Frog King gets Religion

28 Jan 2003 Frog King gets Religion
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/98064

After a search on the net, it became apparent that the Frog King is frequently used as Sunday sermon material regarding spiritual transformation in the similar manner that moralists enjoy using the lowly caterpillar that metamorphoses into the ethereal butterfly. The symbols of water, kingship and transformation are deeply embedded into Christian thought as the water usually symbolizes baptism or spiritual rebirth. Difficult to argue that the frog isn't a baptized believer if pursuing this idea. Kingship naturally relates to the Kingship of god over the universe as the transformation from sinner into saint who inherits God's kingdom.

However, is this really what the brothers were after? Were they into born-again Christianity or exploring other directions of human psyche? it seems strange that the frog gets physically transformed wehn he gets thrown against the wall in a fit of rejection, but isn't that the key to opening the magical door of understanding? It is when we finally reject something violently, that we are able to transform ourselves. Perhaps the frog is only a foil to the princess, two parts of a single entity. The princess although beautiful, is unpleasant, discourteous and dishonest. She has no intention of keeping any commitment with the frog and is willing to promise anything to satisfy her own selfish interests. On the outside she is beautiful, but her real nature is ugly. The frog though is a mirror, externally, there's not much to be said about the frog. He has low marks in physical beauty with a tongue that is longer than his body. He eats flies and lives in the mud, and his voice is about as beautiful as the Siberian Raven. Yet, watch a frog swim or jump, and it is lithe, flexible and beautiful in motion, and the litheness is exquisite. his performance, whether speech or bearing is charming. he shows compassion and speaks softly. Harmless, the frog is the daily breakfast of storks and other predators adn is unable to protect himself other than leaping to hide. The princess though is a bully. She torments a creature that is indefensible, curses him and throws him against the wall. For what? For fulfilling her demands? For satisfying her petty whims?

But if the frog can be seen as a symbol of spiritual purity or the desire to live a spiritual life, then perhaps the ugly shape is only a reflection of the princess's true intentions and behavior, while his nature si that which she envies: hence his color, green. In the opening of the story, where is she, but in the woods by a well? Woods frequently symbolize the unknown, the subconscious or death in the case of Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. In the medieval ages, the woods were a threatening wilderness in which robbers, bandits and wild animals ranged that attacked civilized people. Only the woodcutters or forresters could survive in deep woods as it was perceived to be the enemy of man. The castle conversely represents law, order and civilization. The princess has taken a step outside her known, ordered world. She is no longer under the control of her father's edicts and worse than that she has taken his golden orb to play ball with. She puts the kingdom at risk by her irresponsible and wild nature. A kingdom or country cannot long survive when the rulers are narcisstic and interested only in selfish pleasures.

The linden tree is often seen as a symbol of spiritual life with its roots reaching down into the infernal regions and limbs raised to the heavens. The princess recognizes her own duplicity in promising the frog anything he wishes and is ashamed and humiliated when he shows up to eat off her plate.

But this is often the way people are. They go about life with two minds and two faces: one for the public and the other that is hidden behind a mask. Sometimes the mask slips so that we see who the person really is or really thinks in an off moment, but it only becomes clearly apparent in a person who may be schizophrenic. In throwing the frog against the wall, the princess may be rejecting the ugliness that she finds within herself that the frog only symbolizes...and when it is at this magical point when we can recognize our own evil and weaknesses that we are able to transform into mature, loving, kind people. Only when we can reconcile our on faults with our internal longing to be beautiful, are we able to matue and become spiritually transformed.

Some links of how the Frog King is interpreted through Judaism and mainstream Christianity are listed here.

Beyond the Illusion
http://www.beyond-the-illusion.com/files/Health/Massage/beast.txt
Carl Jung body & soul
judaism & christianity

The Frog King or the Coming of Pentacostalism
http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/pluss.html
Frog King with Bettelheim interpretation and given a Pentecostal outlook

Meeting Ourselves in Adversity
http://www.fumcsd.org/sermons/sr092201.html
Sermon of Saturday, September 22, 2001
Dr. John Blackwell, Minister of Discipleship
the Frog King becomes a Methodist

Dear Abby
http://www.innersource-inc.com/directors/abby_dearabby.htm
By Dr. Abby Rosen more spirtiual journey within to the higher being. lovely drash.

Exploratorium: Frog Myths
http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/folklore/folklore_3.html
an interpretation of love and illusion