meanwhile, at the castle the queen was asking her mirror the usual question:
Mirror mirror on the wall
Tell me now or you shall fall,
Whose feathers' fairest of them all.
But again her mirror responded:
Bright Shimmer of golden feathers, she,
Has much fairer feathers than thee
The queen was furious at Bright Shimmer and at the wood pecker she had sent to kill her, But this time it was cold rage and the queen knew what to do with cold rage. She began mixing potions. One was a potion that made things it touched irresistible, one was a potion that could create an illusion on whoever drank it, and the last one was a potion of animation.