On a far-off land, there once lived a king and queen who did not know that a wicked old witch was living in the tower of their castle. She had been living there long before they moved in.

As time passed, the king and queen had a beautiful little daughter. She was the prettiest princess anyone had ever seen. The witch became very angry and didn’t want the king and queen to have any more children. More children would take up more rooms in the castle and her hiding place would be discovered. So the witch set out to cast a spell on the little princess, a spell that would make the young girl as ugly as she.

Every night, she boiled a big pot of witches’ brew and whispered, “A witch she’ll be, as ugly as me.”

Of course, witches were very powerful in those days. So it wasn’t long before the beautiful little princess began to change. Her nose grew long and thin, and her chin grew long and pointed.

The king and queen didn’t know what to do. They called all the wise men together. The wise men thought for a moment and said, “We must not tell the people about this. It would only frighten them. No one must be allowed to see her. We will tell your subjects that she is too beautiful for any eyes to look upon.”

“But what about the princess, will she be unhappy?” questioned the queen.

“No,” replied the wise men, “we will take away all the mirrors in the castle so that she cannot see herself. Then she will never know that she looks like a witch.”

“Very well,” agreed the king and queen, “so shall it be.”

For many years after, they told everyone that the princess was too beautiful to look upon, and no one was allowed to see her. As time went by, many princes from other lands began to hear about the princess who was too beautiful to see. With gifts of gold and jewels, they began to arrive at the castle to ask for her hand in marriage, even though they had never seen her. But the king sent them away, saying that no gifts were worthy of her beauty.

One day, a poor prince arrived near the castle. He had no gold or jewels to offer, only his love and faithfulness. He decided he would wait until midnight, climb the walls of the castle, see the princess, and tell her of his love.

He climbed the wall near the tower where the witch lived. As he reached the top, the witch saw him. She picked up the hot pot of witches’ brew and ran toward him. As she was about to throw it on him, the prince kicked the pot into the air and it landed on top of her. Billowing white smoke filled the air. The hot bubbles of the witches’ brew, melted the witch to a puddle of stew!

The noise in the tower woke the king. But before he could get to the princess’s room, the prince was already there, telling her how much he loved her, though he could not see her in the dark room.

The king soon entered the room with a torch. There, to his delight, he saw the poor prince talking to the most beautiful princess he had ever seen. The king fell to his knees in joy and said to the prince, “You have broken the spell and have won the right to marry my daughter.”

Neither the princess nor the prince knew what the king was talking about. In fact, only you and I know. But we must never tell because sometimes, some things we know about friends are best left unsaid.