In a land far away, at a time before time was measured, lived a beautiful maiden. She was taller and more beautiful than all of the king's daughters. Her sisters feared that they would never get noticed as long as Tombi-Ende (Tall Maiden) was alive. The sisters took her to a great pit and buried her alive. They told the king that she fell into a pit and suffocated and died. Each girl told a different story of Tombi-Ende's death, so the king did not believe them. But Tombi-Ende was not dead. The cracks in the ground provided her with enough air to breathe sing out. As darkness fell a giant frog came to her rescue. He dug her out and swallowed her, and jumped out of the pit. The frog agreed to carry the princess to her grandmothers village, because it would be safer than her own. The journey was long and dangerous, but neither human or animal bothered the great frog and the princess inside him. When the frog returned Tombi-Ende to her grandmother they prepared a feast. Before the end of the feast the frog had disappeared. The King sent his son to bring Tombi-Ende home safely. But the three day journey was made even more difficult because the springs were drying up. As the two searched for water a giant appeared, offering to help them find water in exchange for the princess. Out of options they agreed. The giant took them to a tree and stuck his spear into the ground, and out came a fountain of water. The two drank there fill. They looked as the giant took his true form as an ogre. As Tombi-Ende cried out in fear, the giant frog leaped out of the fountain. He opened his mouth and swallowed the ogre and drowned him in the fountain. The frog accompanied Tombi-Ende and her brother to their father's home. The king wanted to kill the frog, but Tombi-Ende told him how he saved her life twice. As she looked on him with compassion, the frog turned in to a handsome prince even taller than Tombi-Ende. The frog was the son of a great chief, and had been turned into a frog the the ogre until he could win the heart of a beautiful maiden. Within days the two were married and lived with joy until the end of there story.
