THE MAGICAL MIRROR.
I
“Why wed you not, baron,” once whispered a fairy,
“There's gold in your coffers, why wed you not now?”
“Not yet,” quoth the baron, “'tis best to be wary,
I might make a change for the worse, you'll allow.
My temper's a jealous one; beauty would keep
My mind in a frenzy. I'll look 'ere I leap.”
II
“Oh! give me a boon,” cried the baron, “pray give me,
A magical mirror of crystal and gold,
And in it if womankind e'er should deceive me,
The cause of her fickleness let me behold.”
“'Tis yours,” said the fairy; “whatever may be
The cause of your grief, there that cause you shall see.”
III
The Baron soon married, soon found out his error.
He sighed in his castle, a desolate place.
He eagerly sought in the magical mirror
The cause of the evil, and saw—his own face.
When age finds a blank in the lot that he draws,
He need raise no fairy to tell him the cause.
