The Boy Who Couldn't Laugh

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who couldn't laugh. The people in his village pitied him, but the boy had magical powers. When people laughed at him, he would scowl and release a flash of magic from his fingertips that would shut off their laughter.

After many years, the village was cloaked in an aura of sadness. The people pleaded with the boy to break his spells, but he refused.

One day, a stranger entered the village. The stranger was a young girl of seventeen years who carried a mirror in her hand. Upon realizing that something was eerily different about this village, she asked a woman what was wrong.

“There is a young man that has silenced our laughter with magic,” she said. The young girl cocked her head in befuddlement.

“But why?”

“Because he cannot laugh himself,” was the reply. Then, the young girl began to laugh. She couldn’t stop.

“How ridiculous and impossible,” she thought.

From the window of his cottage, the young sorcerer saw the girl laughing. In a rage, he stormed out of his home and approached her. In an instant, his hand was raised to the girl, ready to cast his spell. Sparks shot out of his hand and through the air. From behind her back, the girl pulled out her mirror and faced it towards the man.

Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash.

The young girl, still laughing, stood there and watched the sorcerer as he came near. Hesitantly, he peered into the mirror. It was then when he began to laugh. In the mirror, he saw a man with milk-white skin, a bright, red nose, and blue ellipses over his eyelids.