illustrated bt walter crane

THE FROG PRINCE and Other Stories is three children’s stories for the price of one. This book was published after a series of 17 colour illustrations by Walter Crane was put on public display. They are recreated for you in this book with the stories in their original form.

THE FROG PRINCE; is an excellent story to teach children the importance of keeping their promises no matter how distasteful they may seem. It also teaches the moral of “Every Cloud has a Silver Lining”.

In the tale, a spoiled princess reluctantly befriends the Frog Prince whom she met after dropping a gold ball into a pond. The princess makes a promise she does not intend to keep. The frog visits the Princess in her father’s palace and holds her to account. The King, the Princesses’ father, an honourable man, insists the princess keep her promise. Reluctantly she does and the frog magically transforms into a handsome prince.

PRINCESS BELLE-ETOILE is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. A queen, reduced to poverty, started selling sauces to support herself and her three daughters. One day, an old woman came to them and begged a meal. They fed her, and the woman, being a fairy, promised that the next time they wished something without thinking of her, it would come true. For a long time, they could not make a wish without thinking of her. One day, the king came by. The oldest daughter, Roussette, said that if she married the king's admiral, she would make sails for all his ships; the 2nd, Brunette, that if she married the king's brother, she would make him lace enough to fill a castle; the 3rd, Blondine, that if she married the king, she would bear him two sons and a daughter, who would have golden chains about their necks and stars on their foreheads, and jewels would fall from their hair.

A favourite of the King repeated their words to him, who summoned the sisters, and soon they were married. A splendid wedding feast was laid on, served on golden dishes. But that’s not where the story ends………….

ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP is a well-known Middle Eastern folk tale and was a late addition to “1001 Arabian Nights.”

Aladdin is an impoverished youth dwelling in a city in China. He is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb (Sahara), He convinced Aladdin and his mother of his good will by pretending to set up the lad as a merchant. The sorcerer's motive is to persuade young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped cave. The sorcerer double-crosses him, and Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. Aladdin manages to escape with the lamp and return to his mother. When his mother tries to clean the lamp, so they can sell it, a second far more powerful genie appears who is bound to do their bidding.

With the aid of the genie, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries the sultan's daughter, after magically foiling her marriage to the vizier's son. The genie builds Aladdin and his bride a wonderful palace, far more magnificent than the sultan's. But that’s not the end of the story – is it?

You’ll have to download these three tales to find out just how these stories end.