Author: Rizwan Ahmed Memon
(All Rights Reserved: RizwanAhmedMemon.blogspot.com)
(All Rights Reserved: RizwanAhmedMemon.blogspot.com)
People
often take magical concepts for granted. They think that these are myths or
lies of the past. However, the concept of magic is as old as the universe. The
great sages of the past not only believed in the magic, but they also learned
it. Like other common people, Nooro
thought of magic the same way until he found three mirrors.
Nooro was
an architect and his ancestors were very famous for their construction skills.
In his village, Akil, there was an ancient Haveli (a mansion) of a woman named Neengar, who had died two centuries ago.
Neengar was a rich landlady of Sindh, and she was interested in the royal
culture of Britain. Her Haveli looked like an English castle. The landlady was
inspired by the castles of the UK, so she wanted her Haveli to look like them.
She even imported unique and expensive articles from England to make the Haveli
look like a real castle. It was very capacious. Many rooms were just locked
because there was nobody to live in. The landlady had only one son, Basha, who
had been living in the mansion with his wife. They had a son named Asad who
went to England for studies and continued living there after his education. He
even did not attend the funeral of his mother. His old father suffered from
loneliness for 15 years and passed away in longing to see his son. After
hearing of his father’s death, Asad returned from England with his family after
forty years to take over ownership of the mansion. The castle had become
dilapidated. He wanted the palace to look new again. He asked the caretakers of
the mansion to advertise in the newspapers about the reconstruction of the
mansion and waited to receive the grand construction companies’ proposals for
the mega construction project of the mansion.
“Sir,
perhaps you shouldn’t change the shape or design of this castle. It is an
inheritance. However, you should make the necessary repairs.”
“You
are right. This mansion should remain the same design. By the way, who built
it?”
“Nooro’s ancestors. Nooro is also a good builder—a chip off the old block.”
“All
right. Invite Nooro to the castle. I
would like to meet him tomorrow.”
When
Nooro was a boy, his grandmother, Fatima,
used to tell him about the three magical mirrors in the castle of Neengar. Each
mirror had a magical property. The first could see all things in the past. The
second could show hidden forces like ghosts and the third could tell the
future.
Nooro
never believed the magical mirrors existed. He would ask his grandmother
whether or not she had seen them. His grandmother used to tell him that she had
never seen any of them. Akbar, Nooro’s
grandfather, would tell her about the powers of those magical mirrors. Akbar
had not only worked on the construction of the Haveli, but he had been the head
of all the attendants of the castle. He had discovered those mirrors after the
landlady’s death. Akbar never used the mirrors because he thought it would be a
breach of trust. “I would like to see those mirrors if I get a chance,” Nooro often said to his grandmother. Because of
the strong security in the castle, Nooro
had never got a chance to enter the castle.
In
the evening, an attendant of the castle came to see Nooro. “Hey, uncle Bakhshal! It’s been a long time since I saw
you,” said Nooro, hugging him. Bakhshal was his father’s friend and helped Nooro’s family after the death of Nooro’s father.
“I
have been sent by Prince Asad. He wants to get the mansion repaired. He has
invited you to the castle tomorrow.”
“What?
Really?”
“Yes.”
Nooro was
going to get the chance to enter the old castle after four decades. The Prince
was a generous man. He said to Nooro,
“You will be given a good reward if you return the castle back to its original
state.”
“Sure,
your highness! The attendants have to tell me the exact shape of the castle,
and I will do the repairs. Well, I don’t need any other reward but only three
mirrors from this old castle.”
The
Prince laughed at the Nooro’s demand.
“Look at him, folks! He asks for three old mirrors instead of gold and silver!”
All the attendants of the castle laughed at him.
“The
demand is accepted. You can take any mirrors out of the castle,” said the
Prince. Nooro started collecting the
mirrors. He found many mirrors in the castle, but he did not make a hustle. He
recalled what his grandmother had told him about the mirrors. He said to
Bakhshal, “Help me find the mirrors I tell you. The first is a circular brown
framed mirror with a handle. It is about 8 inches and has a dark brown trim. It
gives a clear reflection of the blue sky.
The second is a circular frameless mirror. Its size is 11 inches and it is a
concave which magnifies the image being reflected. The third is almost
identical to the first, except it is cracked and broken. This mirror has an
amber trim and severe crack in the bottom half, which detracts from the overall
aesthetic.”
Bakhshal
was surprised to hear the instructions he gave about the mirrors. “How do you
know about these mirrors?” he asked Nooro.
“It
is a long story. Let’s find the mirrors first.” After a long search, they
eventually found the mirrors.
“Why
are you looking at these mirrors so closely?” asked Bakhshal.
“I
had heard that these mirrors are unique,” Nooro
replied. He took the mirrors home, and he tried hard to recall the spell which
was cast on the mirrors. He couldn’t remember the spell which his grandmother
had told him, so he just kept the mirrors at home.
Nooro
finished repairing the castle, and the Prince was very pleased with the work. Nooro kept trying different spells for a month,
but in vain. As a consequence, he got very angry and dropped the framed mirror
on the floor. Luckily, the mirror was not damaged. However, the frame was
broken and a white piece of paper came out of the frame. The paper read:
“Mirror, mirror of the castle. I order you to show your power.”
“This
is it. This is the spell!” shouted Nooro.
He hurriedly cast the spell to the mirror he dropped. That mirror could see all
the things of the past. Then he cast the spell to the frameless mirror. It
showed the hidden things and ghosts. He checked the third mirror in the last.
It could predict the future. It could tell what will happen in the coming two
days.
Nooro was
beside himself. He had become one of the most powerful men on the planet. He
was able to see the past, ghosts, and the future. Nooro kept the mirrors to himself for three months.
He
realized that if these mirrors were given to the prince, he would utilize them
for the betterment of the people and the world. So, he decided to tell the
secrets of the mirrors to the Prince and return them. Nooro did not know that the Prince would reward him with the whole
castle because of his honesty and trust in the Prince. (The future mirror could
predict the future for only two days.) When Nooro
told the secrets of the mirrors to the Prince and the attendants of the castle,
nobody believed him. Then, he took out the paper with the spell written on it
and began reading. Nooro continued
casting the spells on each mirror and showed the Prince and his attendants the
power of the magical mirrors. The prince could see his sick grandmother through
the magical mirror which showed the past.
“How
did you know about these mirrors?” asked the Prince.
“Your
majesty, when I was a kid, my grandmother used to tell me about these magical
mirrors, a secret that my grandfather had told her.”
The
Prince gave Nooro golden coins as well as
silver, and he said to all the people there, “Today we have become so busy that
we don’t have time for our elders. In fact, what our elders can teach us, we
might not be able to learn by ourselves. I wish I had spent more time with my mother
and my father so that I could have learned something worthy in my life.”
After
a month, the Prince called Nooro and his
family to ask them to live with him in the castle, with the royal family.
