Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?
Mirror, mirror, tell the truth, what is it that I will do?
Mirror, mirror, listen well, who is it that I must fell?
Mirror, mirror, it is time, how can I end this rhyme?
“Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” The question that the Evil Queen asks her magic mirror, only to get the answer of Snow White. This hypothetical could easily be about the whole ordeal of Snow White, putting you in her place. Perhaps another day. For now, we shant be looking at Snow White and the Evil Queen, but the mirror. What if you had a mirror that would answer (almost) any question?
I got this idea from a book called The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman. In it, there is a material repository where items are kept and loaned out to others. An object library if you will. I won’t give any more details other than this; the magic mirror was one of those objects. A magic mirror would make for a wonderful game, don’t you think? Let’s get to it.
The rules. As in Snow White, in order for your question to be answered, you must give it in the form of a rhyme. And the mirror is probably word specific. When the queen asks her question, Snow White appears. Think about the nature of the question. Fairest could mean beautiful, but it could also mean pale-skinned or even peaceful, both qualities of Snow. The answer may also have to do with what the user is thinking, as the queen was already envious of Snow White’s beauty. The mirror could have reflected her thoughts (as mirrors often do).
This is our standard. Now what would you do?
…
Knowing what we know about the rules, formulating a question that will result in a beneficial answer will be tricky. Firstly, you need to choose what you want to ask, and it should be purely objective. If you ask a question with a subjective answer (for instance, what the best food on earth is) you will most likely get your own favorite food. Seeking truth instead, like what color your car is, would be more lucrative and prevent some reflection. That being said, if you believe something is true, even if it isn’t, you may still find the wrong answer.
Next, your question needs to rhyme and follow the general meter of the original question. Meter is a syllabic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means. Just make the question have a similar rhythm. ~Keeper. Here’s a way you could ask about the car. “Mirror mirror, let me see, the color that my car must be.” This has the issue of “must be” being an absolute. Maybe it needs to be a different color than it is already. Let me try again. “Mirror mirror, let me see, the color of my car for free.” This one (while the “for free” part is already implied) could work ok.
You’re turn. Try to come up with a way to ask the mirror for the location of your refrigerator. Feel free to write it in the comments below. I’ll leave my response there too.
…
Let’s say that you manage it. You become a master at utilizing the mirror without messing up the phrasing. Now you have to use it for questions you don’t know the answer to. Theoretically, you could ask it about the universe and everything in it, about the past, present, and future, and all the shenanigans that happen along the way. The only issue is as I stated before, at the end of the day, it is a mirror. By nature, a mirror will reflect the light that hits it. A magic mirror, following those lines, will reflect far more. It will tell you what you want to hear more often than the truth. If you had this in our reality, you’d need to be careful using it, as it could send you down a path of dangerous self-indulgence.
You’d probably be ok asking about silly things though. Create riddles to ask it, see how it responds. Almost like your own slightly annoying chatbot. Could be entertaining if you choose to not take the mirror seriously.
Here are some more question challenges.
- Ask the mirror where you left your phone
- Ask the mirror where the mirror came from
- Ask the mirror to turn around
- Ask the mirror to show you a castle
Mirror mirror, it’s unknown, where is it I left my phone?
Mirror mirror, you I fear, tell from whence you did appear.
Mirror mirror, crazy thought, turn around before you’re caught!
Mirror mirror, on the floor, show a castle I adore.
This can be used as a form of poetry and creative thinking practice.
What would you do with a magic mirror? Would you work to ask difficult questions, use it as a silly parlor trick, or leave it alone entirely? What other questions would you ask, and how would you phrase them?
I’m moving into my dorm room the day this goes up and have orientation the rest of the week. I will not be posting Saturday. Keeper will be in charge of the technical stuff till I get back. Be seeing you soon. Thanks for playing.
…
(Mirror Mirror, on the wall, what to do to make them fall? Interesting…)
The Hypothetical Game 