|| A folktale from France ||
There was once a kingdom where mirrors were unknown. They had all been broken and reduced to dust by order of the queen. If anyone was found even with tiny shard of mirror, they would be punished immediately.
The reason was that the queen was not good looking. The more she felt bad about it, the more ugly she seemed. She stopped grooming herself, really what’s the point she thought. She stopped smiling. Over the years, she became more bitter, more jealous of everyone else. After the King’s death, she banned all the mirrors in the kingdom. Knowing that she couldn’t change the way she looked, she started feeling better when the other women could not know that they were beautiful. It was a cruel consolation.
You can understand the young girls of the country were not at all satisfied. What was the use of being beautiful if you could not admire yourself?
They might have used the brooks and lakes for mirrors; but the queen had foreseen that, and had hidden all of them under closely joined bricks.
Water was drawn from wells so deep that it was impossible to see the liquid surface. Shallow basins must be used instead of buckets to avoid any reflections.
The queen had no compassion. She thought others must suffer due to the absence of a mirror, as much as she suffered in the presence of one.
Now, in a suburb of the city there lived a young girl called Jacinta, who was a pretty and a happy girl. The happier she felt, the prettier she felt, thanks to her lover, Valentin. For if someone thinks you are beautiful, and loses no chance to tell you so, he is almost as good as a mirror.
“Tell me the truth,” she would say; “what is the color of my eyes?”
“They are like dewy forget-me-nots.”
“How about my lips?”
“Cherries are pale beside them.”
“And my teeth, if you please?”
“Grains of rice are not as white.”
“But my ears, should I be ashamed of them?”
“Yes, if you would be ashamed of two little pink shells among your pretty curls.”
And so on endlessly; she was delighted for his words came from the depth of his heart. Their love grew by each passing day.
One day the queen spotted them afar and she became most jealous when she saw Jacinta happily laughing with Valentin. All the other girls were miserable, how was she so happy!
The wicked queen quickly made a plan. After two days, Jacinta was walking in the orchard, when an old woman approached, begging for alms, but suddenly jumped back with a shriek, crying: “Heavens, what do I see?”
“What is the matter, my good woman? What is it you see? Tell me.”
“The ugliest creature I ever beheld.”
“Then you are not looking at me,” said Jacinta, innocently. “Alas! yes, my poor child, it is you. I have been a long time on this earth, but never have I met anyone so hideous as you!”
“What! am I ugly?”
“A hundred times uglier than I can tell you.”
“But my eyes—”
“They are a sort of dirty gray, but that would be fine if not for your squint!”
“My mouth—”
“It is pale and withered, like a faded flower.”
“My teeth—”
“If the beauty of teeth is to be large and yellow, I never saw any so beautiful as yours.”
“But, at least, my ears—”
“They are so big, so red, and so misshapen. I am not pretty myself, but I should die of shame if mine were like them.”
After this harsh conversation, the old witch, having repeated what the queen had taught her, hobbled off, with a harsh croak of laughter, leaving poor Jacinta dissolved in tears, prone on the ground beneath the apple-trees.
Nothing could divert her mind from her grief. The more she believed she was ugly, the more unhappy she became and her beauty seemed to fade without her usual happy smile. Valentin assured and reassured her but she would say, “You are lying out of pity. You are only sorry for me. The beggar woman had no need to lie to me—I am ugly. I do not see how you can endure the sight of me.”
He brought others to assure Jacinta, every man declared that Jacinta was created to delight the eyes; even the women said as much. But the poor child was so convinced she was ugly.
People believe in the bad so easily! You can understand Valentin’s despair! What was he to do?
The only way to confirm the truth was to get a mirror made, but the queen would take his head.
“Well, I shall go to Court,” said the lover, in despair.
“What is all this?” said the wicked queen. “what do you want?”
“Your Majesty, I’m the most unlucky lover in the world. For some reason my love here assumes she is ugly”
“That she is, she is most hideous” Jacinta’s heart sank further on hearing this. No doubt, she has been ugly all along, she thought.
“Your Majesty, have pity on us. Please don’t say such horrid things. If we could just be permitted to have a mirror for a little while..”
“How dare you speak that way to me and that too for a mirror!” The queen rose to her feet, trembling with rage. The guards siezed him and the headsman came forward. He was always beside the throne, for she might need his services at any moment.
The executioner raised his gleaming axe, ready to strike on command.
“Your Majesty is most merciful”, bellowed Jacinta ” get rid of this man for he disgusts me. All he ever does is makes me more miserable by telling lies to me all day!”
The queen paused for a moment and changed her mind about punishing the man, for she would find more pleasure if the maiden was unhappy.
She said, ” I will let you go this time. Raise your voice one more time and you will not be spared!”
Jacinta and Valentin were escorted outside the palace gates. They walked in silence for sometime, then Valentin asked sadly, ” Do I really disgust you?”
Jacinta said, “No, my love, you were right all along. I saw my reflection in the sharpened blade of the axe. Now let us leave this land and make our living elsewhere”
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