I hung in a fine shop in Kioto, one of many metal mirrors that glittered in the sunshine. An aging and handsome man came along. “Oh, the pretty silver moons!” he said. Tentatively, he reached for me. He looked into my face and turned as white as rice. He sat on a seat...
I sit on the dresser in the dark room of a spellbound princess. When she picks me up, I reflect her beauty as it is in truth. She weeps when she sees her face. She is reminded of everything she knows to be true. Yet to others she appears as a decrepit old woman....
My father made me work hard, and the one thing I wanted for myself—a sprig of rosemary—would not be pulled out of the ground. The harder I pulled, the more the plant resisted, but I was not about to be beaten. I tore it out of the ground, and then a lot of things...
We line all the walls of one of the great rooms in the palace of a prince who has been made to appear as a beast. Needless to say, he rarely enters this room, although he did once, recently, to hang a bracelet on the chandelier. When Beauty enters, she admires herself...
I thought, The nerve of that king! He pretends to be smitten by me, but the moment he gets me to his castle, he shoves me into a little turret room with a maid and a pile of flax. Then orders me to spin it! I brought seven thousand golden guineas to this marriage! Is...
I love to tell the story of the gnome Rubezahl. He did everything he could to win the affection of a princess, but he could not force her to stay with him. With all his power and magic, the king of the gnomes could not change the heart of a woman. He was left in the...
