In ancient times, in one country, an old man and an old woman had seven children. Six daughters, and the youngest, the seventh, was a frog. Her parents placed her in a large vat and watched over her, like their other daughters. And the frog learned to speak humanly.
One day, the king of that country held a bride viewing party in his palace. His son, the prince, had already reached adulthood, and it was time to look for a bride for him. According to custom, all the girls in the country came to the palace for two days. If the prince likes any of them, he will take her as his wife.
Heralds walked all over the country, beat the gong and announced when the show would take place. And then the day came, about which the heralds shouted, and all the girls of the country began to flock to the royal palace.
Six daughters also prepared to go to the bride's viewing. The younger sister, the frog, began to beg them:
- Sisters, can I come with you?
But the sisters didn’t want to listen to her.
- You will disgrace us! - they were indignant. - They will also tease us: “Frog family!” And in general, it’s not a frog’s business to go to royal viewings!
Each of the sisters, of course, really wanted the prince to choose her.
They put on their best and went to the palace.
As soon as the sisters left, the frog jumped out of the vat and hurried to the palace along paths unknown to people. On the way, she turned into a thicket of thick bamboo and there shed her frog skin. At that very moment she turned into a beautiful girl and went to the palace.
The prince saw the beauty and immediately fell in love with her, decided to call her his bride, but still restrained himself, as befits a prince, and did not ask who she was from and where she came from - he decided to do it later.
So on the first day of the ceremony, the prince had not yet announced his choice. He received all the girls as dear guests, generously treated them to delicious dishes - and this ended the first day of the ceremony.
And after the feast, the frog quietly disappeared and again set off on its way back through forest paths unknown to people. She came to a thicket of bamboo, where she left her frog skin, put it on and turned into a frog again. Her six sisters had not yet returned home, and she was already sitting in her vat.
And the next day the prince continued to look at brides from all over the country. The six sisters again gathered to go to the palace to try their luck. The younger sister - the frog - again asked to take her with her, but this time she left her frog skin in the bamboo thickets, took on the appearance of a beauty and entered the palace.
Now the prince was determined to find out who she was.
The second day of choosing brides came to an end, and the royal son still did not announce which of the girls he wanted to marry.
The girls began to disperse one after another. The beautiful frog also hurried back. Through secret forest paths, unknown to people, she penetrated into the thickets of bamboo, found her frog skin, put it on - and became a frog again. The sisters returned home and saw that the frog was still sitting in the vat.
The frog thought that no one had seen her making her way along unknown paths through the forest. But this was not so: one person saw everything she did, from beginning to end. This man was the prince himself, the king's heir. He secretly followed the beauty from the very time she left the palace, and saw everything - even how she jumped into her vat. Now he found out everything and realized that the beauty was a frog.
A week later, royal advisers and ministers arrived at the house where the old man and the old woman and their seven daughters lived, and behind them servants carried the royal palanquin. The hearts of the six daughters beat joyfully: which of them did the heir choose?
But the advisers did not pay attention to any of the girls. They took the vat with the frog, placed it in the palanquin and departed.
All the people in the country were surprised and laughed when they learned that at the bride's viewing the prince did not choose any of the girls, but took an ordinary frog, the youngest of seven sisters, to the palace.
The ridicule of the heir reached the ears of the king. He felt ashamed of his son, the king became angry, deprived the prince of the title of heir and ordered him to be expelled from the palace.
The prince heard the formidable royal decree, left the palace and settled in the vicinity of the city. There he began to live - quietly and alone.
Since then, the frog has never been shown in human form. But every night she came to the prince in a dream. So the prince and the frog had two lives: in one they were creatures of different worlds, in the other they, happy, deeply loved each other.
But it became unbearable for the prince to bear the fact that only in the world of dreams he sees his beloved, and in the morning, when he wakes up, they are strangers to each other again. And he began to think about what he could do so that the beauty would always be herself.
So somehow the prince pretended to fall asleep, and he himself was waiting for the beauty to appear. Only after midnight did he see a frog jump out of the vat, shed its frog skin and turn into a beautiful girl.
At that very moment the prince jumped out of bed, grabbed the frog skin and threw it into the fire. Now the beauty had nothing to wear to become a frog again.
From then on the prince became the happiest man. He always saw his beloved in the guise of a beauty and knew no more worries.
The news of this amazing event reached the king. He forgave the prince and again proclaimed him his heir.
There are no words to describe how beautiful the princess was. Until now in Burma the most beautiful girl is called “the youngest”: this means that the girl is beautiful, like the youngest of the seven sisters, the frog princess.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru