It was an unusually huge mirror,
Stretching between the ceiling and floor.
Like window it was made from glass,
But it didn't open onto grounds.
This mirror reflected everything,
Obediently,
That was standing at the front of it.

If the little boy raised his finger
It was raised in the mirror, too.
The mirror repeated everything,
Every step,
Every smile,
Even the smallest movements.

One night before he fell asleep
He had been thinking, "What would happen
If he steps through the mirror,
Just like we step through a door."
Then he fell asleep while he was thinking, but:
No, he didn't.
He got up from his bed,
Sneaked across the corridor
To the empty room
Where the mirror was,
And he felt his heart beating in his palm.

He stuck his hand on
The clear glass of the mirror
That he felt cold.
Slowly, the huge mirror
Opened, under his hand's warm,
Like it was a folding door.
As the little boy stepped through,
He arrived to the World of the Mirror.

The border region of Mirror Land
Was covered with soft, green lawn,
But instead of stars,
There were coloured lamps
Hanging from the dark sky:
Blue, red, purple, and yellow,
Every kind of colour
With a silky shine.
Thousand coloured half-light
Played on the giant carpet of the grass.

Like in your dreams when you step,
He departed weightless
And floated toward Mirror Land.
First he arrived to a small town,
Where the horses were floating, too.
On the border they
Swam across the air
Like kits,
Slowly and long.

The town was still sleeping.
The streets were empty,
And the houses lied in the grass
Like forgotten building blocks.
While they were taking a nap
In quiet gardens,
Under bushes,
Or in the ink-dark forest,
Only an old lady was working
In the pretty small garden
Of her hovel.
The little boy could hardly see her
As she bent down to her plants and flowers.

The little boy properly greeted the lady
And stepped into the garden.
She raised her body up
From the flower ocean,
So he could really see her.
The white hair like silver frame
Ran around on her face.
But surprisingly instead of a face,
There was a gently cut
Piece of mirror smiling back.

"You arrived in the best time,
Little boy", she smiled. "I'm
Sure you are coming from the other side
Of the mirror, where the sun shines,
And stars decorate the sky.
Maybe you can help me
By cutting those woods into little pieces,
So I will have fire wood for the winter."
By this sentence she gave the hatchet to him,
And they headed to the backyard of the hovel.

The logs like paper fell to the ground
As the little boy cut the wood.
He raised the hatchet and hit again
Like it was only a weightless toy in his hands.
Our little hero's power seemed huge
In enchanted Mirror Land.

"Thank you for your help.", said the old lady.
"You arrived in the best time to Mirror Land.
Our King's daughter got sick
And your power might
Can save her life."
Then she showed the right
Way to the castle and told him:
"If you don't rest,
You can arrive there by sunset.
I wish you good luck on your way"

The castle was more beautiful
Than any dreams,
Prettier than any picture,
Or paintings of talented artists.
Doesn't matter how it was drawn,
With pencil or ink on paper or board.

It was nice, pretty, and lovely in the same time.
There were no word to describe the spectacle,
But it was also sad as thousand years of pain,
Like a fading rose which still have a few colours,
But the life already left its frail body alone.

On the court of the castle,
There were uncountable horses and soldiers
In heavy armours
That made their movements
Slow and hard.
They appeard statues
Made from ice.

"Stranger. You are not from Mirror Land,
I can feel it from your wordly power", said a soldier.
"To get admittance into our castle,
You have to pass a test.
Here is this spear, if you can throw it over
The highest tower of the castle,
We will let you in."
The little boy took the spear
And threw it to the direction
Of the highest tower.

Like bird with opened wings
The heavy metal weapon
Flew over the highest tower.
As a magnet it pulled the spear
On its curved way.
Thus, our little hero passed the test
So he could be entered.

Deserted corridors and empty rooms
Received the little boy.
There was no air in the basement,
No light, no lamps, only candles.
Plants were growing in every holes,
Made the castle look like
A forgotten graveyard.
There were chairs with broken arms,
Falling silks and wallpapers on the walls.

Shadows sleeked everywhere,
The stairs were made of marble,
Then a folding door with a golden handle
Appeared and the little boy entered.
Inside, the curtains touched the floor,
In the middle of the room
Like an old tree trunk the throne stood
With the King of Mirror Land.
He was white as a dead,
But solid like a candle's wax.

"My child", he opened his wax-like mouth,
Then the candle face turned around.
He reached out with his white veined hands
Toward the little boy.
"You are the first who arrived
And stepped in this room alive.
Definitley this is the best time.
Our problem is huge, but first
I'll tell you the story of the Mirror's World."

"Once we lived on the Earth, too
Under the sun and stars like you,
But the enemies attacked our lands.
Nevertheless we had weapons and strength,
We chose the peace to defend.
We gave up our homes for it,
But it wasn't enough to our enemies.
They wanted unconditional surrender,
And we followed the rules that they ordered.
It still wasn't enough for them,
They wanted unconditional obedience.
They wanted us to do step by step
Exactly what they had said.
So we stepped, and moved,
Smiled and bent,
As they did and as they said.
The mirror was born in this time
And created Mirror Land's design.
We have been living in Mirror Land
Since the time that we bent.
Between dreams and reality
We repeat everything obiently.
Since that time
Our lives have been like
Reflected light,
In appearence it is pep,
But in real it's only death."

"But now, leave that we can't cure, so
Lets talk about what is recoverable.
My daughter has been sick for a while,
Only the ocean's air can save her life.
But the ocean is too far from here,
In Mirror Land no one has such a power
To carry her to the ocean.
If you accept this challenge,
You should carry her in your hands,
And reach the land that no one can reach,
Where the sky is blue, the water is clear,
The air is fresh and pure.
Her hand is yours if you are successful."

Then the King started to sob.
Like the rain runs off on a stock,
Like the wax of the candle melts,
His tears were falling under
On his face that the years left over.

Corridors, stairs. Stairs, corridors.
The little boy
Was hurrying to the room
Of the sick princess
That was at the top
Of the highest tower.
Never,
He never had seen
Something similar
To the delight
Of the room that was alike
To a silky nest.
He felt that he arrived
To a high altitude,
And oddly he also felt
That he was a little boy
And on the bed,
Who had been laid low,
Was a little princess.

He bent down to the silk-nest
And raised the princess
Up in his arms.
Held her like that,
He started his journey
To the shore of Mirror Land.

The celestial lamps were left behind,
The emerald lawn ran out,
As they reaches the no men’s land
Of the kingdom of the Mirror:
The little boy
With the princess in his hands.

The ocean exulted.
The air and the water
Went for them
With snowy waves.
As they gained to the beach
Hand in hand,
They ran and ran.
Here was a cliff, there was a bush
Pebble stones and snails
Lay on the ground.
The swell washed the shore
And made the gravel soft.
Everything was wonderful,
But something that finally ravished them
Was a little chalet that they found.
The door of the house opened
Without key - like in dreams
They also found everything
That they needed:
Beds, table, storm lantern.
Fruits, bread were in the cellar
Also enought fire wood for the winter.

After, the time flew faster.
The little princess was getting better
By every day that they spent together.
She became prettier and happier
As the ocean
Like an assiduous Nurse,
Put everything on its sand-table.

The garden blossomed,
The storm lantern twinkled,
The bed was soft, so was the bolster.
The opened furnace gave golden warm,
The fruits were unfailing from the orchard.

Notwithstanding:
Once, the little boy got homesick.
They thanked to the ocean all the gifts
Then they said goodbye to all the places:
First the ocean,
Then the house.
They whiffed the lantern,
And extinguished the furnace.
By this time healthily, hand in hand,
They headed back to the known land,
To the Earth from Mirror Land.

The boy said,"I'll take you home with me.",
And the girl followed him happily.
So they watchfully went around,
Without getting close to the yard
Of the castle. Before the King
Could detain his daughter,
They had already been further.
How long did they walk
Under the lapms’ thousand colours?
Who knows?
In Mirror Land people had had no time,
Since there wasn't a sun to measure it.
And their happiness didn't have it either.
It didn't matter how long they were walking,
But they were happy and strong
When they arrived to the border.
To that border which was
Only a really thin glass.
But this really thin glass
Divided two worlds:
Mirror Land and the Earth.

"We are at home", smiled the boy.
By this, they stepped trough the mirror.
That was that they would had stepped through it,
But in reality only the boy could do it,
And the girl was marooned on the other side.

Everything was useless after,
Even though the boy tried to go back,
The mirror didn't open under his hands.
They cried and their palm cluge on the glass
That was thin as a sheet of paper,
And more invisible than the nothing.
From this time the two world
Was separated by a border line
That no one could step across again.

They had been there crying for a long time,
And they were looking at each other,
Until the girl's face slowly started to vanish.
Then the mirror slowly became real mirror again
And showed that was standing at the front of it,
Only that and nothing else.

From now, when the little boy stood there
He didn't see anything else only himself.

He could never get
To Mirror Land again.