But the father remembered that she had hidden something away when he first entered the room, and even this earnest protest did not satisfy him. He wished to clear up his doubts once for all.
“Then why are you always alone in your room these days? And tell me what is that that you have hidden in your sleeve—show it to me at once.”
Then the daughter, though shy of confessing how she had cherished her mother’s memory, saw that she must tell her father all in order to clear herself. So she slipped the mirror out from her long sleeve and laid it before him.
“This,” she said, “is what you saw me looking at just now.”
“Why,” he said in great surprise, “this is the mirror that I brought as a gift to your mother when I went up to the capital many years ago! And so you have kept it all this time? Now, why do you spend so much of your time before this mirror?”
Then she told him of her mother’s last words, and of how she had promised to meet her child whenever she looked into the glass. But still the father could not understand the simplicity of his daughter’s character in not knowing that what she saw reflected in the mirror was in reality her own face, and not that of her mother.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “I do not understand how you can meet the soul of your lost mother by looking in this mirror.”
“It is indeed true,” said the girl: “and if you don’t believe what I say, look for yourself,” and she placed the mirror before her. There, looking back from the smooth metal disk, was her own sweet face. She pointed to the reflection seriously:
“Do you doubt me still?” she asked earnestly, looking up into his face.
With an exclamation of sudden understanding the father smote his two hands together.
“How stupid I am! At last I understand. Your face is as like your mother’s as the two sides of a melon—thus you have looked at the reflection of your face all this time, thinking that you were brought face to face with your lost mother! You are truly a faithful child. It seems at first a stupid thing to have done, but it is not really so. It shows how deep has been your filial piety, and how innocent your heart. Living in constant remembrance of your lost mother has helped you to grow like her in character. How clever it was of her to tell you to do this. I admire and respect you, my daughter, and I am ashamed to think that for one instant I believed your suspicious step-mother’s story and suspected you of evil, and came with the intention of scolding you severely, while all this time you have been so true and good. Before you I have no countenance left, and I beg you to forgive me.”
And here the father wept. He thought of how lonely the poor girl must have been, and of all that she must have suffered under her step-mother’s treatment. His daughter steadfastly keeping her faith and simplicity in the midst of such adverse circumstances—bearing all her troubles with so much patience and amiability—made him compare her to the lotus which rears its blossom of dazzling beauty out of the slime and mud of the moats and ponds, fitting emblem of a heart which keeps itself unsullied while passing through the world.
The step-mother, anxious to know what would happen, had all this while been standing outside the room. She had grown interested, and had gradually pushed the sliding screen back till she could see all that went on. At this moment she suddenly entered the room, and dropping to the mats, she bowed her head over her outspread hands before her step-daughter.
“I am ashamed! I am ashamed!” she exclaimed in broken tones. “I did not know what a filial child you were. Through no fault of yours, but with a step-mother’s jealous heart, I have disliked you all the time. Hating you so much myself, it was but natural that I should think you reciprocated the feeling, and thus when I saw you retire so often to your room I followed you, and when I saw you gaze daily into the mirror for long intervals, I concluded that you had found out how I disliked you, and that you were out of revenge trying to take my life by magic art. As long as I live I shall never forget the wrong I have done you in so misjudging you, and in causing your father to suspect you. From this day I throw away my old and wicked heart, and in its place I put a new one, clean and full of repentance. I shall think of you as a child that I have borne myself. I shall love and cherish you with all my heart, and thus try to make up for all the unhappiness I have caused you. Therefore, please throw into the water all that has gone before, and give me, I beg of you, some of the filial love that you have hitherto given to your own lost mother.”
Thus did the unkind step-mother humble herself and ask forgiveness of the girl she had so wronged.
Such was the sweetness of the girl’s disposition that she willingly forgave her step-mother, and never bore a moment’s resentment or malice towards her afterwards. The father saw by his wife’s face that she was truly sorry for the past, and was greatly relieved to see the terrible misunderstanding wiped out of remembrance by both the wrong-doer and the wronged.
From this time on, the three lived together as happily as fish in water. No such trouble ever darkened the home again, and the young girl gradually forgot that year of unhappiness in the tender love and care that her step-mother now bestowed on her. Her patience and goodness were rewarded at last.
A NOTE ON THE SOURCES
These stories come from two collections published in the early 20th century. Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904), the author of Kwaidan, was born in Greece and lived in Ireland and the United States before he settled in Japan and became a naturalized citizen. For his book, he recorded tales from oral storytellers and translated existing written versions. Yei Theodora Ozaki (1871–1932), the author of Japanese Fairy Tales, was half Japanese, half English and lived most of her life in Japan. For her collection, she translated stories by Sadanami Sanjin and Shinsui Tamenaga, as well as a story from the classic work Taketori Monogatari. The tales in this book have been excerpted from the following editions of Kwaidan and Japanese Fairy Tales, both of which are in the public domain:
Hearn, Lafcadio. Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Reprint of the Houghton Mifflin Company 1911 Boston and New York edition, Internet Archive, 2013. https://archive.org/details/kwaidanstoriesst00hear
Ozaki, Yei Theodora. Japanese Fairy Tales. Reprint of the Grosset & Dunlap 1908 New York edition, Internet Archive, 2007. https://archive.org/details/japanesefairytal00ozak
SOURCES
The Dream of Akinosuké
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
The Jelly Fish and the Monkey
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hōïchi
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
Yuki-Onna
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
Diplomacy
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
Mujina
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
A Dead Secret
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
Rokuro-Kubi
From Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn
The Tongue-Cut Sparrow
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
The Farmer and the Badger
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
The Story of the Old Man Who Made Withered Trees to Flower
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
The Mirror of Matsuyama: A Story of Old Japan
From Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
KOTARO CHIBA is an illustrator based in Niigata, Japan.
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