When I was four, I loved to play with toy trucks.  At fifty six, I will confess that I have lost my fascination with miniature vehicles.  Now I would much rather go contra dancing.  At four I had never heard of contra dancing, but if I had, I am pretty confident I would have had no interest in it.  For the most part, my interests at fifty six are quite different from my interests at four.  There are two exceptions, two interests I have loved all of my life.

The first is jigsaw puzzles.  I have been told that as a baby the relatives used to gather around and watch me do wooden puzzles.  I have no memory of that.  I do, however, remember my first real jigsaw puzzle.  My mother was putting together a puzzle and I remember helping her with it.  After that she bought me a puzzle of my own.  I have been doing jigsaw puzzles ever since then.  My foremost jigsaw accomplishment is a 5000 piece puzzle of Neuschwanstein Castle that I subsequently glued.  It now hangs in our dining room.  Nowadays I happily do jigsaw puzzles on my iPad.

The second is the Muppets.  I remember my father introducing me to the Muppets when I was little.  They made me laugh and smile then and they make me laugh and smile now.  I loved the Muppet Show, especially Miss Piggy.  Long before the Muppet Show, however, in 1971 when I was 11, the Muppets had a TV special called the Frog Prince.  I think it is the best thing they ever did.  It has delightful music, a charming story, and is extremely funny.

Kermit is not the frog prince.  He is the narrator who befriends a little frog named Robin who claims he is Sir Robin the Brave but he has been enchanted by the evil witch Taminella (pictured above).  We learn thatTaminella is now living in the palace as she has convinced the doltish king that she is his sister.  The beautiful Princess Melora is not fooled but Taminella has enchanted her so nobody can understand what Melora says.

Here are some examples of  dialog that made me laugh at 11 and makes me laugh at 56.

Kermit: You’re crazy; you can’t swim!
Robin: But if I go back on my word it will be… unprincely.
Kermit: And if you drown it’ll be unfrogly.

King Rupert the Second: I’m sorry, but if you’re really my sister, I’m afraid I need proof.
Taminella: Well, all right, good King Rupert the Second. What was the name of your father?
King Rupert the Second: King Rupert the First!
Taminella: So was mine!
King Rupert the Second: Sister!
Taminella: Brother!

Fortunately, the Muppets Frog Prince is available in full at this YouTube link.

If you love the Muppets like I do, take 50 minutes out of your life and watch this video.  Enjoy!