Night Time Story: The Talking Mirror
In the dusty corner of her grandmother’s attic, Olivia found an ornate silver mirror unlike any she’d seen before.
Its frame was twisted into shapes of vines and flowers, and when she wiped away the dust, the glass seemed to shimmer like water.
“What a beautiful mirror,” she said to herself, admiring her reflection.
To her astonishment, the mirror rippled, and a voice emerged from its depths.
“What seems fair on outside show, may hide the truth you need to know.”
Olivia nearly dropped the mirror in shock. “You can talk!”
“I speak not lies but truths concealed, in riddles that must be revealed,” the mirror replied.
Olivia brought the mirror to her room, curious about its strange power. “Mirror, am I pretty?” she asked, wondering what it would say.
“Beauty’s mask both false and true, the inner light shines stronger through.”
Olivia frowned. “That’s not really an answer.”
The next day at school, Olivia faced a difficult math test. That evening, she asked the mirror, “Will I pass my math test tomorrow?”
“The answers sought cannot be found, when preparation doesn’t abound.”
Olivia sighed and opened her textbook. After studying for two hours, she asked again.
“The seeds now planted soon shall grow, the harvest matches what you sow.”
She passed the test with a B+.
Over the weeks that followed, Olivia consulted the mirror about everything—which friends to trust, whether to join the soccer team, how to help her little brother with bullies. Each time, the mirror answered in riddles that she gradually learned to decipher.
When her best friend Emma stopped talking to her after Olivia was chosen for the lead in the school play, she asked the mirror what to do.
“A shadow grows in garden bright, when one flower blocks another’s light.”
After thinking about it, Olivia realized Emma might be jealous. She helped Emma get the role of assistant director, where her organizational skills shone. Their friendship grew stronger than before.
One day, Olivia’s grandmother visited and spotted the mirror in her room.
“I see you found my old friend,” Grandmother said with a knowing smile.
“It’s your mirror? Did you know it talks in riddles?” Olivia asked.
Grandmother nodded. “It belonged to my grandmother, and hers before that. The mirror has guided the women in our family for generations.”
“But why does it always speak in riddles? Why not just tell the truth clearly?” Olivia asked.
“Ask it yourself,” Grandmother suggested.
That night, Olivia posed the question to the mirror.
“Truth handed freely loses worth, but sought and earned transforms the earth. The seeking matters more than prize, for wisdom lives in wondering eyes.”
Olivia thought about this for a long time. She realized that if the mirror had simply told her what to do, she would never have learned to think deeply about her choices or understand the reasons behind them.
As years passed, Olivia consulted the mirror less frequently. She didn’t need to—she had learned to look beyond the surface of problems, to consider different perspectives, and to find truth in complicated situations.
On her eighteenth birthday, her grandmother officially gifted her the mirror.
“Do you still need it?” Grandmother asked.
Olivia smiled. “Maybe not need, but I value its friendship. Besides, someday I might have a daughter who will need to learn what it taught me.”
That night, she asked the mirror one last question: “Have I become wise?”
The mirror’s surface rippled gently, and for the first time, it answered directly.
“Wisdom begins when you realize the riddle never ends.”
By Verity Riddlewise
