THE
MAGIC MIRROR
AND THE
ENCHANTRESS
I am dented!” The mirror, full-sized once more and back on the wall of the library, was not happy. “I am dull! Above all, I am very, very tired and when have you ever heard of a mirror being tired?”
The enchantress, reclining on a chaise longue, had the good manners to look embarrassed.
“It wasn’t my best plan,” she admitted. “It never occurred to me that you might get lost. A merry dance I’ve had, believe me, searching up and down the centuries, all over the world!”
“A merry dance you’ve had?” The mirror’s surface flickered. “Were you dropped in the burning desert? Did you languish in the depths of the oceans? Were you swallowed by a giant lizard? Did you freeze in the snow? Were you sold at a yard sale? I always said you were too busy. I always said it would lead to disaster!”
“Poor Mirror! But how fine you look, despite your misadventures!” The enchantress wondered how long the complaining was going to last. Time moved differently in the enchanted palace. It was the night before her goddaughter’s naming day, and she was no closer to knowing how to help her be an excellent princess. “Tell me, what have you learned?”
“That the world is cold. And hot. And sandy. And slimy. And cruel. And . . . ”
“About princesses, Mirror, dear.”
“Oh, princesses!”
“That was the understanding.”
The mirror glowered, as if to remind the enchantress that she may have understood this, but that it had had no say in the matter.
“Best of mirrors, you shall have the softest of cloths to clean you, the finest of brushes, the purest of soap and water . . . ”
“Stubborn!” the mirror snapped. “Princesses are stubborn and proud and bossy, and they do not have very clean fingernails and they are often quite rude, and they are always dashing about rescuing animals or getting into fights or repairing lawnmowers, and they are not remotely interested in lessons.”
The mirror paused. Had it been unfair?
“Héloïse was a good student,” it conceded. “And it’s possible that Leila started to pay attention to her mother’s lessons, because she wanted very much to become a good queen, and the laws of her country were rather complicated. And Abayome did get appallingly dirty but then she had to, to rescue Odé, and I know Rose broke that boy’s collarbone but she was extremely kind to animals. And it wasn’t fair that Ellen wasn’t allowed to sail, and Tica couldn’t have saved Choro without being a little bossy, and those poor sisters had nothing when they arrived in the City of Lights, and as for Princess . . . ”
The enchantress leaned forward. “Sweetest of mirrors, I do believe you’re turning pink! What about Princess?”
“I am certainly not turning pink,” said the mirror. “It is a trick of the light.”
“Tell me about Princess.”
“She was not a real princess,” the mirror said. “It was only a name they called her. Yet she was not so different from the others. They were all . . . ”
“Bossy and stubborn and proud?”
“Brave!” The mirror was flickering again. “Brave and fierce and loyal, with big dreams, and even bigger hearts, and such a thirst for the world, and so much love, and . . . ”
“Mirror, are you crying?”
“Certainly not! I am a mirror! A mirror never becomes emotionally involved! Imagine the chaos if I had feelings! I am simply saying that my princesses were not excellent because their godmother was an enchantress. They were excellent in themselves. They were excellent people.”
“You are crying.”
“I am tired.”
“Sometimes,” the enchantress whispered, “I cry too. I cried when I thought I’d lost you.”
The mirror was silent. She leaned in closer and thought she heard a hiccup. Gently, she kissed the dulled gold frame. Very briefly, the mirror glowed.
“After the naming day, I shall clean you myself,” promised the enchantress.
Then all was quiet, except for the soft, unmistakable sound of a snore.
Text copyright © 2019 by Natasha Farrant
Artwork copyright © 2019 by Lydia Corry
First American Edition 2020
All rights reserved
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Book design by Jessie Price
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Farrant, Natasha, author. | Corry, Lydia, illustrator.
Title: Eight princesses and a magic mirror / Natasha Farrant ; illustrated by Lydia Corry.
Description: First American edition. | New York, NY : Norton Young Readers, [2020] | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Summary: A magic mirror reveals itself to diverse princesses when each needs it most, illuminating how their power comes not from titles or beauty, but from inner strength.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019049687 | ISBN 9781324015567 (cloth) | ISBN 9781324015574 (epub)
Subjects: CYAC: Princesses—Fiction. | Short stories.
Classification: LCC PZ7.F2406 Eig 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019049687
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