consists my greatest power, I fear nothing; but unfortunately I had left it in the marsh, when this wicked raven pounced upon me. I confess, Madam, but for you I should be no more; and since I owe my life to you, if I can do anything to comfort yours, you may command me in any way you please." "Alas! my dear Frog," said the Queen, "the wicked Fairy, who holds me captive, wants me to make her a fly-pasty; there are no flies here, and even were there any, one cannot see well enough to catch them, and I run a great risk of being beaten to death." "Leave it to me," said the Frog, "I will provide you with plenty before long." She immediately rubbed herself with sugar, and more than six thousand frogs, friends of hers, did the same; she then went into a place filled with flies—the wicked Fairy had a store-house for them expressly to torment certain unfortunate beings.—As soon as the flies smelt the sugar they settled upon it, and the friendly frogs returned at full gallop to the Queen. There had never been such a take of flies, nor a better pasty than she made for the Fairy Lioness. When she presented it to her, she was very much surprised, not at all understanding by what means she could have caught them.
The Queen, who was exposed to all the influences of the air, which was poisonous, cut down some cypress-trees, to begin building her hut with. The Frog generously came to offer her services, and putting herself at the head of all those who went fly-catching, they assisted the Queen in erecting her little edifice, which was the prettiest in the world; but she had scarcely gone to bed in it, when the monsters from the lake, envious of her repose, came to torment her, by the most horrible clamour that had ever been heard. She arose quite terrified, and fled from the building, which was just what the monsters wanted. A dragon, in former days the tyrant of one of the finest kingdoms in the world, took immediate possession of it.
The poor afflicted Queen complained of this outrage, but she was only laughed at. The monsters hooted her, and the Fairy Lioness told her, that in future, if she stunned her with her lamentations, she would break every bone in her body. She was obliged to hold her tongue, and have recourse to the Frog, who was certainly the best creature in the world. They wept together, for as soon as she possessed her hood of roses,
