Snow White made her way down the hallway in the palace. She had long ago given up the throne to her son but kept residence in the castle. Snow was glad she didn't have to be involved with the day-to-day ruling anymore -- now she could devote much of her time to her young grandson. She hoped that Wendell had not fallen asleep yet even if it was way past his bedtime -- she was late tonight. Their nightly ritual of a bedtime story had become the favorite part of her day. Snow quietly opened the door to Wendell's bedroom. He was in bed, but he was busy playing with a toy horse and his stuffed bear Bobo. The rascal! Snow cleared her throat. Wendell quickly lay down and squeezed his eyes shut.

"That's not going to work. I saw you," Snow said in a mock-stern voice.

Wendell giggled and sat up. "I've been waiting for a story!

Snow sat on his bed. "Okay. Once upon a time there lived three bears."

"Noooo! I've heard that one. I want a new story! And it can even be a scary one because I'm four-and-a-half now."

Snow thought for a bit. "I'm going to tell you a story that no one has ever told you before," Snow said. "Once upon a time there lived in a land a good king and queen who had a son who was just about your age."

Wendell got an excited grin on his face. He loved stories that had boys just about his age in them.

"One day the king had to go on a trip. The queen and the prince were very sad to see the king go, but they knew he would come back as soon as he could. The queen and the prince made the days go faster by taking long walks into the town. But, they shouldn't have gone alone because there was a terrible witch who lived in the swamp and she could use magic mirrors to do evil things. The witch hated the good king and queen and prince. One day she brought a man through a mirror and in exchange for helping the woman, she taught the man all of the secrets of mirrors."

"Four days after the king had left, the queen and the prince were halfway to town when the queen thought she saw a hurt animal in a clearing, and since she couldn't tell what kind of animal it was, she told the prince to wait on the road while she went to look. But the queen never should have looked away from the prince. She didn't see the stranger riding up on his horse. The man got off his horse and walked up to the young prince who was a little scared because the man was wearing a mask. The man made a large bow and told the prince that he was a traveling minstrel and not to be afraid of him. He pulled some candy out of his pocket and said in a melodic voice, 'sweets for the sweet.'"

Wendell giggled. He loved it when his grandmother did the voices.

"Well, the prince loved candy and took a piece. And the candy was so good that he took another piece and another and another until finally his mouth was full of candy. It was so full that he couldn't even yell when the man pushed him up on the horse and raced off. Meanwhile the queen had come to the clearing and found only a pile of furs that someone had left, and when she turned around, her son was nowhere to be seen. No one could begin to imagine how she felt."

Snow's voice started to catch. Wendell sat up and patted his grandmother's arm. "Don't worry, Grandmamma. I would never get caught like that 'cause I'd never put that much candy in my mouth like that boy." Such an earnest look for someone who was four-and-a-half! Snow had to smile.

"The queen ran to the road. She could barely make out the horse in the distance. There was no time to go for help and so when she saw a corral of horses nearby, she jumped on one of them and raced off as fast as she could possibly go. She rode all day, nearly losing sight of the man at every turn. She chased after him all the way to the swamp."

"The swamp with the old witch?" asked Wendell.

"That's the one," replied Snow. "The queen had to leave her horse on the edge of the swamp and followed the sound of the crying of the young prince. All of a sudden the crying stopped and the queen was very scared. She headed towards the last place she heard her son and, in a clearing, found a single mirror. The queen could see that it was a transporting mirror -- the frame was a deep crimson and had figures of birds all over it. In the glass she could see her son and a man who was wearing a mask. They were in a very strange-looking place. The queen knew it might be a trick of the witch, but she had to rescue her son. She took a very deep breath and stepped through the mirror into the new place."

"Was it like Dragon Mountain? That place was really scary but the people there were really nice to me," interrupted Wendell.

"It's not scary! You just think that because it's kind of dark. I'll have to take you there again soon and show you there's nothing to be afraid of there. Anyway, the place through the mirror didlook like it was underground, but there was singing coming from far above. The masked man was tying up the prince so he did not hear the queen coming through the mirror. She picked up a large jug that was nearby and with all her strength, she hit the masked man on the head. He fell to the ground -- his cracked mask lay beside him."

"What did he look like?" Wendell's eyes were as big as saucers.

"The queen never saw. The man was laying face down and she didn't care to stay and find out. She quickly untied the prince and both went back through the mirror. The queen was sure that the man was starting to move, so she quickly turned off the mirror and found a branch and hit the mirror as hard as she could. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces and in the process it made a deep cut the queen's hand. But she paid no attention to her injury and she and the prince ran to the edge of the swamp. They got on the horse and rode away and didn't stop until they were safely back in their castle."

"They never saw the man again. And the king and queen and prince lived happy ever after."

Happy ever after! Just the way Wendell liked it. "I like that story -- tell me another fairytale," begged Wendell.

"Not tonight. It's way past the time for little princes to go to sleep."

Wendell pouted but pulled up the covers.

Snow tucked him in, making sure that Bobo was tucked in too. She brushed the golden strands away from his forehead, on which sheplaced a kiss.

She picked up the candlestick by the bed and walked to the door where she turned around. Snow needed one last look at her grandson for the night. The flame flickered briefly against the worn scar on her hand, and then was extinguished.