The Princes and the Squirrel
a Tiny Kingdom story about the weight we sometimes carry
Once upon a time in the Tiny Kingdom, a red squirrel lived high in the oak tree at the edge of the royal garden.
She was quick and bright and never still. All day she darted through the branches, gathering, sorting, counting. And all day she talked to herself, softly but without stopping. Not enough acorns. Winter will come early. I won't be ready. I'm never ready.
Nobody had ever stood watch for her. So she had learned to do it herself, and never learned how to stop.
She didn't know the forest heard her. She didn't know it had begun to echo her worry back.
One golden evening, Prince Donder wandered below her tree and looked up. “That sounds exhausting,” he said quietly.
The squirrel froze. No one had ever said that before.
Prince Dingus settled beside his brother, steady and unhurried.
And then the Queen appeared below the tree. She said nothing, but her eyes were full of knowing, of presence, of acceptance. And the squirrel felt seen without having heard a single word.
In that moment, she realised she’d been carrying thoughts that weren’t even hers. She didn’t let go of all of them. Not yet. But maybe… just one.
And as her thoughts softened, so did the forest around her. Branches loosened, light filtered through, and something in the air began to shift.