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008 - The Mirror of Matsuyama - Japanese · Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 05

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Speaker 1: The Mirror of Matsuyama, A story of Old Japan from
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Speaker 1: Japanese fairy tales, compiled by Yea Theodora Ozaki. This is
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Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Recording by Anni Mars. Long Ago in Old Japan, there
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Speaker 1: lived in the province of Echigo, a very remote part
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Speaker 1: of Japan even in these days. A man and his wife.
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Speaker 1: When this story begins, they had been married for some
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Speaker 1: years and were blessed with one little daughter. She was
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Speaker 1: the joy and pride of both their lives, and in
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Speaker 1: her they stored an endless source of happiness for their
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Speaker 1: old age. What golden letter days in their memory were
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Speaker 1: these that had marked her growing up from babyhood. The
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Speaker 1: visit to the temple when she was just thirty days old,
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Speaker 1: her proud mother carrying her robed in ceremonial kimono to
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Speaker 1: be put under the patronage of the family's household God.
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Speaker 1: Then her first dolls festival, when her parents gave her
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Speaker 1: a set of dolls and their miniature belongings to be
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Speaker 1: added to as years succeeded year, and perhaps the most
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Speaker 1: important occasion of all on her third birthday, when her
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Speaker 1: first obie, a broad brocade sash of scarlet and gold,
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Speaker 1: was tied around her small waists, a sign that she
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Speaker 1: had crossed the threshold of girlhood and left infancy behind.
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Speaker 1: Now that she was seven years of age and had
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Speaker 1: learned to talk and to wait upon her parents in
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Speaker 1: those several little ways, so dear to the hearts of
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Speaker 1: fond parents, their cup of happiness seemed full. They could
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Speaker 1: not be found in the whole of the Island Empire
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Speaker 1: a happier little family. One day, there was much excitement
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Speaker 1: in the home, for the father had had been suddenly
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Speaker 1: summoned to the capital on business. In these days of
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Speaker 1: railways and jin rikshah's and other rapid modes of traveling,
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Speaker 1: it is difficult to realize what such a journey as
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Speaker 1: that from Matsuyama to Kyoto meant. The roads were rough
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Speaker 1: and bad, and ordinary people had to walk every step
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Speaker 1: of the way, whether the distance were one hundred or
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Speaker 1: several hundred miles. Indeed, in those days it was as
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Speaker 1: great and undertaking to go up to the capital as
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Speaker 1: it is for a Japanese to make a voyage to
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Speaker 1: Europe now. So the wife was very anxious while she
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Speaker 1: helped her husband get ready for the long journey, knowing
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Speaker 1: what an arduous task lay before him. Vainly she wished
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Speaker 1: that she could accompany him, but the distance was too
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Speaker 1: great for the mother and child to go, and besides that,
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Speaker 1: it was the wife's duty to take care of the home.
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Speaker 1: All was ready at last, and the husband's stood in
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Speaker 1: the porch with his little family round him. Do not
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Speaker 1: be anxious. I will come back soon, said the man,
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Speaker 1: while I am away. Take care of everything, especially of
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Speaker 1: our little daughter. Yes, we shall be right, but you
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Speaker 1: must take care of yourself and delay not a day
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Speaker 1: in coming back to us, said the wife. While the
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Speaker 1: tears fell like rain from her eyes. The little girl
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Speaker 1: was the only one to smile, for she was ignorant
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Speaker 1: of the sorrow of parting and did not know that
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Speaker 1: going to the capital was at all different from walking
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Speaker 1: to the next village, which her father did very often.
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Speaker 1: She ran to his side and caught hold of his
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Speaker 1: long sleeve to keep him a moment. Father, I will
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Speaker 1: be very good while I am waiting for you to
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Speaker 1: come back, So please bring me a present. As the
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Speaker 1: father turned to take her last look at his weeping
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Speaker 1: wife and smiling, eager child, he felt as if some
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Speaker 1: one were pulling him back by the hair. So hard
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Speaker 1: was it for him to leave them behind, and for
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Speaker 1: they had never been separated before. But he knew that
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Speaker 1: he must go, for the call was imperative. With a
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Speaker 1: great effort, he ceased to think, and resolutely, turning away,
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Speaker 1: he went quickly down the little garden and out through
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Speaker 1: the gate. His wife, catching up the child in her arms,
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Speaker 1: ran as far as the gate and watched him as
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Speaker 1: he went down the road between the pines till he
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Speaker 1: was lost in the haze of the distance, and all
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Speaker 1: she could see was his quaint, peaked hat, and at
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Speaker 1: last that vanished too. Now Father has gone, You and
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Speaker 1: I must take care of everything till he comes back,
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Speaker 1: said the mother, as she made her way back into
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Speaker 1: the houth. Yes, I will be very good, said the child,
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Speaker 1: nodding her head. And when father comes home, please tell
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Speaker 1: him how good I have been, and then perhaps he
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Speaker 1: will give me a present. Father is sure to bring
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Speaker 1: you something that you want very much. I know, for
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Speaker 1: I asked him to bring you a doll. You must
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Speaker 1: think of father every day, and pray for a safe
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Speaker 1: journey till he comes back. Oh, yes, when he comes
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Speaker 1: home again, how happy I shall be, said the child,
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Speaker 1: clapping her hand and her face growing bright with joy
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Speaker 1: at the glad thought. It seemed to the mother, as
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Speaker 1: she looked at the child's face, that her love for
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Speaker 1: her grew deeper and deeper. Then she set to work
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Speaker 1: to make winter clothes for the three of them. She
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Speaker 1: set up her simple wooden spinning wheel and spun the
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Speaker 1: thread before she began to weave the stuffs. In the
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Speaker 1: intervals of her work, she directed the little girl's games
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Speaker 1: and taught her to read the old stories of her country.
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Speaker 1: Thus did the wife find consolation and work during the
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Speaker 1: lonely days of her husband's absence. While the time was
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Speaker 1: thus slipping quickly by in quiet home, the husband finished
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Speaker 1: his business and returned. It would have been difficult for
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Speaker 1: anyone who did not know the man well to recognize him.
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Speaker 1: He had traveled day after day, exposed to all weathers
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Speaker 1: for about a month altogether, and were sunburned to bronze.
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Speaker 1: But his fond wife and child knew him at a glance,
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Speaker 1: and flew to meet him from either side, each catching
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Speaker 1: hole of one of his sleeves. In their eager greeting,
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Speaker 1: both the man and his wife rejoiced to find each
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Speaker 1: other well. It seemed a very long time all till
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Speaker 1: the mother and child helping his straw sandals were untied,
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Speaker 1: his large umbrella hat taken off, and he was again
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Speaker 1: in their midst in the old, familiar sitting room that
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Speaker 1: had been so empty while he was away. As soon
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Speaker 1: as they had sat down on the white mats, the
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Speaker 1: father opened a bamboo basket that he had brought in
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Speaker 1: with him and took out a beautiful doll and a
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Speaker 1: lacquer box full of cakes. Here, he said to the
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Speaker 1: little girl, is a present for you. It is a
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Speaker 1: prize for taking care of mother and the house so
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Speaker 1: well while I was away. Thank you, said the child,
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Speaker 1: as she bowed her head to the ground, and then
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Speaker 1: put out her hand just like a little maple leaf
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Speaker 1: with its eager, widespread fingers, to take the doll and
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Speaker 1: the box, both of which, coming from the capital, were
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Speaker 1: prettier than anything she had ever seen. No words can
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Speaker 1: tell how delighted the little girl was. Her face seemed
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Speaker 1: as if it would melt with joy, and she had
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Speaker 1: no eyes and no thought for anything else. Again, the
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Speaker 1: husband dived into the basket and brought out, this time
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Speaker 1: a square wooden box, carefully tied up with red and
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Speaker 1: white string, and handing it to his wife, said, and
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Speaker 1: this is for you. The wife took the and, opening
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Speaker 1: it carefully, took out a metal disc with a handle attached.
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Speaker 1: One side was bright and shining like a crystal, and
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Speaker 1: the other was covered in raised figures of pine trees
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Speaker 1: and stalks which had been carved out of its smooth
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Speaker 1: surface in lifelike realty. Never had she seen such a
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Speaker 1: thing in her life, for she had been born and
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Speaker 1: bred in the rural province of Echigo. She gazed into
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Speaker 1: the shining disk, and looking up with surprise and wonder
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Speaker 1: pictured on her face, she said, I see somebody looking
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Speaker 1: at me in this rough thing. What is it that
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Speaker 1: you have given me? The husband laughed and said, why
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Speaker 1: it is your own face that you see. What I
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Speaker 1: have given you is called a mirror, and whoever looks
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Speaker 1: into its clear surface can see their own form reflected there.
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Speaker 1: Although there are none to be found in this out
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Speaker 1: of the way place, yet they have been in use
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Speaker 1: in the capital from the most ancient time. There, the
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Speaker 1: mirror is considered a very necessary requisite for a woman
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Speaker 1: to possess. There is an old proverb that, as the
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Speaker 1: sword is the soul of a samurai, so is the
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Speaker 1: mirror the soul of a woman. And according to popular tradition,
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Speaker 1: a woman's mirror is an index to her own heart.
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Speaker 1: If she keeps it bright and clear, so is her
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Speaker 1: heart purer and good. It is also one of the
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Speaker 1: treasures that form the insignia of the emperor. So you
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Speaker 1: must lay great store by your mirror and use it carefully.
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Speaker 1: The wife listened to all her husband told her, and
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Speaker 1: was pleased at learning so much that was new to her.
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Speaker 1: She was still more pleased at the precious gift, his
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Speaker 1: token of remembrance while he had been away. If the
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Speaker 1: mirror represents my soul, I shall certainly treasure it as
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Speaker 1: a valuable possession, and never will I use it carelessly.
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Speaker 1: Saying so, she lived it as high as her forehead
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Speaker 1: in grateful acknowledgment of the gift, and then shut it
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Speaker 1: up in its box and put it away. The wife
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Speaker 1: saw that her husband was very tired, and set about
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Speaker 1: serving the evening meal and making everything as comfortable as
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Speaker 1: she could for him. It seemed to the little family
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Speaker 1: as if they had not known what true happiness was before.
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Speaker 1: So glad were they to be together again, And this
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Speaker 1: evening the father had much to tale of his journey
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Speaker 1: and of all he had seen at the great Capital.
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Speaker 1: Time passed away in the peaceful home, and the parents
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Speaker 1: saw their fondest hopes real life, as their daughter grew
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Speaker 1: from childhood into a beautiful girl of sixteen. As a
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Speaker 1: gem of priceless value is held in its proud owner's hand,
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Speaker 1: so had they reared her with unceasing love and care,
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Speaker 1: and now their pains were more than doubly rewarded. What
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Speaker 1: a comfort she was to her mother as she went
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Speaker 1: about the house, taking her part in the housekeeping. And
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Speaker 1: how proud her father was of her, for she daily
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Speaker 1: reminded him of her mother when he had first married her.
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Speaker 1: But alas in this world, nothing lasts forever. Even the
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Speaker 1: moon is not always perfect in shape, but loses its
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Speaker 1: roundness with time, and flowers bloom and then fade. So
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Speaker 1: at last the happiness of his family was broken up
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Speaker 1: by a great sorrow. The good and gentle wife and
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Speaker 1: mother was one day taken ill in the first days
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Speaker 1: of her illness. The father and daughter thought it was
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Speaker 1: only a cold and were not particularly anxious. But the
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Speaker 1: days went by, and still the mother did not get better.
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Speaker 1: She only grew worse, and the doctor was puzzled, for,
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Speaker 1: in spite of all he did, the poor woman grew weaker.
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Speaker 1: Day by day. The father and daughter were stricken with grief,
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Speaker 1: and day or night the girl never left her mother's side.
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Speaker 1: But in spite of all their efforts, the woman's life
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Speaker 1: was not to be saved. One day, as the girl
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Speaker 1: sat near her mother's bed, trying to hide with a
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Speaker 1: cheery smile the gnawing trouble at her heart, the mother
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Speaker 1: roused herself, and, taking her daughter's hand, gazed earnestly and
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Speaker 1: lovingly into her eyes. Her breath was labored, and she
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Speaker 1: spoke with difficulty. My daughter, I am sure that nothing
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Speaker 1: can save me now when I am dead. Promise me
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Speaker 1: to take care of your dear father and try to
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Speaker 1: be a good and dutiful woman. Oh, mother, said the girl,
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Speaker 1: as her tears rushed to her eyes. You must not
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Speaker 1: say such things. All you have to do and make
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Speaker 1: haste and get well. That will bring the greatest happiness
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Speaker 1: father and myself. Yes, I know, and it is a
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Speaker 1: comfort to me in my last days to know how
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Speaker 1: greatly you long for me to get better. But it
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Speaker 1: is not to be. Do not look so sorrowful, for
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Speaker 1: it was so ordained in my previous date of existence
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Speaker 1: that I should die in this life. Just this time.
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Speaker 1: Knowing this, I am quite resigned to my fate. And
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Speaker 1: now I have something to give you whereby to remember
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Speaker 1: me when I am gone. Putting her hand out, she
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Speaker 1: took from the side of the pillow a square wooden
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Speaker 1: box tied up with a silken cord and tassels. And
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Speaker 1: doing this very carefully, she took out of the box
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Speaker 1: the mirror that her husband had given her years ago,
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Speaker 1: when you were still a little child. Your father went
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Speaker 1: up to the capital and brought me back as a present.
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Speaker 1: This sh treasure. It is called a mirror. This I
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Speaker 1: give you before I die. If after I have ceased
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Speaker 1: to be in this life, you are lonely and long
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Speaker 1: to see me, sometimes can take out this mirror, and
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Speaker 1: in the clear and shining surface you will always see me.
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Speaker 1: So will you be able to meet with me often
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Speaker 1: and tell me all your heart. And though I shall
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Speaker 1: not be able to speak, I shall understand and sympathize
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Speaker 1: with you whatever may happen in the future. With these words,
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Speaker 1: the dying woman handed the mirror to her daughter. The
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Speaker 1: mind of the good Mother seemed to be now at rest,
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Speaker 1: and sinking back without another word, her spirit passed quietly away.
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Speaker 1: That day, the bereaved father and daughter were wild with grief,
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Speaker 1: and they abandoned themselves to their bitter sorrow. They felt
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Speaker 1: it to be impossible to tell leave of the loved woman,
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Speaker 1: who till now had filled their whole lives, and to
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Speaker 1: commit her body to the earth. But this frantic burst
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Speaker 1: of grief past, and when they took possession of their
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Speaker 1: own hearts again crushed her. They were in resignation. In
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Speaker 1: spite of this, the daughter's life seemed to her desolate.
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Speaker 1: Her love for her dead mother did not grow less
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Speaker 1: with time, and so keen was her remembrance that everything
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Speaker 1: in daily life, even the falling of the rain and
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Speaker 1: the blowing of the wind, reminded her of her mother's
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Speaker 1: death and of all they had loved and shared together.
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Speaker 1: One day, when her father was out and she was
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Speaker 1: fulfilling her household duties alone, her loneliness and sorrow seemed
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Speaker 1: more than she could bear. She threw herself down in
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Speaker 1: her mother's room and wept as if her heart would break.
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Speaker 1: Poor child, she longed just for one glimpse of the
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Speaker 1: loved face, one sound of the voice calling her pet name,
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Speaker 1: or for one moment's forgetfulness of the aching void in
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Speaker 1: her heart. Suddenly she sat up. Her mother's last words
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Speaker 1: had wrung through her memory, hitherto dulled by grief. Oh,
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Speaker 1: my mother told me when she gave me the mirror
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Speaker 1: as a parting gift, that whenever I looked into it,
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Speaker 1: I should be able to meet her, to see her.
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Speaker 1: I had nearly forgotten her last words. How stupid I am.
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Speaker 1: I will get the mirror now and see if it
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Speaker 1: can possibly be true. She dried her eyes quickly, and,
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Speaker 1: going to the cupboard, took out the box that contained
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Speaker 1: the mirror, her heart beating with expectation as she lifted
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Speaker 1: the mirror out and gazed into its smooth face. Behold,
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Speaker 1: her mother's words were true. In the round mirror before her,
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Speaker 1: she saw her mother's face. But oh, the joyful surprise.
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Speaker 1: It was not her mother, thin and wasted by illness,
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Speaker 1: but the young and pure, beautiful woman as she remembered
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Speaker 1: her far back in the days of her own earliest childhood.
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Speaker 1: It seemed to the girl that the face in the
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Speaker 1: mirror must soon speak, Almost that she heard the voice
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Speaker 1: of her mother, telling her again to grow up a
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Speaker 1: good woman and a dutiful daughter. So earnestly did the
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Speaker 1: eyes in the mirror look back into her own. It
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Speaker 1: is certainly my mother's soul that I see. She knows
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Speaker 1: how miserable I am without her, and she has come
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Speaker 1: to comfort me whenever I longed to see her. She
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Speaker 1: will meet me here. How grateful I ought to be,
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Speaker 1: And from this time the weight of sorrow was greatly
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Speaker 1: lightened for her young heart. Every morning to gather strength
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Speaker 1: for the day's duties before her, and every evening for consolation.
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Speaker 1: Before she lay down to rest, did the young girl
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Speaker 1: take out the mirror and gaze at the reflection, which,
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Speaker 1: in the simplicity of her innocent heart, she believed to
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Speaker 1: be her mother soul. Daily she grew in the likeness
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Speaker 1: of her dead mother's character, and was gentle and kind
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Speaker 1: to all, and a dutiful daughter to her father. A
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Speaker 1: year spent in mourning had thus passed away in the
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Speaker 1: little household, won by the advice of his relation. The
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Speaker 1: man married again, and the daughter now found herself under
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Speaker 1: the authority of a stepmother. It was a trying position,
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Speaker 1: but her days spent in the recollection of her own
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Speaker 1: beloved mother and of trying to be what that mother
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Speaker 1: would wish her to be, had made the young girl docile, impatient,
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Speaker 1: and she now determined to be filial and dutiful to
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Speaker 1: her father's wife. In all aspects. Everything went on apparently
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Speaker 1: smoothly in the family for some time under the new regime.
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Speaker 1: There were no winds or waves of discord to ruffle
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Speaker 1: the surface of everyday life, and the father was content.
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Speaker 1: But it was a woman's danger to be pa and mean,
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Speaker 1: and stepmother's are proverbial all the world over, and this
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Speaker 1: one's heart was not as her first smiles were, And
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Speaker 1: as the days and weeks grew in her months, the
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Speaker 1: stepmother began to treat the motherless girl unkindly and to
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Speaker 1: try and come between father and child. Sometimes she went
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Speaker 1: to her husband and complained of her stepdaughter's behavior, but
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Speaker 1: the father, knowing that this was to be expected, took
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Speaker 1: no notice of her ill natured complaints. Instead of lessening
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Speaker 1: his affection for his daughter, As the woman desired, Her
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Speaker 1: grumbling only made him think of her more. The woman
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Speaker 1: soon saw that he began to show more concern for
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Speaker 1: his lonely child than before. This did not please her
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Speaker 1: at all, and she began to turn over in her
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Speaker 1: mind as she could, by some means or other, drive
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Speaker 1: her stepchild out of the house. So crooked did the
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Speaker 1: womanman's heart become. She watched the girl carefully, and one day,
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Speaker 1: peeping into her room in the early morning, she thought
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Speaker 1: she discovered a grave enough sin of which to accuse
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Speaker 1: the child to her father. The woman herself was a
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Speaker 1: little frightened too at what she had seen, so she
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Speaker 1: went at once to her husband, and, wiping away some
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Speaker 1: fol tears, she said, in a sad voice, please give
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Speaker 1: me permission to leave you today. The man was completely
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Speaker 1: taken by surprise in the suddenness of her request, and wondered,
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Speaker 1: whatever was the matter? Do you find it so disagreeable?
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Speaker 1: He asked, in my house, that you can stay no longer? No, no,
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Speaker 1: it has nothing to do with you. Even in my dream,
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Speaker 1: I never thought that I wished to leave your side.
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Speaker 1: But if I go on living here, I am in
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Speaker 1: danger of losing my life. So I think it best
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Speaker 1: for all concerned that you should allow me to go home,
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Speaker 1: and the woman began to weep afresh. Her husband, distressed
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Speaker 1: to see her so unhappy, and thinking that he could
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Speaker 1: not have heard aright, said tell me what you mean.
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Speaker 1: How is your life in danger? Here? I will tell
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Speaker 1: you since you asked me. Your daughter dislikes me as
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Speaker 1: her stepmother. For some time past. She has shut herself
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Speaker 1: up in her room morning and evening, and looking in
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Speaker 1: as I passed by, I am convinced she has made
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Speaker 1: an image of me and is trying to kill me
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Speaker 1: by magic art, cursing me daily. It is not safe
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Speaker 1: for me to stay here. Such being the case. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: indeed I must go away. We cannot live under the
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Speaker 1: same roof anymore. The husband listened to the dreadful tale,
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Speaker 1: but he could not believe his gentle daughter guilty of
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Speaker 1: such an evil act. He knew that, by a popular superstition,
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Speaker 1: people believed that one person could cause the gradual death
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Speaker 1: of another by making an image of the hated one
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Speaker 1: curse it daily. But where had his young daughter learned
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Speaker 1: such knowledge? The thing was impossible, Yet he remembered, having
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Speaker 1: noticed that his daughter stayed much in her room of
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Speaker 1: late and kept herself away from everyone even when visitors
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Speaker 1: came to the house. Putting this fact together with his
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Speaker 1: wife's alarm, he thought there might be something to account
22:22
Speaker 1: for the strange story. His heart was torn between doubting
22:27
Speaker 1: his wife and trusting his child, and he knew not
22:30
Speaker 1: what to do. He decided to go at once to
22:33
Speaker 1: his daughter and try to find out the truth. Comforting
22:36
Speaker 1: his wife and assuring her that her fears were groundless,
22:40
Speaker 1: he glided quietly to his daughter's room. The girl had
22:44
Speaker 1: for a long time past been very unhappy. She had tried,
22:48
Speaker 1: by amiability and obedience, to show her good will and
22:51
Speaker 1: to mollify the new wife, and to break down that
22:55
Speaker 1: wall of prejudice and misunderstanding that she knew generally stood
22:59
Speaker 1: between stepparents and their step children. But she soon found
23:03
Speaker 1: that her efforts were in vain. The stepmother never trusted
23:07
Speaker 1: her and seemed to misinterpret all her action, and the
23:11
Speaker 1: poor child knew very well that she often carried unkind
23:15
Speaker 1: and unshrew tales to her father. She could not help
23:18
Speaker 1: comparing her present unhappy condition with the time when her
23:22
Speaker 1: own mother was alive only little more than a year ago.
23:27
Speaker 1: So great a change in this short time. Morning and
23:31
Speaker 1: evening she wept over the remembrance. Whenever she could. She
23:35
Speaker 1: went to her room, and, sliding the screens too, took
23:39
Speaker 1: out the mirror and gaze, as she thought, at her
23:41
Speaker 1: mother's face. It was the only comfort she had in
23:45
Speaker 1: these wretched days. Her father found her occupied in this way,
23:50
Speaker 1: pushing aside the forsama, he saw her bending over something
23:55
Speaker 1: or other, very intently, looking over her shoulder to see
23:59
Speaker 1: who entered her room. The girl was surprised to see
24:02
Speaker 1: her father, for he generally sent for her when he
24:05
Speaker 1: wished to speak to her. She was also confused at
24:09
Speaker 1: being found looking at the mirror, for she had never
24:12
Speaker 1: told anyone of her mother's last promise, but had kept
24:16
Speaker 1: it in the sacred secret of her heart. So before
24:19
Speaker 1: turning to her father, she slipped the mirror into her
24:22
Speaker 1: long sleeve. Her father, noting her confusion and her act
24:25
Speaker 1: of hiding something, said in a severe manner, daughter, what
24:30
Speaker 1: are you doing here and what is that you have
24:32
Speaker 1: hidden in your sleeve? The girl was frightened by her
24:35
Speaker 1: father's severity. Never had he spoken to her in such
24:39
Speaker 1: a tone. Her confusion changed to apprehension, her color from
24:44
Speaker 1: scarlet to white. She sat dumb and shamefaced, unable to reply.
24:50
Speaker 1: Appearances were certainly against her. The young girl looked guilty,
24:54
Speaker 1: and the father, thinking that perhaps after all, what his
24:57
Speaker 1: wife had told him was true, spoke angrily, then, is
25:02
Speaker 1: it really true that you are daily cursing your step
25:05
Speaker 1: mother and praying for her death? Have you forgotten what
25:09
Speaker 1: I told you, that although she is your stepmother, you
25:12
Speaker 1: must be obedient and loyal to her. What evil spirit
25:16
Speaker 1: has taken possession of your heart that you should be
25:19
Speaker 1: so wicked? You have certainly changed, my daughter. What has
25:23
Speaker 1: made you so disobedient and unfaithful? And the father's eyes
25:28
Speaker 1: filled with sudden tears to think that he should have
25:30
Speaker 1: to upbraid his daughter this way. She, on her part,
25:34
Speaker 1: did not know what he meant, for she had never
25:37
Speaker 1: heard of the superstition that by praying over an image
25:41
Speaker 1: it is possible to cause the death of a hated person.
25:45
Speaker 1: But she saw that she must speak and clear herself. Now.
25:49
Speaker 1: She loved her father dearly and could not bear the
25:51
Speaker 1: idea of his anger. She put out her hand on
25:55
Speaker 1: his knee, deprecatingly, father, father, do not say such dreadful
26:00
Speaker 1: things to me? I am still your obedient child. Indeed,
26:04
Speaker 1: I am, however stupid I may be, I should never
26:08
Speaker 1: be able to curse anyone who belonged to you, much
26:11
Speaker 1: less pray for the death of one you love. Surely
26:15
Speaker 1: someone has been telling you lie, and you are dazed,
26:18
Speaker 1: and you know not what to say, or some evil
26:20
Speaker 1: spirit has taken possession of your heart. As for me,
26:24
Speaker 1: I do not know, no, not so much as a
26:28
Speaker 1: dewdrop of the evil thing of which you accuse me.
26:31
Speaker 1: But the father remembered that she had hidden something away
26:34
Speaker 1: when he first entered the room, And even this earnest
26:37
Speaker 1: protest did not satisfy him. He wished to clear his
26:41
Speaker 1: doubts for once and for all. Then, why are you
26:44
Speaker 1: always alone in your room these days? And tell me
26:47
Speaker 1: what is that that you have hidden in your sleeve?
26:50
Speaker 1: Show it to me at once. Then the daughter, the
26:53
Speaker 1: shy of confessing how she had cherished her mother's memory,
26:57
Speaker 1: saw that she must tell her father all in order
27:00
Speaker 1: to clear herself. So she slipped the mirror out from
27:04
Speaker 1: her long sleeve and laid it before him. This, she said,
27:09
Speaker 1: is what she saw me looking at. Just now. Why,
27:12
Speaker 1: he said, in great surprise, this is the mirror that
27:15
Speaker 1: I bought as a gift to your mother when I
27:18
Speaker 1: went up to the capital many years ago, and so
27:21
Speaker 1: you have kept it all this time. Now, why do
27:24
Speaker 1: you spend so much of your time before this mirror?
27:28
Speaker 1: Then she told him of her mother's last words, and
27:31
Speaker 1: of how she had promised to meet her child whenever
27:34
Speaker 1: she looked into the glass. But still the father could
27:37
Speaker 1: not understand the simplicity of his daughter's character in not
27:42
Speaker 1: knowing that what she saw reflected in the mirror was
27:46
Speaker 1: in reality her own face and not that of her mother.
27:51
Speaker 1: What do you mean, he asked, I do not understand
27:55
Speaker 1: how you can meet the soul of your lost mother
27:57
Speaker 1: by looking in this mirror. It is indeed true, said
28:01
Speaker 1: the girl. And if you don't believe what I say,
28:04
Speaker 1: look for yourself. Has She placed the mirror before her. There,
28:09
Speaker 1: looking back from the smooth metal disk was her own
28:12
Speaker 1: sweet face. She pointed to the reflection. Seriously, do you
28:16
Speaker 1: doubt me? Still, she said, earnestly, looking up into his face.
28:21
Speaker 1: With an exclamation of sudden understanding. The father smote his
28:25
Speaker 1: two hands together. How stupid I am? At last I
28:30
Speaker 1: understand your face is as like your mother's as the
28:34
Speaker 1: two sides of a melon. Though you have looked at
28:37
Speaker 1: the reflection of your face all this time, thinking that
28:40
Speaker 1: you were brought face to face with your lost mother,
28:44
Speaker 1: you are truly a faithful child. It seems at first
28:47
Speaker 1: a stupid thing to have done, but it is not
28:50
Speaker 1: really so. It shows how deep has been your filial piety,
28:55
Speaker 1: and how innocent your heart. Living in constant remembrance of
28:59
Speaker 1: your loss mother has helped you to grow like her
29:02
Speaker 1: in character. How clever it was of her to tell
29:06
Speaker 1: you to do this. I admire and respect you, my daughter,
29:10
Speaker 1: and I am ashamed to think that for one instant
29:13
Speaker 1: I believed your suspicious stepmother's story has suspected you of
29:17
Speaker 1: evil and came with the intention of scolding you severely,
29:21
Speaker 1: while all this time you have been so true and good.
29:25
Speaker 1: Before you have no countenance left. I beg you to
29:29
Speaker 1: forgive me. And here the father wept, had thought of
29:33
Speaker 1: how lonely the poor girl must have been, and for
29:37
Speaker 1: all that she must have suffered under her stepmother's treatment.
29:41
Speaker 1: His daughter, steadfastly keeping her faith as simplicity in the
29:45
Speaker 1: midst of such adverse circumstances, bearing all her troubles with
29:50
Speaker 1: so much patience and amiability made him compare her to
29:54
Speaker 1: the lotus, which rears its blossom of dazzling beauty out
29:59
Speaker 1: of the slime and mud of the moats and ponds,
30:02
Speaker 1: fitting emblem of a heart which keeps itself unsullied while
30:06
Speaker 1: passing through the world. The stepmother, anxious to know what
30:11
Speaker 1: would happen, had all this while been standing outside the room.
30:15
Speaker 1: She had grown interested and had gradually pushed the sliding
30:18
Speaker 1: screen back till she could see all that went on.
30:22
Speaker 1: At this moment, she suddenly entered the room. Dropping to
30:26
Speaker 1: the mats, she bowed her head over her outspread hands
30:30
Speaker 1: before her step daughter. I am ashamed, I am ashamed,
30:34
Speaker 1: she exclaimed in broken tones. I did not know what
30:38
Speaker 1: a filial child you were. Throw no fault of yours,
30:42
Speaker 1: but with a step mother's jealous heart. I have disliked
30:46
Speaker 1: you all this time, hating you so much myself, it
30:50
Speaker 1: was but natural that I should think you reciprocated the feeling.
30:54
Speaker 1: And thus, when I saw you tire so often to
30:58
Speaker 1: your room, I followed you. And when I saw you
31:01
Speaker 1: gaze daily into the mirror for long intervals, I concluded
31:06
Speaker 1: that you had found out how I disliked you, and
31:09
Speaker 1: that you were out for revenge trying to take my
31:12
Speaker 1: life by magic art. As long as I live, I
31:15
Speaker 1: shall never forget the wrong I have done you in
31:18
Speaker 1: so misjudging you, and in causing your father to suspect you.
31:23
Speaker 1: From this day I throw away my old and wicked heart,
31:27
Speaker 1: and in its place I put a new one, clean
31:30
Speaker 1: and full of repentance. I shall think of you as
31:33
Speaker 1: a child that I have borne myself. I shall love
31:37
Speaker 1: and cherish you with all my heart, and thus try
31:40
Speaker 1: to make up for all the unhappiness I have caused you. Therefore,
31:45
Speaker 1: please throw into the water all that has gone before you,
31:49
Speaker 1: and give me, I beg of you some of the
31:51
Speaker 1: filial love that you have hitherto given to your own
31:54
Speaker 1: lost mother. Thus did the unkind step mother humble herself
32:00
Speaker 1: and asked for forgiveness of the girl she had so wronged.
32:04
Speaker 1: Such was the sweetness of the girl's disposition, that she
32:08
Speaker 1: willingly forgave her stepmother and never bore a moment's resentment
32:12
Speaker 1: or malice towards her. Afterwards, the father saw by his
32:16
Speaker 1: wife's face that she was truly sorry for the past,
32:20
Speaker 1: and was greatly relieved to see the terrible misunderstanding wiped
32:24
Speaker 1: out of remembrance by both the wrongdoer and the wronged.
32:28
Speaker 1: From this time on, the three lived together as happily
32:32
Speaker 1: as fish and water. No such trouble ever darkened the
32:35
Speaker 1: home again, and the young girl gradually forgot that year
32:39
Speaker 1: of unhappiness in the tender love and care that her
32:43
Speaker 1: stepmother now bestowed on her. Her patience and goodness were
32:47
Speaker 1: rewarded at last end of the Mirror of Matsuyama, A
32:53
Speaker 1: story of Old Japan from Japanese fairy tales, compiled by
32:58
Speaker 1: Yea Theodora Ozaki, recording by Annie Mars