Reading Notes: Faerie Queen, Part A

For this week's reading I chose the the stories about the Fairy Queen as found in Stories From the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod. My favorite story for Part A is The Magic Mirror and will probably be the story that I retell for this week.

The Magic Mirror:

While traveling with our heroine, Princess Britomart, a knight asks her what brings her into this country, to which she replies that she is looking for praise and fame for her skills as a warrior. She then tells him that she is looking to exact revenge on Artegall and denounces him in front of the knight, though secretly she loves Artegall and is pleased when the knight defends his honor. Britomart even feigns ignorance about what Artegall looks like (the knight describes him to her) in order to hide her true feelings. She knows that she is destined to marry him as she once asked the magic mirror that could tell the future, which Merlin had given to her father, King Ryence. The mirror showed Artegall and she fell in love with him, though evidently did not truly believe that he would become her husband.

If I retell this story, I will have it involve Ginny looking into the Mirror of Erised and seeing her greatest desire, which is Harry. She then pretends not to like him and dates other guys, knowing full well that he will be her husband in the end. I am not entirely sure that I like the idea of using Harry Potter characters, but the magic mirror reminded me of the mirror in Harry Potter, so the connection was easy for me and might be what I end up using. The story would be told in the third person and I would try to incorporate some details that Harry Potter fans would appreciate.

Painting of Britomart dressed as a knight after she rescues Amoret, painted by Mary F. Raphael. Source: Wiki Commons

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