The Princess, the Dragon, and the Frog Prince

by Elisabeth Waters

  “Thou art an actress?” The prince looked scandalized. Obviously where he came from, actress ranked well below witch on the social scale. “Surely a witch does not need to earn her bread displaying herself on the stage like some common harlot.”

  “No, I’m a stage magician. Don’t look so shocked, Prince Florian. I enjoy it, and it pays the bills. You do realize, don’t you,” she gestured at the house and yard, “that you’re not in your own world anymore? We may have a few princess left, but dragons exist only in story tales. And women on the stage,” she looked him straight in the eye, “are not harlots.”

  Florian looked around him. “This is indeed a strange world.” He looked dismayed. “What can I do here?”

  “Maybe you could put him in your act,” Danny suggested hopefully. “If you can predict exactly when he’s going to change, you can work up a Frog Prince routine, can’t you?”

  Be careful what you pray for... Jan thought. Well, at least it was a quick response.

  She chewed on her lower lip and looked upward, calculating furiously. “Let’s see: if I’m right about the spell, at moon dark he’d be a frog almost all night; at full moon he’d be human most of the night. The waning moon rises after sunset and doesn’t set until after sunrise, so he’d turn human well after dark and frog at dawn, and the waxing moon rises before sunset and sets before dawn, so he’d turn human at sunset. There’s too much variation in moonrise, but with daylight savings time I can do the dinner show and use sunset. That changes only about a minute per night. So if I time the act carefully, it should work for at least part of the month. That’s not a bad idea, Danny. I take it you weren’t planning to keep him as a pet.”

  “No,” Danny said, “My father was planning to take him to school for next week’s biology lab.”

  “That would be a problem,” Jan acknowledged. She turned to Florian. “Did you understand what I was saying? Until I can come up with a counter-spell and return you to your own world—neither of which is likely to happen soon, I’m afraid—you are going to be a frog all day and part of most nights. You can live with me—”

  “You can have my aquarium,” Danny offered.

  “Thank you, Danny. You can live in it during the day, Prince Florian, and I’ll make sure you have food and water. I live next door, so Julian and Danny can visit you. On nights when the change is at the proper time, you can work in my magic act with me. And I’ll keep trying to find a way to free you from the spell and send you back to your own world. Do we have a deal?”

  Florian looked at the moon, which was moving steadily toward the horizon.

  “Agreed,” he said.

  ~o0o~

  Over the next several weeks, Jan studied Florian and the spell he was under. It seemed to be layered: the first layer had turned him into a frog permanently, then, presumably by means of a virgin’s kiss, he had gone to the second layer, where he was human part of the time, was able to recover most of his previous human memories, and retained consciousness even when he was in frog form. (He was also becoming addicted to television.) Jan suspected that the spell had at least one, and maybe two, additional layers, but she didn’t know what they were or how to trigger them.

  While Jan studied Florian, Florian studied her world, beginning with television. Jan made him start watching Sesame Street when she discovered he couldn’t read. She sat with him when she could, explaining what was fact, what was sitcom, and what was advertising; and she told the boys to do likewise when they were with him. (She found out later that they were renting videos for him while she was out during the day, and was thankful that they were too young to rent anything X-rated.)

  Florian liked some of the educational programming, particularly “Mathnet”—changing the channel when that was on brought loud croaks of protest, but mostly he liked CNN or the sports channel, although he found Star Trek (in any form) fascinating. He also developed a taste for opera after stumbling across a performance of “Turandot” one night while channel surfing in human form.

  Aiken had produced a wardrobe for him (Jan didn’t ask how or where), so toward the end of the month, when he was human late at night, Jan started taking him out with her. They went to a couple of late night movies and did a lot of driving around to get Florian used to the city environment. To Jan’s surprise, he seemed to like it. She found it hard to understand how he could adapt so well to such an alien environment.

  They also worked out the details of the act, beginning with a costume: a pair of tights of very stretchy material. Aiken provided them, too, which was a good thing, because Jan had no idea where else she could get something that would stretch from frog to human size. Fortunately Prince Florian wasn’t very tall, even though his legs were well-muscled. After he’d worn them through a few transformations, Jan got over her initial fear that they’d split right off him, getting them both arrested for indecency. As soon as he changed to human, he added a cloak to the outfit, which made him look much more dressed. Of course, he still looked very sexy.

  “The women in the audience are going to love this,” Jan said. It was nearing moon dark, which meant they were working during the hours just before dawn. “Now are you sure you remember the patter?”

  “Mistress Jan,” Florian said patiently, “in my own world I had some slight degree of fame as a minstrel. And where I come from, we are expected to remember things, not look them up in a book. He looked pointedly at the almanac Jan was studying as she sat on the floor, surrounded by several reference books, a calculator, a pen, and a lot of paper.

  “It is very important that we get sunset and moonrise and moonset times correct,” Jan said. “That’s the key to our act. Actually, timing is vital in most magic.”

  “I understand that,” Florian said. “The boys brought some videotapes for me to watch. I trust thou dost not plan to saw me in half.”

  “No,” Jan said. “I’m not very fond of that trick. I saw a show in Las Vegas once where they must have done at least three variations of the ‘saw-the-woman-in-half trick’ and I would have walked out if it had been possible. Unfortunately I was stuck at a table in a dark room, surrounded by people I would have had to crawl over. Besides, I was with my aunt and uncle, who would have thought it ill-mannered of me to leave in the middle of a show. There were only about three good illusions, which is not enough to carry a two-hour show. I have rarely been so bored in my life. That’s one of the reasons I keep my act short.”

  Florian sighed. “I am glad my father is not here to see this. He would not approve at all.”

  Jan looked up at Florian. He was sprawled in an armchair, wearing only his tights. They were bright blue and matched his eyes, but she doubted that his father would appreciate the effect. “I’m sure you’re correct,” she said, “and I’m glad he’s not here too.”

  Florian smiled suddenly at her. It was a smile to make a woman’s knees quiver. What is his world like that he had to take on a dragon to find a woman? Jan wondered. Even though he was a surplus prince, there should have been some girl who would want him.

  “I think my father would like thee,” he said.

  “Really?” Jan raised her eyebrows. “As much as Princess Rowena?”

  “Better than Princess Rowena,” Florian said. “Thou hast a good heart and a strong sense of honor. That is more important than being the daughter of a king.”

  “What is she like?” Jan asked. This was the first time the subject had come up since the night she met Florian. “Is she very beautiful?”

  “Princesses with large dowries are beautiful by definition,” Florian said with a slight tinge of cynicism in his tone. “In fact, I did not see much of her, and what I did see-” he smiled. “I am quite content not to have married her, even if being a frog is part of the price of escaping that fate.” He smiled again at Jan. “Thou dost outshine her in beauty as the sun does the moon.”

  “Uh, thanks,” Jan said, suddenly feeling awkward. “You’re pretty good-looking too.” She bent her head over the almanac a
gain. “Now if the moon sets at 18:56 at 40 degrees North Latitude at the Greenwich Meridian, it will set at-” she put the calculator on top of the almanac and punched numbers into it with her left hand while making notes on a pad of paper with her right. “-20:30 local time here. That gives us plenty of time to do the act. We can start next week.”

  “Canst thou not tell with thy true magic when the transformation is about to take place?” asked Florian. “I can feel when it is to happen.”

  Now that he mentioned it, Jan realized that she could tell. “You’re right, she said. “You look sort of fuzzy for a few seconds right before it happens. That’s how I know when to kiss you so that it looks as if my kiss is turning you human. But it’s only a few seconds’ warning, and I have to be watching for it. That’s why all the calculations are necessary. I really don’t want anything to go wrong with this on stage.”

  “Nothing will,” Florian reassured her. “Thou hast calculated the times for the next two months, thy costume is done and looks wonderful, and I know exactly what I’m to do for the tricks after I turn human when I act as thine assistant. We are going to do well, believe me.”

  ~o0o~

  Florian was correct. The new act was a smash hit, and the audience for the dinner show increased dramatically over the next two weeks. But as the full moon approached, when moonrise would come after sunset, Jan told the manager that she would not be able to perform for a couple of weeks. He protested vigorously, and she agreed to one more show, on the night of the full moon, before taking a break. Given this concession, he readily agreed to schedule her an hour later than usual. Jan spent most of the day pacing about the house, checking and double-checking the local time for moon rise, and talking anxiously to a frog whose side of the conversation was limited, to say the least.

  ~o0o~

  The house was packed, and Jan was a nervous wreck. She ran her hands over the skirt of her long blue dress, which was a perfect match for Florian’s tights and cape, redid her hair twice, double-checked her make-up, and triple-checked her props.

  “I still have a bad feeling about this,” she told Florian as she carried his box to the stage. “I keep thinking that I forgot something important.”

  Once she started the familiar tricks that began her act, she found herself relaxing. The first part of the act was simple slight-of-hand, things she had been doing since her early teens, showy, but not difficult. Now, of course, they served to fill in the time until the proper moment for Florian’s transformation.

  As moonrise approached, she brought Florian out of his box and began to tell the story of how her poor assistant had encountered a dragon who had put him under an evil spell, which could be broken only by a maiden’s kiss. She watched Florian carefully as she spoke, waiting for the right moment. To her relief, her timing was perfect, and the transformation went as smoothly as it had when they had been using sundown as the mark for it.

  Jan relaxed now, prepared to run the rest of the act normally. But when they were almost at the end of the act, Florian suddenly nudged her, and she saw the shimmer that always proceeded his transformation. As the flash of light momentarily blinded her (she had failed to close her eyes as she usually did), she suddenly remembered the one thing she had forgotten to check in her calculations. Lunar eclipses occur at the full moon.

  She could see again, but she was looking at a cape on the floor beside her. She bent and lifted it off Florian, whom she picked up and held in the palm of her hand, turning her head towards the audience. A roomful of wide-eyed people stared at them, and Jan said the first thing that came into her mind. “Have you ever noticed how hard it is to get good help these days?”

  That got a good laugh from the audience and served to convince them that this was all part of the show. Now all Jan had to do was find a plausible way to finish off the act.

  Is this an eclipse? If it is, how long is it going to last? She watched anxiously for any sign that Florian was going to change back, but he seemed solidly frog.

  “Kiss him again!” a woman called from the audience. “Remember that love conquers all.”

  “I wish I believed that,” Jan whispered to Florian. “Still, I suppose it’s worth a try. Be human!” She leaned her face toward his.

  Florian suddenly tensed in her hand, jumped forward, and touched his lips to hers. There was another blinding flash of light, right in her face, and a heavy weight pushed her arm to her side. Before her vision cleared, she was swept off her feet into a man’s arms, and when she could see again she was cradled against Florian’s bare chest, her arms wrapped about his neck for balance. She tightened her grip reflexively as he bowed to the audience, still holding her, even though his grasp on her was quite secure.

  “True it is indeed that love conquers all,” he said. “I have loved my lady here from the day I met her, and our love has freed me from the dragon’s spell.” He set Jan carefully on her feet and knelt before her, taking both her hands in his. “My lady, wilt thou marry me?”

  What a great sense of theater! Jan thought, nodding her head. Under the circumstances, she could hardly say no, and she was too stunned to speak anyway. The audience cheered loudly as Jan and Florian took their bows and Florian swept her into his arms again and carried her offstage.

  They had barely reached their dressing room when the manager burst in. “Great ending!” he exclaimed. “We’ll have no problem giving you a couple of weeks off now—we can say you’re on your honeymoon. Or maybe you should get married on stage here—what do you think?”

  Jan finally found her voice. “I think we should go home and discuss the details,” she said. “This was a little sudden.” She smiled shyly at Florian, who put a protective arm around her shoulders.

  “Of course,” the manager said. “Give me a call in the morning. Oh, congratulations.”

  “Thank you,” Florian said gravely.

  They were both silent as they changed to street clothes and loaded the props into Jan’s car. Jan had a lot of questions, but she certainly wasn’t going to ask any of them until they were safely home.

  ~o0o~

  As soon as she was inside the house, Jan grabbed the almanac, sat down on the sofa, and looked up lunar eclipses. She frowned in bewilderment. “I thought it must have been an eclipse,” she told Florian, “that made you change back during the act, and there was an eclipse today, but it was only partial and hours before we even started the show. I don’t understand.”

  Florian sat down beside her and put his arm around her. “I have seen many thing I do not understand,” he said. “But I understand that I love thee—perhaps the lady who said that love conquers all was correct.”

  “That was a great line, asking me to marry you,” Jan said. “You really saved the show tonight; I just about froze up when you turned back into a frog.”

  “That was not a line,” Florian said firmly. “I would be greatly honored if thou wouldst consent to be my wife.”

  Jan started to shake her head, more in disbelief than anything else, and Florian pressed his fingers to her lips. “Do not give me thine answer now,” he said quietly. “Take time to consider it.”

  “Don’t you think we should figure out what happened first?” Jan asked.

  “No. I think the first thing thou shouldst do is go to bed and get some sleep. It has been a long day for thee.” He picked her up again and carried her to her bedroom. Jan was too tired to protest, and she discovered that she rather liked being carried about. There was something oddly reassuring about it.

  But when Florian set her on her bed, lay down beside her and began to nuzzle on her neck, Jan decided that this was not a good time to let her hormones override her brain. “Florian,” she said firmly, “there are worse things than being a frog.”

  Either the threat worked, or Florian’s sense of chivalry prevailed. He dropped one final chaste kiss on her cheek and left the room.

  Jan got up long enough to strip off her clothes and put on a nightgown and then fell asleep the seco
nd she got back into bed.

  ~o0o~

  When she woke again it was mid-morning and the sun was streaming in through her window. She threw some clothes on and headed for the kitchen, calling a greeting to Florian as she passed through the living room. But instead of the usual croak from the aquarium, the reply came from a human sitting on the sofa. Jan stopped in her tracks and stared, then narrowed her eyes to use her other sight.

  “Looks like the spell’s gone to another layer,” she informed him. “We’ll have to work out the new parameters.”

  “I have been working with it since dawn,” he replied. “It seems to be under voluntary control.”

  “What?” Jan asked in astonishment. There was the usual flash of light, and a frog sat on her sofa, looking at her expectantly. She walked over, knelt beside it, closed her eyes, and kissed it, keeping her eyes closed. She had been temporarily blinded quite enough the night before. When she opened her eyes again, Florian was in human form.

  “I can do it whether thou dost kiss me or no,” he explained, “but now we do not have to worry about timing the kiss so precisely.”

  “We’ll have to wait a day or so to be sure that the spell isn’t influenced by the sun or moon,” Jan said cautiously, “but if you can control it, we can do the act anytime.”

  Then she realized what this meant to Florian, rather than to her magic act. “You can be human all the time if you wish now,” she said. “You don’t have to turn into a frog, if you don’t want to.” She forced herself to smile. “I’m really happy for you.”

  “But something troubles thee,” Florian said.

  “Well, it was definitely the best magic act I ever had.” I’m not going to cry, Jan told herself firmly. He is a sentient being with a right to his own life—he is not my property.

  “I have become quite comfortable being a frog,” Florian said. “I do not mind at all doing it professionally, so long as I can be human when I wish.”