The Magic Mirror

         Once upon a time, there lived a king and queen who ruled a small kingdom.

         The king began his reign as a generous, hard-working man who loved his queen to distraction. The queen began as a simple woman with lofty dreams, but as the years went by she became disenchanted with the reality of her life, which was nothing like what she had envisioned for herself at the beginning of her reign, and she became more and more distracted by looking into her magic mirror. She fell in love with the reflections in it, which eventually hardened her heart to all those around her. She was harsh to her children and to her king, and although they all tried to love her in spite of the mirror's hold on her, none but the king, in whose eyes the queen could not err, succeeded.

         First the eldest child, a prince, married and went to a new kingdom. The queen showed no interest in the new princes and princesses born to her son, and was only concerned with her mirror. The new king asked his father to draw the old queen away from the mirror, and break its hold on her, but the old king protested it had no influence on his beloved queen and did nothing. The new king declared himself no longer beholden to the old king and queen, and lived his life apart from his mother and father and their kingdom.

         The eldest princess married and became the queen of a kingdom herself, but still her mother, the dowager queen gave no notice to the events unfolding around her, and only gazed into the mirror. Saddened, the new queen did not try to appeal to the old king to intercede, as he had already shown that he would not speak or hear any words, true or false, spoken against his adored queen. Nor did she set herself apart forever; she simply retired with her king to their own kingdom, holding on to the hope that the old queen would eventually be strong enough to reject the fascination of the magic mirror, and the pale imitation of life it afforded.

         The youngest princess was favored over the other children by the old king and queen, and all the kingdoms around knew this and agreed that she must take notice when the princess married her prince and became a queen. The old queen's children and all of the kingdoms nearby waited to see what the old queen would do, and were overjoyed when it seemed that the old queen was looking outward . But it was only a pretence - the mirror still held its old charm for her, and she had never really left it. The youngest princess raged and wept, railed and begged, but nothing would distract the old queen from looking into her magic mirror for more than a moment. The princess appealed to the old king, but he was blind to the old queen's disdain of all else around her in preference to the mirror, and became enraged with the princess for speaking against his wife. Angry and hurt, the youngest princess retreated to her kingdom. Offended and unwilling to understand the source of the youngest princess' anger, the old queen called her unreasonable, and resumed her study of the enchanted looking glass.

         Hard times came upon the old kingdom. It had grown much smaller, and became wild and disordered. The old king, instead of living out his elder days in comfort, free from worry, was forced to continue to labor and toil. This he did willingly, never voicing complaint, for love of his queen, who simply sat and looked into her mirror. Their hardship became such that the kingdom was all but gone, and the old king was forced to ask his wife to labor as well. The old queen agreed, but her heart was not in her work, and although she made the motions of toiling, it afforded no ease to the old king, and did not lessen his labors.

         When his health suffered and he begged surcease, the old queen claimed that her health was suffering more, and he should take care of her. The old king felt badly that he had not noticed her suffering, and agreed to care for her.

         When the old king asked to rest, claiming he was wearied by his years of labor, the old queen replied that she was weary as well, from raising a family and caring for him these many years, and he should allow her to rest. The old king felt guilty that he should ask so much of her, agreed to let her rest and toiled on.

         When the old king suggested that maybe they could do away with the expenses of the kingdom, and go without their golden plates and great feasts, silken robes and silver ornaments, so that he might not have to work quite so much the queen claimed that she had suffered enough deprivation in the lean and young years of their kingdom, and to deny her these small luxuries in her old age would be cruel. The old king was ashamed that he should try to deny his wife, who asked for so little, and agreed to go without so that she might have these things, and still would not hear any word spoken against his queen.

         Their kingdom has shrunk to none but the two of them. The old king still works endlessly for the love of his queen, who sits fascinated by a shadow image of herself in an imagined world, to this very day.



         What stories does the mirror tell, what images does it weave, in order to entrance so fully?