FOR THE LITTLE ONES

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 200, 24 August 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

FOR THE LITTLE ONES

A QUAINT JAPANESE STORY. TALE OF MATSUYAMA AND THE MIRROR. ?-jii Little Friends, — Although v.-s are ail very small, we are quite big enough to lace up our cwn bools, ana clean our own tcolh as well as polish our shocc, and sometimes even comb cur haiv. When we comb our hair or clean our teeth v/a r.z~Ay always look in a mirror, and, if we've lots.of time to spare, we admlrs cm-selves and sea hcv/ prettily we can smile, then pull funny faces anci ses just how ugly we look. Many, many years ago the people of Japan had no mirrors, but some clever Japanese discovered that brass couid be wonderfully polished and made to reflect the image of anyone who looked into it. Because these metal mirrors were not common the people of Japan used to prize them very much, and it was one of their quaint beliefs that a mirror, because it reflected the face of the person who used it, gradually became possessed cf part of its owner's soul. Once before I told you the story of a Japanese mirror, p.nd tc-dny I'm going to tell you another story that i have only just heard. It is about a little girl named Matsuyama, who lived with her mother and father in a little village in Japan in the days when mirrors were not very plentiful. One day the girl's father had to go on a very long journey, and, in parting, he said that he would bring Matsuyama and her mother any gift that they should choose. The wife dearly loved hsr husband, and the daughter dearly loved her father, so the two asked ths traveller to take care of himself—particularly to beware of robbers —and the only thing they wanted was his safe return. Whilst the man was away his wife and daughter were very anxious for his safety, but one day they saw a big. hat come fobbing up the path, and when the head and shoulders of the man'came into sirjht they round that the traveller had returned. Once inside the house Matsuyama's father presented h=r with a doll the size of a year-old baby, and to her mother he geve a mirror. The little girl ran off to her room to play with her new toy, and so did not know of her mother's present. The three continued to live happily together until one day Matsuyama'i mother fell ill and died, and left her daughter a parcel carefully wrapped in a. silken cloth. •*> When his wife had been dead for some time, Matsuyama's father married again, for he thought that his little girl needed the help of a lady. Unfortunately* the stepmother became jealous of Matsuyama, and ill-treated her. The little girl one day, after a scolding, retreated to heroom, and there among her many playthings found the parcel which her mother had given her, and which she had not yet opened. Carefully she removed the wrapper, and behold! she saw the image of her mother— looking years younge* than she had been the last time Matsuyama had seen her—staring up at her. The kiddie smiled, and the image smiled back. "Oh," thought Matsuyama, "my mother's spirit has returned to me. I shall not mind how much I am ill-treated now." Thus the stepmother often saw the girl hiding in dark corners, really to snatch a glance at the face in the mirror, but the woman thought she had taken a dislike to her, and so was working by witchcraft to secure her death. This conclusion was passed on to the father, who, going out into the garden, was just in time to see his daughter hastily slip something into her sleeve. Thinking that his new wife was correct in her surmise, he spoke sharply to Matsuyama, who began to cry, dropped the mirror, and told him the whole , ■/ £/t% story. Whan the stepmother heard . , v J *\T*t_ all about it, her heart scFt-ned, and S/ijL. she grew to ,love Matsuyama, who ' QA^? returned her love, and so everyone lived happily together again. \