Very Odd Tale from the Brothers Grimm

I can't wait to discuss the versions of Beauty and The Beast in class tomorrow, but meanwhile I'd like to comment on the version from the Brothers Grimm entitled "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich." The tale was not as good as what I have grown used to reading from the Grimms. It seemed rather disjointed, as if someone kept interrupting them while they wrote it. For example, it begins, "In the olden days, when wishing could help you..." This suggests to the reader that this story is going to include someone making a wish -- perhaps at a wishing well or to some magical fairy. But there didn't seem to be any wishing going on in the tale. The frog struck up a direct bargain with the daughter, but no wishing. Also, the daughter was very beautiful, and this is always a good thing to have in a fairy tale. But the Grimms usually associate beauty in a character with good qualities and kindness. This beautiful sister was a spoiled little wretch! She moaned and wailed when her toy went in the water, then she made a deal with the frog that she did not intend to keep, then ran off and left him which broke her promise, then treated him rudely when he came to the house, then threw him against the wall. But after that, he turned in to a handsome and wonderful prince that she got to marry. This does not seem very fairy-tale-like. It may sound silly, but in fairy tales --especially ones written down by the Grimms-- I have come to expect that the good characters will win in the end and the naughty, hateful people will fail. In the Beauty and the Beast versions of the tales, usually it is the beautiful girl's acceptance of the beastly character and her realization that he is a good person that enables her to "get" him in the end and transform him into a gorgeous hunk, right? But here we have a girl crying and pitching a fit, throwing him against a wall, and calling him "disgusting" (Grimm pg 49-50). Right at that point in the tale, he transforms into a handsome prince. This seemed very odd! But the tale then gets stranger, because we suddenly get a new character named "Faithful Heinrich." Heinrich had been the prince's servant and had been so saddened by him being turned into a frog that he had three hoops around his heart to keep it from bursting. The reader gets the feeling here that a new plot is starting, and maybe there will be an exciting twist to the tale. But the ending of the story only talks about Heinrich's hoops breaking off his heart as he drove the prince and the girl back to his kingdom. Then it is over. The introduction of the Heinrich character was brief and seemed out of place, even though the tale is partially named for him. It was as if the Grimms had to add extra lines so they just stuck something at the end. I'm becoming an avid fairy tale reader, but this froggy one left me a little cold! It will be interesting to see what others in the class thought about this one.