the tongue, bring magic worlds alive. Illustrations are strongly cut and tapestry-colored.

Frog Prince The King's youngest daughter loses her favorite golden ball in a deep fountain, and a frog responds "thy tears would melt even a stone to pity" if she agrees to take him on as "thy companion and playfellow, and sit at thy table, and eat from thy little golden plate, and drink out of thy cup, and sleep in thy little bed" p 5. The King insists the reluctant runaway keep her promise. His servant Henry "had bound three iron bands round his heart, for fear it should break with grief" p 16, that crack as the newlywed's carriage drives away from the palace to the Prince's realm. This side-plot confuses, like Japanese Warriors http xx tacks on extra tales.

Princess Belle-Etoile
If not for supernatural guardians, brother would die for sister's silly desires, fooled by villain, one unpunished. When their retired mother cooks for a fairy disguised as an old woman, her daughters, Princesses, Roussette, Brunette, and youngest Blondine, marry Lord Admiral, King's brother, and King himself. The fairy continues to watch over the family. Royalty typically married cousins, inbred deformities, creepy in modern day.

After Brunette has son and dies, jealous Rousette and the King's mother order waiting-woman Feintise to kill the infants. Awed by beauty of Blondine's three, "sparkling stars on foreheads" and unmovable gold necklaces, she put them in a boat during a storm. A Corsair and his wife Corsine find, adopt, and name the babes. Brunette's son Cheri will do anything for Blondine's daughter Belle-Etoile. She saves doves, so doves keep on saving them, even when evil Fentise convinces foolish Belle to send Cheri on 3 dangerous missions.


Aladdin is claimed as nephew by evil magician, who gives him a magic ring to retrieve a lamp. The "Genius of the Ring" saves the lad when the uncle refuses to help him out of the tunnel. Aladdin, made rich by the magic help, sends his mother to get his the Sultan's daughter in marriage.


Typo?
p 6 "Genius" for "Geni"
Profile Image for Maki ⌒☆.
607 reviews49 followers
May 29, 2017
The Frog Prince and Other Stories is a collection of three fairy tales illustrated by Walter Crane.

The collection contains The Frog Prince, Princess Belle-Etoile, and Aladdin.

Princess Belle-Etoile was the only story I hadn't previously read, but it's your typical fairy tale fare of a jealous woman trying to kill a bunch of children, but they just keep succeeding in everything they do.

Aside from Belle-Etoile, there wasn't really anything new in this collection for me.

The illustrations were gorgeous though, and in full color. I did wonder about the fact that Crane's drawings of Aladdin were stylistically Asian, when it's a Middle Eastern story.

I also swear that I had read the Aladdin story in a collection of Russian fairy tales that same day. Different names, and slightly different story, but the similarities between the two were unmistakable.

In both stories, the hero gets a magic ring that grants his wishes, and uses it to wed a princess and build a palace for them to live in, right next to her father's castle. Then, the object that grants the wishes gets stolen (in Aladdin, the lamp is the stronger of the two objects, so it's the lamp that gets stolen), the princess and the palace get teleported somewhere else, and the king threatens to kill the hero if he doesn't return the princess to her rightful place. The hero manages to get back the stolen item from the thief, and returns everything to where it was before, and they all live happily ever after.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
13.3k reviews484 followers
sony-or-android
December 23, 2016
(try other Crane on project gutenberg, too)
Profile Image for Elaine White.
Author 45 books263 followers
February 4, 2012
Another one that was very strange.

The Frog Prince - The princess, again was very superficial. There was no kissing frogs anywhere and I was a little confused at how *throwing a frog against the wall warranted him turning into a prince and wanting to marry her!* It made no sense to me.

Princess Belle-Etoile - This i loved! There was a strong female character and the story was interesting. I kept wondering what was coming next. A little bit like Hercules in the tasks set and how easily the brother defeats them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jenna.
117 reviews31 followers
March 28, 2010
This only took a couple minutes to read but it was very enjoyable. My favorite part of this was the illustrations. They are done in a beautiful greek style and are very eye catching. It was great to see the stories imagined in a different way by this great artist.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.