Disclaimer: I do not own the frog prince or the peasant's wise daughter.

The Prince did not sleep at all that night. At first he continued his tantrum now screaming about being hungry and the fact that he was in the dark and his leg hurt. He screamed until he had completely covered every problem that had ever crossed his mind. This left him exhausted-too exhausted in fact, to continue being angry with anything at all. He was about to sleep when he heard the sobs of Rosie outside. She too had been crying her heart out but not just over his comment. She had been crying for her father and all the problems that the horrible prince had placed upon the two of them. The prince listened to her and suddenly it occurred to him that he was not the only one with problems. For the first time he was aware that other people sometimes had problems too.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

When the morning came an exhausted Rosie lifted the lid of the wooden box and lifted out a very disgruntled frog. She surveyed him critically. The spark of determination in her eyes was at its strongest and though Gilbert found this nerve-racking it also made him somehow feel better-like things were being taken care of.

After many hours of crying Rosie had finally straightened herself out. She would find that pestle if it killed her and have her father released within the week. Then the two of them would plant the fastest growing plant they knew of. It was simple really. The only question in her mind was the fate of this frog.

"Well," she said reprovingly, "you are one stubborn frog." The prince blinked at her innocently. "I don't think I've ever had to use the silent treatment on someone for so long without them apologizing. Don't think this means I've forgiven you but I simply can't afford to keep ignoring you all day- there's work to be done." The frog stared at her in surprise. He had never in his sheltered life encountered anyone so straight to the point. "So Mr. Frog…are you going to apologize to me or aren't you?" It took the prince several moments to realize that what she wanted was for him to say he was sorry.

"I'm not." He said confidently without a bit of remorse. "I do not make apologies. Apologies are for small children who are sentimental and weak. Besides you ought to be apologizing to me too. You ought to be groveling at my feet! You, firstly ignored me, then you took me to this wretched old excuse for a shack, trapped me in a box and then had the nerve to wake me up at this ridiculous hour to ask for an apology! My answer to you is not a chance!"

The prince's words had cut her deep but she was not going to give in to insults like that again.

"Alright! Listen frog! I could have left you in the middle of that pond back there but I didn't! I brought you back to my home and tried to comfort you! You had the nerve of seriously insulting your rescuer! Alright frog- here's how it's gonna be: I have a lot of work to do and I don't have time for you bothering me. I also don't really have time to feed you- or might I add the resources. So here are your options: you can apologize to me and I will use any time I have to help you, or you can continue to be stubborn and I won't feed you -at all!"

The frog stared at her incredulously. No one had ever talked to him that way before. However during his tantrums of yesterday he had realized that he could no longer snap his fingers and have servants appear to fix his problems. He wasn't happy about it but he would have to live this one out.

"Fine then maid! I don't need food! I can live without it." Now it was Rosie's turn to stare.

"Fine frog!" she spluttered. "Clearly you have never gone without food before but let me tell you it is not a pleasant thing."

The prince only shrugged. "Perhaps for a commoner like yourself-maid." It was a great puzzlement to Rosie as to why the frog was calling her maid but as a prince, the only females he had encountered before were all maids and so in his mind it only seemed right.

So it began. The frog's fasting and Rosie's search for the pestle. The prince hated to admit it but the work he watched the girl do was more intense and difficult then all the work he had ever done put together. There was a time when the prince had felt sorry for himself because of all the studying he had to do. That time was over. He watched in amazement as the GIRL dug up the land stopping only once when the sun had reached its highest point in the sky for a snack of the most repulsive food he had ever seen (something we all know as oatmeal.). Though the food he had seen her eating was repulsive and the water she drank was brown with mud he had to admit he was starting to feel hungry. A pang in his stomach which the well fed prince had never felt before began early in the morning and had been worsening all day. At first he hadn't even thought of connecting it with the lack of food because he had never felt hungry before in his life. However eventually he began to under stand just what it would be like to go without food and what it would be like to starve. He remembered hearing that many of the peasants of the kingdom of Phell were dying of starvation. He had laughed it off at the time as weak peasants being over dramatic but now he understood its full meaning. He realized at that moment exactly what starvation meant. He felt a chill wash over him as remembered the girl saying this morning she hadn't really the resources to feed him. What did that mean? That she was in danger of starving too? It had never occurred to him before now that food could run out.

Now began a deadly battle of fear and pride. He was scared of starving but at the same time too proud to say such a silly thing as sorry. In the end pride won and the prince simply continued to starve.

And so it went on. For a whole week the prince ate nothing and Rosie worked harder then she had in her whole life to find the pestle. Along the way it is needless to say the two got to know eachother and Rosie simply could not stop herself from liking him. The Prince who had never really had a friend or someone he considered an equal to talk to was extremely confused in how he felt for her. All he knew was that she was somehow more significant then all the faceless servants he saw around the castle and that the thought of her starving to death chilled him to the bone-more in fact then the thought of him starving to death.

The hunger strike however was not going exactly as planned. Everyday the frog awoke to the feeling that his stomach had been trampled on by a horse and every time he looked at his stomach he half expected to see a big black hole. He was also getting weaker and weaker. At the beginning when he awoke he would hop outside to talk to Rosie as she did her work. Now he found he hardly had the strength to wake up.

Rosie on the other hand had quite forgotten about this not eating for her every thought was wrapped up in finding the pestle. Everyday she grew more and more desperate. She did however, notice when the prince stopped coming to see her. It made her feel sad. Much more then she expected. She had been enjoying his company and his voice had the strange effect of making her feel extremely calm and relaxed. Needless to say as the week ended and he stopped visiting, she completely fell apart. Thinking that the reason for his stopped visits were over something silly again Rosie decided she best have a talk with that prince and give him a piece of her mind.

When she entered her hut, however the sight she saw erased all annoyance from her mind. The frog in question had not got up today. He was lying in bed (or in the wooden box that had become his bed) barely breathing. He had lost almost all colour and had turned a sort of pale-whitish green. He was not the plump frog she had first picked up a week ago. This frog was skinny- so much so she wondered if his legs could support the rest of his body without snapping. As she entered the frog opened one eye and gazed at the wavering image of her. A small soft croak came out of his mouth and then everything went black.

Author's Note: Ok I'm thinking only one or two more chapters to wrap this sub-story up. Thanks again to all my reviewers! You guys all deserve a virtual cookie!

To Bingo5 (a new reviewer) who asked what the witche's name was I will reply using the wise words of another certain witch: "All in good time my pretty, all in good time."