As you read this tale, a lone grasshopper is bravely jumping above the tall green grass that grows near a castle wall. The grass is paying no attention to the grasshopper as it is too busy spending all its life trying to peek over the walls, to see what is so worth guarding. Little does it know, the grass shall never reach the top. But if it could, it would have the privilege of seeing into the window of a beautiful, yet modest, princess who is currently looking out into the wide pink sky, wishing she were a cloud so that she could float away and stretch out amongst the setting sun.

In the neighboring kingdom, a young prince watches the same setting sun, basking in the warmth as he thinks of the princess, whom he loves. In fact, he has spent his whole life loving her since they grew up together in the Twin Kingdoms. Most people in both kingdoms feel it is only natural that the two of them end up together. Yet still, the prince and princess are not. This fact keeps the prince up at night much past the time the sun sets. Tonight, the prince decides to walk amongst the garden where he often goes to clear his mind. Not long after he walks through the gates, his peace is disturbed by the unwanted greeting of a crooked witch.

“Hello, your majesty,” says the witch, still within the comfort of shadows. The prince is startled, but he is brave, and he holds his ground. “What are you doing in my private garden at such an hour? Show yourself like any noble person would do,” the prince demands. The witch emerges from the shadows and introduces herself as a friend. But the prince proclaims she is no friend of his. Just as he is about to throw her out she cries: “You claim to be brave yet you hold your tongue, so now your fate shall be sung: I care not, throw me out to the mud; but watch as your mouth fills with blood."

The witch is gone but her words linger. Somehow the prince carries on to bed even after such an unsettling encounter. He feels a twinge of pain in his mouth but convinces himself it is all in his head.

Now we are onto the next day. The prince wakes up with his tongue throbbing and frightfully recalls the witch’s words. Not wanting to give the witch the satisfaction, he decides to think nothing of it. Yet, he also realizes that maybe it is true that he has held his tongue for too long and that perhaps it is finally time to tell the princess how he feels.