Folktale: Fated Frog Wife

The Frog's Skin

Three brothers previously desired to be married. Let's each shoot an arrow, and then each of us takes our wife from the spot where the arrow lands, they said. The two older brothers' arrows struck houses owned by noblemen, while the youngest brother's arrow landed in a lake. The youngest brother went to the lake's shore as the two older brothers led home their noble wives. He observed a frog emerge from the water and take a seat on a rock. He picked it up and carried it inside. The elder brothers returned home with the noble maidens, while the youngest brother brought a frog. Each brother had received something from fate.

The brothers left for work. The wives cooked dinner and took care of all household chores. The frog croaked by the fire, and its eyes sparkled. They lived together in love and harmony for a long time.

The sisters-in-law eventually grew tired of seeing the frog. They threw the frog out with the dust when they swept the house. If the youngest brother found it, he picked it up; if not, the frog would leap back to its spot by the fire and start croaking. "Drive this frog out, and get a real wife for your brother," the noble sisters said to their husbands. The brothers bothered the youngest every day.

He responded by saying, "This frog is undoubtedly my fate. I am not deserving of anything better. I have to stick to it." His sisters-in-law persisted in convincing their husbands that the brother and his frog needed to be removed, and they eventually agreed.

The young brother was now completely alone. There was no one to prepare his food or stand guard at the door. A neighboring woman came to wait on him for a short time, but she was pressed for time, so he was left alone. The man became depressed.

He went to work while reflecting on his loneliness. He went home after completing his day's work. He was taken aback when he looked inside his house. The sideboard was well stocked; a cloth was spread in one spot, and many different types of tempting dishes were spread on the cloth. He looked around and saw the frog croaking in its place. He went back to work, convinced that his sisters-in-law had done it for him. He worked all day and returned home to find everything ready for him.

"I will see for myself who this unseen benefactor is, who comes to do good to me and look after me," he once said to himself. He stayed home that day and sat on the roof to observe from a distance. The frog quickly jumped out of the fireplace and across to the doors before jumping all over the place. When it returned and removed the frog's skin from the fire after realizing no one was there, a stunning young woman who was as fair as the sun emerged. The man was unable to think of a more beautiful woman than her. She cleaned up everything, made the food, and cooked it in the blink of an eye. She went to the fire, put on the skin once more, and started to croak when everything was ready. The man was shocked beyond belief when he saw this; he rejoiced exceedingly that God had granted him such happiness. He descended from the roof, went in, caressed his frog tenderly, and then sat down to his tasty supper.

The next day the man hid himself in the place where he had been the day before. The frog, having satisfied itself that nobody was there, stripped off its skin and began its good work. This time the man stole silently into the house, seized the frog's skin in his hand and threw it into the fire. When the maiden saw this she entreated him, she wept, and she said, "Do not burn it, or you shall surely be destroyed," but the man had burned it in a moment. "Now, if your happiness be turned to misery, it is not my fault," said the sorrow-stricken woman.

In a very short time the whole countryside knew that the man who had a frog now possessed in its place a lovely woman, who had come to him from heaven.

The king of that country soon heard of the woman's beauty and decided to posses her for himself. He called the young man and told him to either sow a barn full of grain in a day or hand over his wife. The man went home to his wife and told her the sad news. She said to him, "I told you what would happen if you burn the skin, but you refused to listen; but I will not blame you. Go in the morning to the edge of the lake from which I came, and call out, 'Mother and Father! I pray you, lend me your swift bullocks.' Lead them away with you, and the bullocks will in one day plow the fields and sow the grain." The husband did this and the field was plowed and grains planted by him that day.

His king was very surprised. He did not know if there was anything impossible to this man, whose wife he wanted. He called him a second time, and said, "Go and harvest the wheat you have sown, no grain should remain and the barn should not be full. If you do not do this, your wife is mine."

"This is impossible," said the man to himself. He went home to his wife, who again reproached him, and then said, "Go to the lake's edge and ask for the jackdaws. The man did as instructed and soon harvested the whole wheat.

Seeing that the man could not be defeated, the king called and said to him, "My mother, who died in this village, took with her a ring. If you go to the other world and bring that ring back to me, it is well; if not, I shall take away your wife."

The man was depressed and went to his wife but she said to him, "Go to the lake and ask for the ram." The husband did as he was told and a ram with a twisted horn took him to the spirit world to retrieve the ring

The journey was demanding but he was successful. The spirit of the king's mother who was angry for being disturbed gave the man a little box as a present for the king. She told him to hand the gift to the king and tun away as soon as possible.

When the man came back to earth, he gave the box to the king and ran back to his house. When the king opened the box, fire came out of it and consumed him. The man had no one to compete over his wife again, so he went home with her and they lived happy ever after.

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