"Wrede,.Patricia.C.-.Chronicles.Of.The.Enchanted.Forest.v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

"You don't see anyone else around, do you?" said the frog.

"Oh!" said Cimorene. She had never met a talking frog before. "Are
you an enchanted prince?" she asked a little doubtfully.

"No, but I've met a couple of them, and after a while you pick up a few
things," said the frog. "Now, why is it that you want to be eaten by a
dragon?"

"My parents want me to marry Prince Therandil," Cimorene explained.

"And you don't want to? Sensible of you," said the frog. "I don't
like Therandil. He used to skip rocks across the top of my pond. They
always sank into my living room."

"I'm sorry," Cimorene said politely.

"Well," said the frog, "what are you going to do about it?"

"Marrying Therandil? I don't know. I've tried talking to my parents,
but they won't listen, and neither will Therandil."

"I didn't ask what you'd said about it," the frog snapped. "I asked at
you're going to do. Nine times out of ten, talking is a way of
avoiding doing "What kinds of things would you suggest?" Cimorene
said, stung.

"You could challenge the prince to a duel," the frog suggested.

He'd win," Cimorene said. "It's been four years since I've been
allowed to do any fencing."

"You could turn him into a toad."

"I never got past invisibility in my magic lessons," Cimorene said.

"Transformations are advanced study."

The frog looked at her disapprovingly. "Can't you do anything?"

"I can curtsy," Cimorene said disgustedly. "I know seventeen different
country dances, nine ways to agree with an ambassador from Cathay
without actually promising him anything, and one hundred and
forty-three embroidery stitches. And I can make cherries jubilee."

"Cherries jubilee?" asked the frog, and snapped at a passing fly.

"The castle chef taught me, before Father made him stop," Cimorene
explained.