The princess, being released of her curse, chose a wealthy husband to her taste. Together, they had five beautiful daughters and lived long and happily. When the father of prince Know-it-all heard about his behaviour, he disowned his son, who was now forced to make a living as a teacher of logic and mathematics. In time, wrinkles marred his once so pretty face and he spoilt his sight by reading many books. And the other young man, the one who gambled and lost? Being a frog now, he, or rather it, lived in the fountain in front of the palace. Ladies of the court came to feed it every day with juicy, fat flies on a golden plate and on warm spring nights the girls of the surrounding villages would come and kiss it, hoping in vain that it would turn back into a pretty young lad. Finally, it survived the princess and even the palace that fell to ruins, so that it had to move to a nearby pond. There, it would probably live to the present day if one day it had not overlooked a stork that stood waiting quietly by the waterside and that swallowed it with one quick move of its bill.

Continue: read the mathematical epilogue or return to the fairy tale.