A Prince Among Frogs, by E.D.Baker

A Prince Among Frogs, by E.D.Baker

Part time dragon, part time princess, Princess Millie of Greater Greensward has all the character traits that a princess of royalty should have, or maybe even more. Greater Greensward is a land set in the book A Prince Among Frogs, by the qfamed author E. D. Baker. While Millie is herself unable to wield any magic like her other family members, she is renowned for her great spark of determination and her fiery taste for adventure. 

One of the lessons I have learnt from Princess Millie is that one should mever give up. Determination, as it has been proven by Millie herself so many times, is always the key to success. This can be seen when Millie discovered that her baby brother Felix had been kidnaped by the malicious Olebald Wizard while she was out commencing her duties as the guardian of Greater Greensward while her parents were away. Though her wits and enthusiasm, she did not panic like her grandmother Queen Chartreuse, but instead sought out help from three witches, Azuria, Oculura and Dyspepsia. However, when even that failed, she turned to the fairies for help. One of the fairies, named Raindrop had the ability to listen to falling rain and puddles and though this she was able to determine the exact location where Olebald had landed. However, when Olebald escape once again, Millie, determined to save her baby brother and seek vengeance, immediately thought up of a plan to seek out her parents. This particular moment shows that although it may seem like all hope was lost when Olebald escaped, Millie persevered and was finally able to locate her parents who were trapped by the evil witch Nastia Nautica and in the end save Felix. Millie showed much determination in finding and rescuing her family members, especially when both of them are so far from her grasp and she had to resort to magica means to contact them. This truly shows that no matter how difficult things may  become, Millie will always be positive and find the right way to solve the given challenges.

Another lesson which I have learnt in this story is that one must have courage. Millie had courage when she attacked a tree to save the fairies. This was no ordinary tree, for even the slightest contact with any part of this tree will cause unnatural agony — even death. As dragons, Millie will of course be unaffected by the tree but even so, this proves that she had courage because she was fighting with something unbeknownst to her. Her courage can be further read when she battled Nastia Nautica herself along with her betrothed, Audun. However monstrous a dragon may be, Nastia Nautica wielded magic, and may have a chance of defeating her. Even though she knew this, Millie still took it upon herself to fight the evil sea witch in order to save her unconscious parents. Next, Millie also showed much courage when she tried to crack the barrier that Olebald had placed on her castle to keep out the family members. To crack a powerful dome, Millie had to risk her life and fly up to high altitudes in order to achieve enough momentum to finally crack the shield. This effort proved successful when she and the other dragons managed to crack the shield and allow all the royal members back into the castle. To have courage — that is one of the highest qualities a princess is required to possess in order the protect the kingdom, and through this Millie had just proved that she would sacrifice herself for the needs of her kingdom.

Finally, I also realised that one must be clever and witty to solve the problems and challenges presented in life. Audun proved that with just wits, one can overcome almost anything. For example, he was quick to remember that the poisonous tree faced in the story, must be completely burned to prevent it from spreading, and that included its roots, too. Moreover, it was he who thought up the plan of camouflaging themselves with the landscape to avoid detection while catching manticores using one of his traps. It was also Audun's plan to plummet to the ground from high altitudes in order to break the shiel casted by Olebald over the castle, which eventually succeeded and allowed the royal family to reclaim the castle once more. Mille was also used her wits when she faced a dilemma. Upon discovering that her brother had been turned into a frog, Millie decided that she had to find her mother in order to break the curse. To do so, she used one of her mother's magic carpets which had already been imprinted with her mother's current location, an island of witches, to retrace her mother's route and finally seek her out. It was also thanks to her that her family managed to discover that Felix had been turned into a tadpole instead of a frog, which allowed her family to break the curse.

  

In conclusion, a person must have courage, determination and wits to overcome problems and lead others — three lessons that I have learnt in this story. The written lessons above are but a small part of the numerous lessons that we can learn in this book, although those lessons are for another time — and another tale. My praise to E.D.Baker for writing such marvellous books for us to enjoy.

Fun Fact: The film The Princess and the Frog by Disney was actually loosely based by the first novel of this series, The Frog Princess. Who knew?

Ho Jin Jonathan

4 Cergas

18th April 2014