[merrikate19]

Hi, Catherine — Lovely to read this MythBlast and meet The Frog King again, enriched by your insights and helpful queries for the reader.  There is one bit in your commentary that I cannot quite wrap my elderly head around, so I hope you can clarify it for me in simple terms. ‘Tis a critical part of your explanation’s point, and yet I can’t quite grasp it …  this sentence, from the snippet below: “The girl that refuses to act with decisive, even violent authority slides down the wall with him and there’s no taking it back.”

Hoping for a few words to nudge my comprehension.

… As for the transformation, I think it’s the splat.

The splat. The moment that the princess acts in spontaneous accord with her nature, as Campbell would say. That moment of power. The splat reveals the true nature of the frog and the princess, two interlocked aspects of her psyche. The girl that refuses to act with decisive, even violent authority slides down the wall with him and there’s no taking it back. The subsequent marriage would be confirmation of a lasting transformation.

Thanks much!

Merrikate (Catharine!)