A Review of The Frog Prince – A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

Most of you would know by now that I don’t read fictions very much nowadays, preferring to pick up a book related to topics like living, dying or spiritual growth. I got interested in this book purely because it was written by Stephen Mitchell. This hilarious fiction may have a suggestive title but upon reading it, your will be wowed by the author’s way with words and his witty plot in transmitting his message on the transcendent power of love.

Frogs never become princes but princes may turn into frogs due to the downward slide of events (entropy). But the writer thinks the rules of the soul consist of nothing but exceptions so he writes a love story about a meditative frog who fell in love with a princess and actually became a prince.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

…She leaned over, steadying herself on her elbow, and lowered her head until she was face to face with the Frog. Then she kissed him on his cold lips.
Five seconds passed.
Ten seconds.
Nothing happened.
After a minute, she sat up and glared. “I am very disappointed in you, I must say.”
“But why, Princess? I haven’t done a thing.”
“That is exactly the point. You had your chance and you didn’t do anything.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Oh, you know very well,” the Princess said, in a tone of great disgust. “You think that you are really a frog. I don’t believe it for a single moment. But I can’t solve your problem for you. And I am certainly not going to try kissing you again. Ugh!”
“What problem?”

Hehehe…funny right? Go read the book! Umm…don’t forget to look out for the actual message behind the story. ^_^

Biography of Stephen Mitchell
An acclaimed poet and translator, Stephen Mitchell was an early student of Zen Master Seung Sahn. He edited ZMSS’s Dropping Ashes on the Buddha and translated various spiritual literature such as the Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching and Genesis. His other books include The Gospel According to Jesus, Meetings with the Archangel, The Enlightened Mind, The Enlightened Heart etc. I think he considers himself a Buddhist-Taoist-Jew.