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Liberty's Edge

Jerome by Philip Ressner

ILLUSTRATIONS

I wish this book were still in print.
Jerome the frog inadvertently insults a witch. The witch retaliates by pretending to turn Jerome into a prince, then encourages him to go into town and see what happens.

Jerome goes into town and introduces himself as "the new prince who does princely deeds". The townspeople, seeing that he is just a frog, humor him by setting him to get rid of the "terrible giant crow that eats up all our corn before we can harvest it". Jerome learns that the crow is terrified that everyone wants to eat all the corn, so he eats it first. Jerome points out that he has no interest in the corn, preferring to eat flies. He also knows some fish, beavers, foxes and frogs who will never eat corn. And he is absolutely certain that all lions, tigers and whales will never eat corn. The crow happily flies off, with the understanding that he will just eat some of the corn every now and then, which is fine with the townspeople.

The people now send Jerome off to slay a dragon that burns their houses and forests. They give him a sword and lead him to the dragon's cave. Jerome calls the dragon out, announcing his intention to slay the dragon. The dragon, rather than attacking, asks Jerome why he wants to slay him. Jerome explains that the dragon has been burning the people's houses and forests. When the dragon says that he cannot help burning things, Jerome suggests that the dragon burn other things instead, specifically garbage at the town garbage dump. The dragon happily accepts his new job as the incinerator.

At this point, Jerome has performed two princely deeds, and a few of the townspeople begin to wonder if the really is a prince, but most still believe that he is merely s frog. Still, they set Jerome a third princely deed, asking him to "do something about the wizard who lives in the dark wood and does terrible things". Jerome strikes up a conversation with the wizard, who admits that he misses being a boy. The wizard wishes to be a boy, forgetting that when he makes a wish, he casts Wish. He turns into a boy and runs off.

Now that Jerome has performed three princely deeds, the townspeople accept that he really is a prince, even though he looks like a frog. They set him up in a castle, of which his favorite part is the pond in the backyard, which has an ample supply of flies.


I'm a big fan of Where's Waldo personally.

Liberty's Edge

Poor Waldo


For $2.5 plus shipping a copy of Jerome could be yours:
https://www.amazon.com/Jerome-Philip-Ressner/dp/B0006BQPZM

Liberty's Edge

Ring_of_Gyges wrote:

For $2.5 plus shipping a copy of Jerome could be yours:

https://www.amazon.com/Jerome-Philip-Ressner/dp/B0006BQPZM

I still have my copy (from 1968).

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