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Literature / Puddocky

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Puddocky is a German Fairy Tale, originally known as "Das Mährchen von der Padde" and collected by Johann Gustav Büsching in Volkssagen, Märchen und Legenden (1812). It was first translated into English as "Cherry, or The Frog Bride" by Edgar Taylor, and then again as "Puddocky" by Andrew Lang (for his Green Fairy Book, 1892).

The tale follows a young woman with an unnaturally great appetite for parsley (or, in "Cherry", cherries), so much so that she is named Parsley. Three princely brothers quarrel over who might marry the beautiful girl, only stopping when the witch from whom she has stolen parsley turns her into a toad.

The king of the land desires to know which son will best succeed him, so he sets them out on some tasks. The youngest prince sets out with the least and finds a toad who offers him the impossibly fine linen that the king desired. It exceeds his brothers' discoveries and the king then sends them out to find a dog that could fit in a walnut shell. Again, the toad provides.

For the third task, the king orders them to return with a bride. This time, the toad herself goes with the prince and turns into a beautiful bride, whom he recognizes as Parsley. The king selects his youngest son to succeed him and the frog princess marries him.

It can be read here.

The same tale type, which folklorists have labelled "The Animal Bride", is also represented by "The Three Feathers" from the Brothers Grimm, and by "The White Cat", a literary fairytale written by Madame d'Aulnoy in 1697 (in which the heroine is not a toad or frog, but a cat).

See also "The Frog Prince" and "Rapunzel".


"Puddocky" contains the following tropes:

  • Dub Name Change: Andrew Lang gave a straightforward translation into English, turning "Petersilie" into "Parsley." Edgar Taylor, on the other hand, changed the girl's favorite food to cherries and her name to Cherry.
  • The Fair Folk: "The White Cat" has the princess being turned into a cat by her fairy guardians.
  • Rule of Three: Three princes, three challenges.
  • Scavenged Punk: There's a hint of this when the toad shows up riding in a coach drawn by rats. In Lang's translation, her coach is made of cardboard, and in Taylor's translation it's a pumpkin.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Parsley! So much so that her mother has to turn to theft to feed her.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Puddocky's prince has a bad case of this, not seeming to care that he's met a talking toad, and being too distracted to pay attention later on when she drives by in a miniature coach.
  • Wacky Cravings: She wasn't actually pregnant (probably) but that girl sure did like parsley...
    • Played straight in "The White Cat," where - as in Rapunzel - the princess's mother bargains her away in exchange for fruit.
  • Wicked Witch: In Andrew Lang's translation. Although to be fair, the girl started it by eating the witch's parsley.


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