The Frog Prince by Talullah

Chapter 1

Legendarium Ladies April - Prompts for April 15
General Prompt: Absences and Distances
Picture Prompt: Untitled, by Caitlin Soliman

Poetry Prompt: The Frog Prince (excerpt), by Anne Sexton
I took the moon, she said,
between my teeth
and now it is gone
and I am lost forever.
A thief had robbed by day.

The title comes from the poem and the traditional tale and Erendis uses a part of the excerpt in her speech.

Emerië, 877 S.A.

“Mamil, tell me the story again.”

It’s cold outside, but Erendis and Ancalimë have been walking for a long time and are well protected against the elements by thick sheepskin coats and boots. It is late Winter, almost Spring, and the thin layer of snow has vanished from the fields the week before. They can still see Menelmacar, now lower in the sky, and beneath it, the Valacirca.

Erendis finds herself thinking, not for the first time, that Aldarion will return, that after a few months out on the sea, he will turn Hirilondë around and sail back to them before the end of the two years. But she knows her hope is in vain. She will be lucky if Aldarion returns upon the end of the second year. At the thought, her anger rekindles inside her, but Ancalimë is holding her hand, pulling it down, and Erendis makes an effort to find herself in the moment again, alive under the stars, holding the warm hand of her beautiful, smart daughter.

“Again, my love?” she says, smiling.

“Again, mamil,” Ancalimë insists.

It is getting late, so Erendis picks Ancalimë up. She is getting heavy, but it’s a short distance to their white house, now of burnished silver under the moonlight and she likes to pamper her daughter.

“So, once upon a time, there was this princess, very beautiful and kind and wise.”

Ancalimë laughs. “No, not wise, mamil! She lost the thingie!”

Erendis smiles and corrects herself, “Once upon a time, there was this princess, very beautiful and kind but a little foolish. And one day, she lost something that was precious to her...”

“Mr. Poison is at my bed. He wants my sausage. He wants my bread,” Ancalimë starts chanting, moving wildly in Erendis’s arms.

Erendis laughs. “Now who is cheating the story? That part comes later on.”

“Mamil, go on,” Ancalimë says sweetly, throwing her arms around Erendis’s neck. They are just arriving home, and Erendis turns back once more to look at the stars and the moon.”

“Well, darling… the princess lost the moon. That was her precious thing. It was before the moon came to be in the sky, and it hung in a chain around the princess’s neck.”

Ancalimë laughs. Each time Erendis tells the story, the princess loses a different thing. The last time, it had been a great big cheese wheel. They enter the house, that is warm and still smells of the cake they baked in the afternoon. Erendis keeps on telling Ancalimë the story as she undresses her, and prepares her for bed.

“I took the moon, she said, between my teeth and now it is gone and I am lost forever,” Erendis whispers. Ancalimë is very sleepy, almost, almost there, but as Erendis tucks her in, she still holds on to the story, demanding more details about the frog, and how he wants to dive inside the princess's mouth to find the moon somewhere in her stomach, and how she spits him out so hard that he hits the wall and turns into a prince.

Ancalimë laughs and laughs, too tired to stop, but then finally grows quiet and Erendis snuffs the candle, still sitting on the bed, waiting for her daughter to finally be completely asleep. She is tired. It was a long day, working with the women, tending to Ancalimë, but the walk under the stars felt wonderful. She thinks of Aldarion again, hoping for the end of their two years to come quickly.

She is not sure if she wants back the prince who had the heart to leave her and their beautiful child, or if he was only ever a frog.

Finis
April 2020