John Pettigrew's Mirror
When Sarah saw John coming up the path with the seal she told him he should shoot it. Having never handled a gun in his life, John told sarah that he had no intention of doing so now! But Sarah coveted the seal's pelt for a muff to keep her hands warm in Church on Sundays, and nagged John to us a sharp knife then, if he would not use a gun. It was clear to John that, although they were both looking at the same seal, they two were seeing the seal in different ways. Sarah was seeing a fur muff, but John was seeing a dearly loved child. So John told Sarah of his dream about the mother seal's tears, but Sarah just scowled. To John it seemed that the seal understood, and when he went out into his yard to work at his basket making the seal came and sat by John's feet, to watch him once more with those clear shining eyes. When John played some tunes on his harmonica the seal wriggled happily, and in the evenings that followed they had merry times beside the fire in John's
little cottage. But John could not forget his dream about the mother seal, weeping for her lost child. So each day, when his work was done, he went down to
the shore to look for the grey seal. Then one day, through a wave as clear and green as glass, John saw a sleek form swimming towards the shore, the glistening head turning this way and that as if searching for something. With a sigh of joy and sadness John knew that this was the mother seal, so he picked up the little seal and waded out as far as he could before pushing it firmly towards the old seal. As before, the young seal spun around, crying for John... but then the mother seal reared up in the water to call to her young one. The young seal swam towards her, diving through the green waves. Now John could see nothing but the rising and falling swell, until a great wave lifted the two swimmers on it's crest, their eyes shining. John returned home with a lonely feeling in his heart. But this is not the end of the story...it is just the beginning. He mused on how little man knew of the wonders of creation. Taking his harmonica from his pocket he played a gentle hymn. Before he had played but a few bars of the tune he saw a ripple in the water close to where he sat. There was the mother seal, swimming towards him and holding something shining above the water. John could not imagine what it could be. As he watched, the seal tossed the small, round shining object into the air so that it spun around, flashing in the sunlight. It flashed so magnificently that it made John's eyes water as he watched it. The seal caught the object, then tossed it once more into the air, spinning even higher - so high that it flew right to where John was sitting, so that he caught it in his two hands. Dazed, John looked down to see that it was a mirror. Such a mirror John had never seen before. The frame seemed like a garland of flowers, each with a heart of pearl, petals of rubies and sapphires and leaves of emerald. John turned the mirror to and fro in admiration, until by chance it turned towards the sea - where he saw in the reflection not a seal, but a beautiful woman with a child in her arms. As John gazed in amazement the woman smiled at him as the child waved to John, then they both disappeared below the waves. Bewildered, John turned the mirror towards the sky where the clouds appeared as palaces, with magestic white swans gliding by. Slanting the mirror towards the ground, every wild flower seemed as a precious jewel. John thought he would never tire of looking in such a mirror.
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