Once upon a time there was a good king and his two sons. The king was beloved by his people because he brought them prosperity and peace. His sons were named Asher and Otta. Asher was spoiled, but Otta was quiet and thoughtful. Asher would inherit the throne when his father died, but he was impatient and did not want to wait, for his father was still a healthy man. And so Prince Asher waited impatiently for his throne while his brother watched quietly and the good king ruled over his world.

But there was also an Otherworld. And in that Otherworld there was a peasant girl named Aveline who lived with and looked after her old grandmother. The girl was unremarkable in many ways. She was not ugly, nor was she beautiful. She was not brave, nor was she cowardly. She was not always honest, nor was she prone to lying. Aveline truly may only be remembered for these three things: she was clever, she was kind, and she possessed a magical mirror that allowed her to transport herself between worlds.

The mirror was tall and rimmed with gold. Its base was a simple plate attached to the mirror by a single rod. The whole structure was coated in engravings displaying an ancient language. One only had to step through the looking glass and they would step out in a place that was both far away and in the same place. The place it would take them was that of our world, and the world of Prince Asher.

Every week Aveline would step from the Otherworld and into our world, where she would gather a basket full of strawberries to sell in her world. Week after week, that was how she provided for her grandmother and herself. 

One day while taking a walk around the palace grounds, Prince Asher saw Aveline picking strawberries. He knew she was not a member of the royal staff because she was not dressed in servants clothes, but in a dress different from any he had seen before. Curious, he followed her from a distance into the forest when she finished picking. Staying hidden, he watched her as she came to a clearing and stepped through a mirror in the center. To his surprise, both the girl and the mirror disappeared.

Realizing that she must be from the Otherworld, Asher became obsessed with the girl and her mirror. If he could have the mirror for himself, he could make himself king of the Otherworld and he wouldn’t have to wait for his father to die. He could become king immediately, and all he needed was the mirror. He visited the clearing every day, waiting for her to return. One week later, he again found her filling her basket with strawberries from the royal garden. He tried to approach her and talk to her, but she ran away as soon as she saw him.

Asher was disappointed, but he was not ready to give up. Another week he waited, and another week she came. Aveline was more cautious this time, but she did not see the prince. When she had filled her basket, she set off to her mirror. She always entered the mirror from different places, and thus arrived in a different place each time, so the prince had to follow her to find the mirror. When she arrived at the looking glass, she saw in it the prince who was following behind her. They both ran for the mirror, but Aveline made it through just before Asher got to it, and he stepped only into air. Aveline knew that the prince would not easily give up, so she began formulating a plan to be rid of him.

The next week, she took the mirror far, far away from her home. Then she stepped through it and began the journey to the royal palace. When she arrived, she feigned carelessness and let the prince follow her away. When they finally arrived at the magical mirror, now set facing West on a slope that rose to the North, Aveline watched Asher in the mirror and waited for him to begin running. As soon as he started to sprint, Aveline also began, letting him get just behind her so that when she ran through the mirror, his hand rested on its frame.

Both Asher and Aveline were transported to the Otherworld. Asher immediately fell and tumbled to the bottom of the hill, which now rose to the South, setting him off balance. Aveline was ready though, and she did not fall. Instead, she turned around and re-entered the looking glass, stranding the prince. Satisfied that the prince would no longer bother her, Aveline set off with her mirror, taking it back to the palace and then back to her home in the Otherworld. 

Asher never became king of the Otherworld and was without any way to get back to his world. He spent the rest of his life as a beggar and told stories of another world, a girl who stole strawberries from the royal garden, and a disappearing mirror. He was called the Royal Beggar. He lost everything due to greed and impatience.

Aveline continued to pick strawberries from the royal garden every week, and she eventually caught the attention of Asher’s younger brother Otta, who was now in line for the throne. Otta was intrigued by Aveline and her strange dress. In an effort to talk to her, he dressed up as a poor man and tried to approach. Before he could even talk to her, though, she saw the state of him and gave him a handful of strawberries. The next week, he revealed himself and asked her to marry him. Otta eventually became king and was even more beloved than his father with Aveline as his queen, and they lived happily ever after.