Mirror, Mirror

by Laura McConaughay

  “It is the middle of the night, I know,” the soldier said. “But I long to see the princess from the copper tower, even if it is only for a moment.”

  The dog disappeared, and before the soldier had time to put the tinderbox away again it returned with the princess. The princess was lying on the dog’s back, fast asleep, and anyone who looked upon her would instantly recognize her as a princess.

  She was so lovely that the soldier could not help himself. He leaned over and kissed the sleeping princess, who murmured in her sleep but did not fully wake. His heart aching a little, the soldier then ordered the dog to return the princess to her home.

  III

  The next morning there was a bit of a to-do at the royal breakfast table. Only the king and the queen were still at table, sitting amongst the litter of broken egg shells, mustard pots, and half-eaten slices of toast. The princess had thrown both of her parents into a state, for during breakfast she had told them about a very curious dream that she’d had, about having ridden on the back of a giant dog, and being kissed by a handsome and gallant soldier.

  Her parents were both quite determined that the prophesy about the princess’ marriage to a common soldier not be allowed to come to pass, and once the princess had left the table they had put their heads together and developed a plan. A trusted lady in waiting, one of the queen’s own servants, would sleep at the foot of the princess’ bed. In this way, the king and queen hoped to discover if it was only a dream, or if there was some other force at work.

  All throughout that day, the soldier went through his tasks in a daze, unable to concentrate. All he could think about was the princess. He told himself that he must never see her again, for fear of her father finding out, but he could not stop himself from wanting to risk everything for just one more visit.

  By the end of the day the soldier had convinced himself that he was going to do the sensible thing and never see her again. Instead, he was going to have dinner and go to bed early, he told himself sternly. A few sleepless hours later however, the soldier had abandoned his resolve and was striking the tinderbox again. Moments later the dog with eyes the size of teacups had been sent once again to fetch the princess.

  In the copper tower, the lady in waiting was dutifully watching over the princess. She had listened to the princess’ telling of her dream several times over the course of the day, and she was not convinced that it was only a dream. She had prepared for the evening therefore by wearing a pair of enchanted boots, in which she could move like the wind, and by tucking a piece of chalk into her apron pocket.

  Despite her belief that something was truly afoot, the lady in waiting was still shocked and frightened when a massive dog suddenly appeared in the princess’ bedchamber just before midnight. Between one blink and the next, the princess had been moved onto the dog’s back, and the pair were heading out into the night.

  The lady in waiting rushed to the window, from which the dog had jumped to the ground with one mighty leap. Quick as a wink, the lady in waiting was chasing after them, thanking heavens that she was still wearing her enchanted boots, for even with them she had a hard time keeping up with the giant dog.

  She caught up with the pair just in time to see the dog enter a building, with the princess still on his back. The lady in waiting took out the piece of chalk and made a large cross on the door of the building, to help her remember come the morning. After that she went home to bed, not being brave enough to try to enter the building and rescue the princess, for she didn’t fancy facing up to that massive dog.

  Inside, the soldier was once again gazing upon the lovely princess, and once again he could not resist kissing her. This time the princess awoke, and to his delight she sat up and spoke to him.

  “Oh, wonderful!” the princess said. “I am having that dream again!”

  The soldier did not deny it, but instead reached out and took the princess’ hand in his own. “My love, will you not stay, and talk with me for a while?”

  The princess blushed and agreed, and they sat down together and talked for a long time. Later, when the soldier asked if he could kiss her just once, she let him. Then, when he asked if he could kiss her a second time, she let him do that too - for after all, she thought, it was only a dream.

  Outside, a strange sight was to be seen indeed, if anyone had been awake and able to see it. The soldier had sent the dog to wait in the street, and the dog had quickly spotted the mark that had been made on the door of his master’s house. The dog knew that he had been followed when gathering the princess, and he soon pieced together what the cross must mean.

  Fetching a piece of chalk of his own, the dog was now moving up and down the streets, making chalk crosses on every door in the town. When he was done he returned to his post outside the soldier’s door, and soon after that he was summoned to return to the princess to the copper tower.

  The next morning, when her parents asked if she had been plagued by dreams again the night before, the princess looked slightly abashed and claimed that she had slept dreamlessly. The queen, seeing her daughter blush, did not push the question any further, but determined to speak to the lady in waiting immediately after breakfast.

  Less than an hour later a small procession left the castle. The king and queen, led by the lady in waiting and followed by several members of the town guard, had set out to find the door with the chalk cross.

  “Aha! Here we are,” said the king with grim triumph, stopping in front of a door with a large chalk cross on it.

  “No, my dear, it’s over here,” replied the queen from the other side of the road, looking at a cross on a different door.

  “No, your majesties, I’m quite certain that it was further along the street…” the lady in waiting protested.

  “Here’s another, and another!” came the exclamations from the town guard, who had been told what to look for.

  Everywhere they looked there were crosses, and they soon realized that they had been thwarted. Realizing also that it would be useless to search every building in the town, they returned to the castle. The king was very angry indeed, and the lady in waiting was crestfallen, but the queen was thoughtful.

  Being a clever woman, the queen had soon come up with a new plan. That night, after the princess had fallen asleep, the queen hung a small silken bag on a long ribbon around her daughter’s neck. Before leaving, the queen cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag, which she had previously filled with flour.

  Just before midnight, as it had the previous two nights, the dog appeared again in the princess’ room. Without waking the princess, it scooped her up onto his back. The dog did not notice the silken bag around the princess’ neck, nor did it notice the flour spilling out of that bag. Heedless of the danger, it bounded with the princess through the night, carrying her to the eagerly waiting soldier.

  The princess awoke almost immediately, for she was as eager to see the soldier again as he was to see her. They held each other tightly, and the soldier dismissed the dog without remembering to tell it to wait outside.

  Since the dog was not sent outside, it did not see the trail of flour that led all the way from the copper tower to the soldier’s window, and that trail was therefore still undisturbed when the king and queen set out with the town guard once more.

  The queen had not gone to bed after visiting her daughter, but had instead kept watch at a window. The lady in waiting had warned her what to expect, and as soon as she had seen the dog first appear, the queen had gone to summon her husband and six of his best guards.

  With torches held high, the royal procession moved through the town, following the thin white line of flour straight to the soldier’s home. The guards broke the door open and the whole group poured inside, where the soldier and the princess were found together.

  Chaos reigned for a few minutes. The king was yelling at the top of his lungs, while the queen tried to quiet him. The princess, who had just realized that she was not in fact dreaming, was torn between indigna
tion and fear for the soldier, who was being beaten by the guards before being dragged off to prison.

  Before noon the next day, the soldier had already been tried and sentenced to death. The princess had recovered from her embarrassment and had pled beautifully for her father to spare the soldier’s life, for she had grown more than fond of her dream-soldier, but nothing she said did any good. In fact, the more she pleaded, and the more she spoke of her feelings for the soldier, the angrier her father became.

  As for the soldier, he once again found himself hungry and in the dark, although this time it was in a cell instead of an attic. He did not at all want to die, and he began to dread the sound of the guards’ footsteps, for every time they walked by they would stop and taunt him, saying “Tomorrow you’ll be dead.” In spite of this however, as the soldier leaned back against the damp walls of his cell, he could not bring himself to regret any moment that he had spent with the princess.

  At last the day of the execution arrived. The soldier watched through the iron grate of his cell window as the town guard marched by to the sound of beating drums. Townsfolk began pouring out of houses and stores, and followed the guards to the market place, where a gallows had been erected. The mood of the crowd was cheerful and excited, and the soldier noted sadly that everyone seemed to be as happy to see him executed as they had been to attend his parties.

  The soldier suddenly straightened as he saw a familiar face. He called out and stuck his hand out through the grated window, waving it wildly and trying to catch the man’s attention. After a moment of confusion, the man spotted the little window, and walked over. He made a terse inquiry, but was then obviously shocked and concerned when he recognized his old army friend, for the man was the veteran to whom the soldier had once given his last handful of coins.

  The pair talked for several minutes, and for his friend’s sake the soldier pretended to be much less upset than he was.

  “I say, old boy, I wish there was something I could do for you,” his friend said eventually.

  “No, no, there’s nothing that anyone could - - wait a minute,” said the soldier. “As a matter of fact, there is something you could do. Back in my lodgings, there’s an old chipped tinderbox that I’d like to have with me. Would you do me a favor and get it for me?”

  His friend could not refuse so modest a request, and set off immediately to recover the soldier’s tinderbox. He soon returned, and handed the tinderbox to the soldier through the grate of the window. The soldier thanked him, and the two then parted ways.

  Soon the hour of execution arrived, and the guards appeared at the cell door to take the soldier to the gallows. The soldier did not struggle, but walked calmly and bravely through the crowds to the scaffold. The king and queen were present, as were all the judges and councilors, and many hundreds if not thousands of spectators. The soldier looked them all over, then just before the hangman was about to place the noose around his neck he turned to the king and asked if he might smoke one last pipe before he died.

  The king hesitated for a moment, wanting this execution to be over, but then nodded reluctantly. With a grin that the king and judges immediately mistrusted, the soldier pulled out his tinderbox and struck it first once, then twice, then three times. In a flash all three of the great dogs were before them, one with eyes the size of tea-cups, one with eyes the size of supper plates, and one with eyes the size of windmills.

  “These men want to hang your master,” the soldier cried. “Stop them!”

  The dogs fell upon the judges, the councilors, and the guards. Some they tossed high into the air, so that they were dashed to the ground when the fell, and others they tore asunder with their great jaws. Finally only the king and queen, the soldier, and the crowd were left.

  “You would not dare to lay a finger upon me!” the king exclaimed nervously, as the dogs approached him.

  “Not a finger, no,” replied the soldier with a laugh. As he spoke, the dogs converged on the royal couple, and within seconds the king and queen were both clamped tightly within the jaws of the largest dog. As they screamed in terror, the soldier laughed again and made a gesture for the dog to hold.

  “Now, then. I have no great fondness for you, which will not come as a surprise to anyone here,” the soldier said, waving his arms towards the crowd. “But it is my earnest desire to marry your daughter, and I can’t help but think that our marriage will go better if I don’t start off by killing her parents.”

  The king groaned at the soldier’s words, but was soon hushed when the dog’s jaws tightened a little bit.

  “So,” the soldier continued, striding casually towards the captive pair. “I will let you go, and let you live, as long as you give your permission for me to marry your daughter.”

  The king groaned again, but this time it was the queen who hushed him. “For heaven’s sake,” she hissed at him. “Let him marry the girl!”

  Though obviously reluctant, the king gave his consent.

  “Louder, please,” insisted the soldier. “I want everyone to hear your words.”

  The king glared at the soldier, but spoke loudly, repeating his permission for the soldier to marry his daughter the princess. A great cheer went up from the crowd, and the king and queen were released. The princess was sent for, and it was decided that the wedding would be held right away.

  The gallows were taken down and replaced by feasting tables, and the chaplain was sent for. The crowd grew more cheerful and merry than ever, for if they weren’t going to see a hanging, then a wedding was the next best thing. The dogs sat at the edge of the market square and stared at the king so unblinkingly that he did not dare try to break his word and stop the marriage.

  And so the soldier and the princess were married, with as much pomp and ceremony as could be mustered in less than a day. The princess’ prophesy was fulfilled, and in later years she was wont to describe her marriage as her dreams becoming real. As for the soldier, he looked upon his bride and knew true contentment, feeling that in her he had found both his fortune and his future.