No Mirrors on the Wall

The only evidence that there had ever been a mirror in her room was an empty frame hanging on the wall across from the window. Even the glass in the window had been removed so she could not see her reflection at night. She had been beautiful once, or so everyone told her, but she was ugly now. A bear attack had left her with a scar that stretched from above her right eye, across her nose, and ending below the left side of her lip. Luckily, the castle’s garrison had been honing their skills near where she had been playing, else the bear might have killed her.

What was left of the bear now adorned a wall in the great hall, per her stepmother’s order, so all the world who visited the castle knew what would happen if they tried to harm the king’s only daughter. Not that anyone prince out there would want an ugly princess. Even the betrothal her father had negotiated for her as a baby had been abandoned. When the other nobles of the land brought their daughters to court to negotiate marriage contracts, her stepmother ordered her to be locked in her apartment, her ever so chilly apartment. No one wanted to be reminded of how ugly their king’s daughter was.

Her only companion was a dwarf who never spoke. She never knew why until she had heard a servant whisper that the dwarf’s tongue had been cut out. The queen hadn’t wanted another member of court reminding her precious stepdaughter of her ugliness, if the stories the servants told were to be believed.

Only when the members of court had returned to their lands for the winter was she allowed to roam wherever she wanted within the castle walls with one exception. She was forbidden in the queen’s private apartments. As often as she listened to the gossip from the servants, she never learned the reason behind it. Perhaps none of them knew, or perhaps her stepmother had ordered them not to speak of it. It would not surprise her. After all, the queen often ordered the castle servants not to do a lot of things.

She spent many lonely days exploring the castle, finding the best places to hide. Though she had lived in the castle her entire life, she still could not claim she had learned every hiding spot. A day rarely went by when her dwarf companion did not join her. Though her companion could not speak the words to let others know of the hiding spots they had discovered, she could write them down, which she often did. The notes were taken to the queen who sometimes punished her if she learned something she didn’t like.

With every note, the punishments got worse and worse. There were chores the servants disliked doing that the queen ordered her to complete instead. When she performed these tasks, the dwarf was sent away. At first, she completed her chores as quickly as she possibly could; she had grown too accustomed to the dwarf around her to be alone. But then she realized she could go exploring on her own, and learn of hiding spots where she could get away if she didn’t want the dwarf acting as her shadow.

Her favorite hiding spot soon became the one near the fireplace in her stepmother’s apartments. During the winter, this spot was warmer than any place in the entire castle. She could be alone, with her candle and the book of tales her former governess used to read to her at night before putting her to bed. So hidden was this little nook that she stored pillows and blankets there, sleeping there at night whenever she got the chance. With no glass on her windows, her room became too cold for her to sleep, even with the thickest blankets in the castle.

One spring evening, she discovered something about her hiding spot: there was a crack in the wall, big enough that she could hear the queen whenever her stepmother had guests. She learned the queen often had the same guest, a friendly baritone who often told the queen that no one in the kingdom was as beautiful as her. She felt her heart sink listening to those words. She was too ugly for anyone to call her beautiful. The queen often met with her servants before they cleaned her apartments.

“Polish the mirror,” the queen commanded. “Polish it until it sparkles even by candlelight. Do you hear me?”

If the servants did, not one of them ever said. But the queen had a mirror! There had been no mirrors in the castle for as long as she could remember. Had that been the reason she was never allowed in her stepmother’s apartments? In the stories she had read in her book, children would often welcome in the common rooms for their parents’ apartments. No one wanted her to see just how ugly she was, perhaps that was the reason she had never been permitted inside. Even she didn’t want to know just how ugly she truly was.

One morning, she managed to slip out of her apartments before her dwarf companion woke up. She hurried towards her secret hideout near the queen’s fireplace, curling up in her blankets to fend off the chill in her body. As she yawned, she heard her stepmother emerged from her bedchamber.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” her stepmother said. “Tell me again how fair I am.”

“You are very fair, my queen,” the baritone told her.

Her stepmother chuckled. “I want to hear you say it again.”

“You are very fair, my queen,” the voice repeated. “Shall I tell you again?”

“I would love to hear those words again, mirror. Unfortunately, duty calls.”

Had her stepmother really asked a mirror to tell her how beautiful she was? Everyone knew the queen was the most beautiful woman in the land. Why did she need a mirror to remind her of it? The young girl shook her head, wrapping her blankets closer to her body until she could linger there no longer. When she returned to her room, she found the dwarf pacing, a frown on her lips.

As soon as she stepped inside, the dwarf pressed something into her fingers. She looked down to see an envelope with a message on it: Keep this letter with you, and only open it if you find yourself in danger. She looked towards the dwarf who simply frowned at her instead of explaining what she meant.

She returned to her hiding spot every morning, to hear her stepmother asked a mirror to remind her of her beauty. Could a mirror really tell a person that? Would it be able to tell her just how truly ugly she was? Would it answer her if she asked the question? The questions repeated themselves in her head. Having a mirror that could talk seemed much better company than a tongue-less dwarf.

She lingered by that crack in the wall until she memorized her stepmother’s schedule. Then she learned how long the guards lingered by the queen’s apartment doors after their king’s wife left her apartments. It only took a few weeks, no more, but it felt as though an eternity had passed. It took longer still for her to find the courage to slip inside her stepmother’s apartment.

No room in the castle had furniture as fine as what she found here. None of the fabric had a tear in it and the cushions looked lofty. Not a speck of dust could be found anywhere. She frowned, she had not snuck inside her stepmother’s apartments to envy her furniture. She wanted to see the mirror. She soon found it, hidden away in its own nook, so the light from the windows did not interfere. She stepped towards it until she could see her reflection staring back at her.

Staring back her she saw the black curly hair that reached her shoulders, and the palest skin of anyone she had ever seen. Her lips were much redder than anyone around her. But there was no scar across her face –no evidence that a bear had attacked her. How could this be true? She had even overheard her father speak of the scar on her face. Was this really her? Or could the mirror play tricks on her? She stepped closer, watching her movements reflected in the glass. As she lifted a finger to her nose, she watched it happen in the mirror. This was her, she could not doubt it anymore.

But as stopped a few steps from the mirror, the image she saw started to shift. She jumped back as her face vanished and to be replaced with a man’s face. He was young, perhaps not too much older than her, and much more handsome than anyone who had visited her father’s court. His brown hair reached his shoulder and he had long cheekbones below his blue eyes.

“Snow White,” the baritone said. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

She jumped. “How do you know me?”

Before he could answer, the door swung open and the queen marched in with her huntsman behind her. “You disobedient little wretch!” her stepmother screamed as she closed the distance between them. The queen grabbed her by the arm and thrust her towards the huntsman. “Now that he’s seen you again, he’ll never tell me I’m the most beautiful woman in all the land.”

Snow White watched the queen grab a small box that she hurled at the huntsman. “Take her into the forest and return with her heart in that box.”

“It will be as you command, my queen,” the huntsman said with a bow.

Her stepmother’s loyal servant dragged her from the queen’s apartment and through the castle and into the courtyard. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been outside. No one had ever allowed it. The huntsman pushed her onto a waiting horse and tied her to the saddle. He mounted another and led her through the gates. They rode until dusk when they reached a small clearing in the forest. He pulled her off and shoved her away. She stumbled backwards until she tripped on a log and fell backwards.

“Go, princess,” he told her. “Be gone from here.”

“You’re not going to kill me?” she asked.

“The king has feared for your safety from the day he married your stepmother, your highness. Until he can assure that you are safe, you are to hide. Now go.”

“What of my heart?”

The huntsman chuckled. “Fear not, my princess, I do have some hunting to do.”

He gave her not another glance, guiding his horses out of the clearing. She stayed where she fell until he vanished from view. Once she could no longer see him, she pushed herself off the ground and onto the log she had tripped over. What was she supposed to do now? She gazed at the woods around her until she remembered the note her dwarf companion had given her. She still had it in her pocket. Snow White reached for it, ripping it open to reveal a barely legible note.

If you are ready this, princess, you know now the queen wishes you harm. I wish there was more I could do to help, but I can offer you this: my cousin lives near the mines in a cottage with his fellow miners. Go there, I beg you, they will keep you safe. I have enclosed a map I hope will help you find the way.

Snow White turned the paper over to see the map the writer had promised. There was no way she could make it there that night, not with how long it took the huntsman to drag her to this clearing. But he must have had a reason to dump her here. She looked around the clearing. Her eyes finally settled on a small stone cottage just on the other side of a few trees. Howling nearby made her heart pound in her chest. She raced to the cottage, pulling the door open and slamming it shut as quickly as she could.

She turned around, her eyes settling on a room filled to the brim with mirrors and her reflection looking back at her.