Once upon a time in the dark woods there lived an old lady. Every morning and evening she would comb her long slivery hair till it shone like a glittering galaxy of stars. After that she would sit on her rocking chair and look out of the window. Many hours would pass this way. Sometimes a tear would move slowly down her cheek and sometimes she would smile. Who knows what thoughts filled her days.
No one visited her, for no one dared to go so deep into the dark woods.

One day a knight came knocking on her door. She was frightened. It had been too long since she had seen another human being. She did not open the door. The knight waited a while and then left. The old lady went back to her rocking chair and her dreams.

He came again the next day, and the next and then he came again. Finally she opened the door. ‘Go away’, she said. ‘You want nothing from me, I have nothing to give you, go away’.

The knight bowed. ‘I want nothing from you my lady’, he said. ‘I have come to return something that once belonged to you’. He placed the carefully wrapped package before her and stood aside. She picked it up and opened it. It was a mirror. A beautiful mirror with an ornate silver frame and flawless glass. She saw in its reflection a lady of great beauty. Smiles from yesterday came to fill her face. She went inside and hung the mirror on the wall.