The Shallow Frog Prince

I was reading "The Frog Prince" story to Ethel a few days ago when it struck me that the story is so shallow and that I should stop reading it.

Anyway, in case some of you who have never heard of the story (what happened to your childhood?!), here's the summary of "The (Shallow) Frog Prince".

There was a beautiful princess who dropped her golden ball into a pond while playing with it one day. She sobbed over the lost of her ball when suddenly, a frog popped up and struck her a deal. It would retrieve the ball for her provided that she would allow it to eat, play and sleep with her. The princess promised though she had no intention of keeping her promise. The frog managed to retrieve the ball but to its dismay, the princess ignored the frog and ran back to the castle. In the evening during dinner, the frog appeared at the castle. Under her father's pressure, the princess condoned the frog to eat from her plate. She kept crying and was very ungracious over the whole thing. In the end, when she dropped the frog onto her bed (also part of the deal), the frog turned into a handsome young prince. They fell in love and lived happily ever after.

WHAT A SHALLOW STORY!! What was the author propagating?? That one should focus on looks to have a happy marriage??! When the prince was a frog, he was exposed to the ugly side of the princess. She went back on her promise and found him ugly. When he turned into a prince, she IMMEDIATELY fell for him! What a superficial bitch. Wonder why the prince still wants her to be his wife?? Oh I forgot. The princess is beautiful, remember?

So now I have got a clue why most people go for looks. If this is the kind of crap we listened to when we were young, then it is of no wonder that we are instilled with the idea that looks are that important. (Honestly, I am also a shallow person who prefer guys to be good-looking. And yes, I read this story when I was a child.)

This story is going to be in my black list. I will never ever read this story to my students or child(ren). Ever.