Before Chapter 1, the story’s narrator tells the reader this fairy tale will be unlike the cute stories popular in media today and to prepare for a darker tale. The book begins in the kingdom of Märchen, where a frog lives in a smelly well and watches the sky. One day, he hears a noise above and finds a beautiful girl playing with a ball. The frog falls in love, and he croaks whenever she returns to the well, trying to get her attention but never succeeding. One day, the girl drops her ball in the well and starts to cry. Her tears fall into the water, which reflects the stars, and the stars wake to hear the frog’s wish that the girl could understand him. The stars grant his wish.

The frog offers to retrieve the ball in exchange for the princess’s friendship. The princess pretends to agree and then runs back to the castle as soon as the frog gets her ball. The frog goes to the castle, where the king forces the princess to invite him in. Enraged, the princess tries to kill the frog by throwing him against a wall, breaking off one of his legs.