
“I wouldn’t!” cried Charley. “I want to be a frog!” He stuck out his tongue, missing a bug flying by the end of his nose. “Look at that, Wanda! I was such a good fly catcher. And I had eyes on top of my head, too. I could see forward and backward and sideways all at once, but look at me now. With my eyes in front of my face, I can only see one direction at a time. I don’t even have a castle, Wanda. What kind of prince is that? I’d really rather be a frog. Please change me back!”
“I can’t, Charley. But you’ll learn to be happy as a prince. As for a castle, I can take care of that.” She waved her wand, and suddenly a castle appeared by the banks of the pond. It had stone walls, oaken doors, and pennants waving from its turrets. “Your very own palace, Charley! You’ll have servants, eat fancy foods and ice cream. . . .”
“Bah!”Charley interrupted. “Who wants servants, or ice cream and fancy foods? I want bugs!” He stuck out his tongue and looked down his nose at it, cross-eyed. “This tongue is no good—it’s too short!” he cried. “I can’t even see it.”
Again Wanda waved her wand. “Look, Charley, musicians,” he said. Out of the castle marched dozens of musicians blowing trumpets, tootling flutes, and banging drums. “See? Your own band. They’ll play music, and you can sing and dance and snap your fingers to your heart’s content.”
“I don’t want to sing and dance!” Charley cried.“And why would I do something as silly as snapping my fingers?”
“我不愿意,我寧愿做一只青蛙,”查理嚷道,一只蟲子從他鼻尖飛過,他伸出舌頭,卻沒抓住。“瞧瞧,旺達,我曾經是一個捉蟲好手,而且我的眼睛高高地長在頭頂,這樣前后左右我都能一下子看得一清二楚,可是看看現在的我,眼睛長在臉上,我一次只能朝一個方向看。我也沒有城堡,旺達,什么王子會像我這樣。我真的寧愿是一只青蛙,請把我變回去吧。”
“查理,我變不回了。但是你可以學著做一位快樂的王子,至于城堡,我替你準備好了。”她揮動魔法棒,池塘的對岸馬上出現了一座城堡:石頭城墻,橡木城門,城堡頂上飄著無數的旗幟。“查理,這是屬于你的宮殿,你還會有仆人、可口的食物、美味冰淇淋......”
“哈!”查理打斷了她的話,“誰需要什么仆人、可口的食物、美味冰淇淋?我只要蟲子!”他使勁伸出舌頭,眼睛像斗雞眼一樣朝下看,可是只看見了鼻子。“這舌頭一點都不好,太短了,我都看不見它!”
旺達沒有辦法,她又揮動她的魔法棒,“看啊,查理,樂師”她說。只見由數十個樂師形成的隊伍正吹著喇叭、長笛,敲著鼓在城堡外盤旋著,“看見沒,這是屬于你自己的樂隊,你可以盡情地唱歌跳舞,盡情地舞動你的指尖。”
“我不想唱歌跳舞!”查理又嚷道:“而且我為什么要去做一些打響指那么傻的事呢?"