Japanese Fairy Tale Series 01 #10- The Matsumaya Mirror

8/14/2019 Japanese Fairy Tale Series 01 #10- The Matsumaya Mirror

1/22

Japanese Fairy Tale Series, No. 10.

The Matsuyama Mirror.JOLD IN MOHSH BY JVitts. J. ft.

Published by T, HASEGAWA, 17 Kami Begishi, TOKYO.


2/22

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

id!

IT

IA

* A9

^WiM > T


3/22

**-*-*

LONG long time ago,there lived in a quiet

spot, a young man and his wife.They had one child, a littledaughter, whom they both lovedwith all their hearts. I cannottell you their names, for they havebeen long since forgotten, but thename of the place where theylived was Matsuyama, in theprovince of Echigo.


4/22

rIt happened once, while the lit-

I

tie girl was still a baby? that thefather was obliged to go to thegreat city, the capital of Japan,upon some business. It was too farfor the mother and her little babyto go, so he set out alone, afterbidding them good bye, andpromising to bring them homesome pretty present.The mother had never been fur-

ther from home than the nextvillage, and she could not helpbeing a little frightened at thethought of her husband takingsuch a long journey, and yet she

|V. r^^'r'ii i ... ...11,.',, ~"~L~^~ ", .' ; ,


5/22

4wnrwj>Ky ' 'mJmWM^


6/22

was a little proud too, for he wasthe first man in all that countryside who had been to the big townwhere the King and his great lordslived, and where there were somany beautiful and curious thingsto be seen.At last the time came when she

might expect her husband back, soshe dressed the baby in its bestclothes, and herself put on a prettyblue dress which she knew herhusband liked.You may fancy how glad this

wife was to see him comehome safe and sound, and how the


7/22

little girl clapped her hands, and

laughed with delight, when shesaw the pretty toys her father hadbrought for her. He had much to


8/22


9/22

tell of all the wonderful things hehad seen upon the journey, and inthe town itself.

"I have brought you a verypretty thing," said he to his wife:"it is called a mirror. Look andtell me what you see inside." Hegave to her plain, white woodenbox, in which, when she hadopened it, she found a round pieceof metal. One side was white likefrosted silver, and ornamentedwith raised figures of birds andflowers, the other was bright asthe clearest crystal. Into it the


10/22

and astonishment, for, from itsdepths was looking at her withparted lips and bright eyes, asmiling happy face."What do you see?" again

asked the husband, pleased at her

r- ' t i-( m


11/22


12/22

astonishment, and glad to showthat he had learned somethingwhile he had been away. "I seea pretty woman looking at me, andshe moves her lips as if she wasspeaking, and dear me, how odd,she has on a blue dress just likemine!" "Why, you silly woman,it is your own face that you see,"said the husband, proud of know-ing something that his wifedidn't know. That round piece ofmetal is called a mirror, in thetown every body has one, althoughwe have not seen them in this

| country place before..


13/22

The wife was charmed with herpresent, and, for a few days couldnot look into the mirror oftenenough, for you must remember,that, as this was the first timeshe had seen a mirror, so, ofcourse, it was the first time shehad ever seen the reflection ofher own pretty face. But she con-sidered such a wonderful thing fartoo precious for every day use,and soon shut it up in its boxagain, and put it away carefullyamong her most valued treasures.

Years past on, and the husbandand wife still lived happily. The


14/22

joy of their life was their littledaughter, who grew up the veryimage of her mother, and who wasso dutiful and affectionate thatevery body loved her. Mindful ofher own little passing vanity onfinding herselfso lovely, the motherkept the mirror carefully hiddenaway, fearing that the use of itmight breed a spirit of pride in herlittle girl.She never spoke of it, and

as for the father, he had forgottenall about it. So it happened thatthe daughter grew up as simpleas the mother had been, and knew


15/22

nothing of her own good looks,or of the mirror which would havereflectd them.But bye and bye a terrible mis-

fortune happened to this happylittle family. The good, kind motherfell

sick; and, although her daugh-ter waited upon her day andnight, with loving care, she got j

|worse and worse, until at last therewas no hope but that she must die.When she found that she must

so soon leave her husband andchild, the poor woman felt verysorrowful, grieving for those she |jwas going to leave behind, and |


16/22

most of all for her little daughter.She called the girl to her and

said; "My darling child, you knowthat I am very sick: soon I mustdie, and leave your dear iatherand you alone. When I amgone, promise me that you willlook into this mirror every nightand every morning: there you willsee me, and know that I am stillwatching over you." With thesewords she took the mirror from its

hiding place and gave it to her

daughter. The child promised, withmany tears, and so the mother,


17/22


18/22

died a short time after.Now this obedient and dutiful

daughter, never forgot her mother'slast request, but each morning andevening took the mirror from itshiding place, and looked in itlong and earnestly. There she sawthe bright and smiling vision of

[

her lost mother. Not pale and1

sickly as in her last days, but thebeautiful young mother oflong ago.To her at night she told the storyof the trials and difficulties of theday, to her in the morning shelooked for sympathy and encour-agement in whatever might be in


19/22

store for her. So day by day she livedas in her mother's sight, strivingstill to please her as she haddone in her life time, and carefulalways to avoid whatever mightpain or grieve her. Her greatestjoy

was to be able to look in themirror and say; "Mother, I havebeen today what you would haveme to be."

Seeing her every night andmorning, without fail, look into themirror, and seem to hokd conversewith it, her father at length askedher the reason of her strangebehaviour. "Father," she said,


20/22

look in the mirror every day tosee my dear mother and to talkwith her." Then she told him ofher mothers dying wish,

and howshe had never failed to fulfil it.Touched by so much simplicity,and such faithful, loving obedience,the father shed tears of pityand affection.Nor could hefind it in hisheart to tell


21/22

the child, that the image she saw inthe mirror, was but the reflectionof her own sweet face, by constantsympathy and association, becomingmore and more like her deadmother's day by day.


22/22

Documents

Japanese Fairy Tale Series 01 #10- The Matsumaya Mirror