Poverty and Phantasy

    She glides lightly across the cobblestone. Chirp, chirp, chirp, goes the blue bird from the old oak tree. She reaches a castle, her home. She gracefully walks through the doorway. Gold lines the walls and shimmering diamond encrusted chandlers dangle high above her head. The floor is so polished that she can see her reflection. She's beautiful. Decked in a green silk ballgown,  lined with diamonds. Her soft chestnut locks lay perfectly about her, with pearls sprinkled all about. Pleased with herself, she slowly twirls so that the skirt of her dress gently swirls about her and reveals a pair of soft slippers. She looks around. It's perfect. Everything is perfect. Until...

    She watches as a drop of water falls to the floor. It ripples out across the shiny surface, until the golden floor fades. She no longer is wearing a silken ballgown, but a ratty, cotton dress. Instead of the dress being encrusted with diamonds, it is encrusted with mud and old faded patches. Her hair is not long and soft, but short and knotted. There are no pearls in her hair, but clumps of dirt and hay. Her feet itches with the black and dirty lather that covers her feet. She looks up to see that she is no longer in a golden castle, but a ruins of old stone with patches of moss. There is no ceiling adorned with diamond chandeliers. There is nothing but a grey and stormy sky overhead, with rain chilling her to the bone.

    She looks back down at the puddle of water that is her mirror. But it isn't her wretched reflection that she sees. It's the elegant princesses that she longs to be, smiling back at her. She fiddles with her cotton dress, only for the other girl to fiddle with her silk one. The two sway back and forth admiring the others attire. What they wouldn't give to be the other. But, something caches each of their ears. They look back, into their worlds that they had no choice but to live in. Then, after a long and longing look into their portal of another life, they walk off; back into their worlds of poverty and phantasy.