This was my 'runner-up' idea for the Fairy Tale contest. It comes from the same collection of lost fairy tales (by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth) that the Toad Bride skin came from.

Prince Dung Beetle
There once was a young girl whose old mother became ill. She traveled through the woods to find the doctor and a druggist for help. She was jumping across some stepping stones when suddenly the stone in front of her moved. She saw that it was a large dung beetle, and she fell off the stones because she didn't want to step on the poor beetle and hurt it. In doing so, she sprained her ankle and began to cry. The dung beetle looked up and said "Don't cry. Here, climb on my back." The beetle then lifter her up carried her to the doctor and the druggist and then back home in a flash.

Her mother remarked that the girl must have found a sturdy little horse to carry her so quickly, and bade her daughter to go feed her steed. The girl looked everywhere, but couldn't find the dung beetle. Then, on the horizon, she saw the king's horsemen riding towards them. There was a knock at the door and in walked a prince dressed all in blue. The handsome young man greeted the woman and her daughter warmly and spoke: "You lifted the curse on me, and I want to thank you by giving you everything I own! For many years I have been living as a beetle, crawling around in the dust and dung, beaten down, crushed, tortured, and in pain, all because I did the same things to animals when I was a boy. My punishment was to turn into a beast and suffer as they did. You took pity on me, miserable dung beetle that I was, and that's how you lifted the curse. I want to ask your mother for the hand of the angel who saved me!"

The mother was soon healed, and her beautiful daughter joyfully accepted the prince's proposal. At the wedding, all manner of animals attended, the fleas played the fiddle, the birds whistled tunes, and all creatures with feet danced and leaped through the air. The End.