Once upon a time, between the forest and the sea, there was an old crumbling stone castle. Surrounding this castle on the forest side was a moat. And in the moat lived a frog, called Arthur, and his friends. Arthur was no ordinary amphibian. He was a prince and he had been changed into a frog by a wicked old lady who lived as a recluse in the castle. Arthur had upset the old lady when he was a young boy by making too much noise near her quarters and she had cast a spell on him.
The castle grounds were also inhabited by Sidney of Seville, a marmalade-coloured tom-cat. Proud and aloof, Sidney owned the place. Choosing the best sunny spots to stretch out or strutting to comfortable dappled shade when it became too hot. At dusk and dawn he would hunt. A stealthy stalker, “Vicious Sid”, as he was known on the estate, would creep up and catch any unwary wildlife. Baby birds and mice were his staple prey, but Sid would chase anything that moved. At least once a day another creature would fall victim to his pounce. He would pick them up in his mouth and carry them off into the castle.
Sidney would occasionally catch one of the frogs; in fact frog chasing was a favourite sport for Vicious Sid. They could leap so far and fast they were much more entertaining than a fluttering bird. The frog would jump to save its life and Sid would follow chase. If the frog played dead, in the hope that the cat would lose interest and walk away, Sidney would side-swipe it with his paw. Arthur watched this happen to several of the ordinary frogs although he was clever enough to never experience it first hand. He decided to make a plan to teach Sidney of Seville a lesson. Arthur waited in the grass near the sunny part of the moat where the algae bloomed and the water looked green. He waited, taunting Sid to chase him. Sure enough, as the sun sank in the sky and the dusk calm settled on the grounds, Sidney started to prowl. He spotted Arthur and dropped his body to the ground. Crouching low, he moved one paw forward and then another and without appearing to take any steps he glided towards his target. Arthur hopped in perfect time to stay one leap ahead of the cat. Hop by hop he lured Vicious Sid towards the moat. In a hop a pounce and a splash frog and cat were in the water.
“He had it coming,” hummed the frog, smugly, from a lily pad. As he watched the cat trying to swim to the bank, Arthur noticed a beautiful princess standing by the edge of the water. The princess looked at Sidney. Arthur looked longingly at the princess, spell-bound as she bent down and scooped up her bedraggled beast, kissed his nose and carried him off into the castle.
