Friday, August 19, 2022
THE MIRROR OF MATSUYAMA
Once upon a time, there lived in a remote part of Japan, a man and his wife, and they were blessed with a little girl, who was the favorite and cherished child of her parents. One day, the man was summoned on business in faraway Kyoto. Before she left, she told her daughter that if she was kind and filial to her mother, he would bring her a special present. The man then departed, mother and daughter letting him go.
Finally, after he returned home, and after his wife and child had taken off his oversized hat and sandals, he sat down on the white mat and opened the bamboo basket, noticing the eager gaze of his little son. Then she took out a beautiful doll and a box of cookies and placed them in her son's outstretched hand. Again he took it into his basket, and gave his wife a metal mirror. Its convex surface shone brightly, while on the back, there were designs of pine trees and cranes.
Read : Magical Stone
The good man's wife had never seen the mirror before, and upon gazing into it, she had the impression that another woman was looking at her as she stared in astonishment. Her husband explained the mystery and asked her to take good care of the mirror.
Not long after the happy return home and distribution of gifts, the woman fell ill. Just before she died, she called her little daughter, and said, "My dear child, when mother is gone, take care of your father. You will miss mother when mother leaves you. But, take this mirror, and when you feel lonely, look in it, and you will always see mother.” After saying these words, the mother died.
At some point, the man remarried, and his wife was not at all nice to her stepson. But, the little one, remembering her mother's words, would step back into a corner, and eagerly look in the mirror, where she thought she saw her dear mother's face, less painful than the one she had seen in bed as death overtook her, still young and beautiful. .
One day, the child's stepmother happened to see him crouched in a corner on an object he couldn't quite look at, muttering to himself. This foolish woman, who hated the child and believed that her stepdaughter hated her in return, imagined that this little one was performing some strange magical arts, such as making pictures and sticking pins into them. As if having an idea, the stepmother went straight to her husband and told him that it was her son who was evil who had killed his mother with magic.
When the father heard the story of this extraordinary magic ritual, he immediately went to his daughter's room. Her father surprised her, and immediately, when the girl saw him, he tucked her mother's mirror into her sleeve. For the first time, his father who loved him so much became angry, and he was afraid that what his wife said was true, and his story would repeat itself.
When her daughter heard this unjust accusation, she was astonished at her father's words, and the daughter told her father that it was the stepmother who loved her father so much who tried to try or wanted to kill her mother, whom she knew he loved very much.
"What are you hiding up your sleeve?" said his father, only half convinced and still very confused.
Read : The Legend of Kantan Island
"The mirror that my father gave my mother, and the one that my mother gave me on her deathbed. Every time I looked into its shining surface, I saw the face of my beloved mother, when she was young and beautiful. When I was sad, until recently, I only can take a mirror and see mother's face with a sweet, kind smile, bring me peace, and help me endure hard and harsh words with a terrible look."
Then the man understood and loved his son even more for his obedience. Even the child's stepmother, when she found out what really happened, was embarrassed and apologized. And this child, who believed that he had seen his mother's face in the mirror, forgave, and the problems that came from his stepmother disappeared, thus creating a feeling of peace and serenity.
Read : Glutinous Rice