Friday, July 03, 2009

Looking Glass

LOOKING-GLASS, n. A vitreous plane upon which to display a fleeting show for man's disillusion given.
The King of Manchuria had a magic looking-glass, whereon whoso looked saw, not his own image, but only that of the king. A certain courtier who had long enjoyed the king's favor and was thereby enriched beyond any other subject of the realm, said to the king: "Give me, I pray, thy wonderful mirror, so that when absent out of thine august presence I may yet do homage before thy visible shadow, prostrating myself night and morning in the glory of thy benign countenance, as which nothing has so divine splendor, O Noonday Sun of the Universe!"

Please with the speech, the king commanded that the mirror be conveyed to the courtier's palace; but after, having gone thither without apprisal, he found it in an apartment where was naught but idle lumber. And the mirror was dimmed with dust and overlaced with cobwebs. This so angered him that he fisted it hard, shattering the glass, and was sorely hurt. Enraged all the more by this mischance, he commanded that the ungrateful courtier be thrown into prison, and that the glass be repaired and taken back to his own palace; and this was done. But when the king looked again on the mirror he saw not his image as before, but only the figure of a crowned ass, having a bloody bandage on one of its hinder hooves — as the artificers and all who had looked upon it had before discerned but feared to report. Taught wisdom and charity, the king restored his courtier to liberty, had the mirror set into the back of the throne and reigned many years with justice and humility; and one day when he fell asleep in death while on the throne, the whole court saw in the mirror the luminous figure of an angel, which remains to this day.
2009 Update: The portal by which Alice enters a strange and mythical world. Most Alices, in fact.
(Present company excepted, of course. Our Alice enters by graduate school.)

13 comments:

Ariel the Thief said...

Looking glass, where the focus is trapped outside your mind.

Mo'a said...

Our Alice is European...and most likely a perpetual student :)
This Alice...me...looks into the glass and sees a skinny young thing...now that is Wonderland.

pia said...

Our Alice is no longer Alice--a girl or college student with a blog--but a woman who has found a style that shall--like twin sets--remain in vogue forever--and cardigans are this years suit jacket

Remember when you thought she was a 40 year old male midget? :)

TLP said...

I'll go ask Alice if you cleared this with her.

quilly said...

This word has always confused me. Are these spectacles on my face not looking glasses? I use them for looking!

Jamie Dawn said...

Cute story. I guess I should be happy if I don't see a crowned ass when I look in the mirror. I'll take the crown though since it's probably worth a fortune.

Looking-Glass: Used to check if one has pepper in one's teeth... which I often do. I have one tooth in particular that enjoys collecting pepper.

:-) I hope you have an enjoyable July 4th weekend!!
If by chance you are going over to someone's house for a barbecue or something, I have a recipe YOU can make and bring that will impress everyone greatly. Buy an angel food cake. Buy one, small tub of Cool Whip (full fat version.) Buy one jar of Lemon Curd (found next to the jams and jellies). Mix the Cool Whip and the Lemon Curd together using any clean spoon available. Now use that mixture to frost the angel food cake. Use the container that the cake came in so you'll have a nice lid over the cake to protect it from harm and doggies. That's it!! It needs to be refrigerated if not eaten soon. It is divine... that is if you like lemon. Also, this cake can be eaten entirely by one's self. I know this first hand. It is light and yummy to the max!

Jim said...

I'm thinking diamonds but looking glass.
..

sauerkraut said...

brandi
yer a fine girl
what a good wife you would be

but my love
and my life as a sailor
is the sea

Ariel the Thief said...

Doug, did you really think Alice was a 40 year old male midget??? LOL! How scaring the truth must have been then...

Doug The Una said...

Yeah, Ariel. The distracted mind stays pretty close to the focused one, doesn't it?

Mo'a, I see you the same durned way.

Haha, Pia. I think I was maybe being facetious but I remember the conversation.

OK, will it echo, TLP?

Quilly, try turning them around.

That sounds good, JD!

Jim, that's what happens when you imitate Willie Nelson.

Sauerkraut, move on.

Petrifying, Ariel. No, I didn't really think that. I just thought she had an adult and analytical tone for schoolgirl.

Flip said...

What's this?

Sauerkraut stepped through the looking glass only to become an old salt.

Nessa said...

I prefer the shot glass. Makes everyone look better (for a while, any way.)

sauerkraut said...

Better to step thru the looking glass than to step in dog poop like I did on the battlefield trail today. :-(