Alyson Bernero

The Mirror and the Mask was another interesting story by Borges. It was slightly different than a lot of the other stories he writes. This story takes place during the Battle of Clontarf when the King hires a writer to create a poem for him over the next year. When the poet comes back he recites a long, well written poem for the King. The king loves it and gives him a silver mirror and the task of writing another poem. The poet than constructs another poem however this time with much less effort. The King once again loves the poem, gives the poet a golden mask and the task of writing yet another poet. This time when the poet returns the next year, the poem is only one line and the poet has clearly suffered emotionally. Strangely, the King loves this poem the most and rewards the poet with a dagger. As soon as this occurred I knew what was about to happen and not to my surprise, the poet kills himself with the dagger.
I thought this story was good, but unlike in Borges' other stories I wasn't able to see where the labyrinth came into play. Did this story even include a labyrinth?