(1845)
Story the First: Which Describes a Looking-Glass and the Broken
Fragments.
You must attend to the commencement of this story, for when we get to
the end we shall know more than we do now about a very wicked
hobgoblin; he was one of the very worst, for he was a real demon.
One day, when he was in a merry mood, he made a looking-glass which
had the power of making everything good or beautiful that was reflected in
it almost shrink to nothing, while everything that was worthless and bad
looked increased in size and worse than ever. The most lovely landscapes
appeared like boiled spinach, and the people became hideous, and looked as
if they stood on their heads and had no bodies. Their countenances were so
distorted that no one could recognize them, and even one freckle on the face
appeared to spread over the whole of the nose and mouth. The demon said
this was very amusing. When a good or pious thought passed through the
mind of any one it was misrepresented in the glass; and then how the demon
laughed at his cunning invention. All who went to the demon’s school-for
he kept a school-talked everywhere of the wonders they had seen, and
declared that people could now, for the first time, see what the world and
