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?

Michael Lampasona

This story is about a king who hires a poet to create a poem about the history of Ireland. The poet comes back with a rehearsed poem that the king enjoys and appreciates. He gives the poet a silver mirror as a gift, and instructs him to come back with another poem. The poet comes back with a less rehearsed, stranger poem. Surprisingly, the king enjoys this poem even more, and rewards the poet with a golden mask and instructs him to come back with another poem. The poet comes back, this time with one line. He recites it to the king, and both of them are awestruck by the meaning of this line; both believe they truly heard beauty. The king gives the poet a dagger to kill himself. The poet commits suicide, and the king becomes a commoner after hearing this one line.

This story was quite deep. It makes me very curious what this one line was, or could have been about to cause such strong reactions from the king and the poet. It must have been very moving, because it changed both of their lives drastically.

Elisabeth Jeremko

For this story, I really liked it in the beginning. The irish king asks the poet to come and read each year. After the first year, he is given a mirror of silver. Then next year, a mask. The third year, a dagger. Apparently the poet is Virgil. By the end of the story, the king tells the poet that tehy share the same sin -- of "having known Beauty, which is a gift forbidden mankind" (Borges, 454). Here is where I got lost. The gifts that the king gives seem to represent something, but I do not know what they would represent. As for the third poem, the king says that no marvels even compare with the poem. I do not understand why the poem would defeat the two men. Is it akin to the "Library of Babel" sceneario, where the lesson to be garnered is like the Tower of Babel biblical story -- that man cannot attain godly knowledge and awareness? The king becomes a beggar and never speaks of the poem again. Why is their involvement with the poem sinful? I find understanding the meaning of the story very frustrating.