A long time ago in a remote part of Japan lived a man, his wife, and their little girl, who was the pet and idol of her parents. One day, the man was called away to Kyoto for business. Before he left, he told his daughter that if she was good and dutiful to her mother he would bring her back a present that she would prize very highly. Then, the man took his departure, mother and daughter watching him go.
At long last he returned home to his wife and lovely daughter. After his wife and child had taken off his large hat and sandals, he sat down upon the white mats and opened a bamboo basket, watching the eager gaze of his little child. He took out a wonderful doll and a lacquer box of cakes and set them in her outstretched hands. Once more he reached into the basket and handed his wife a metal mirror. Its convex surface shimmered brightly, while upon its back there was a design of pine trees and storks.
The good man's wife had never seen a mirror before, and gazing upon it she was under the impression that another woman looked out upon her as she gazed at the mirror with wonder. Her husband explained the mystery and bade her great care of the mirror.
Not long after this happy homecoming and the distribution of presents, the woman became very ill. Just before she died, she called out to the little girl and said, " Dear child, when I am dead take very good care of your father. You will miss me when I have left you. But take this mirror and when you feel most lonely, look into it and you will see me." Having said these words she passed away.
In due time the man married again, and his wife was not at all kind to her stepdaughter. But the little girl, remembering her mother's words, would retire to a corner and eagerly look into the mirror, where it seemed to her that she saw her dear mother's face, not in pain as she had seen on her deathbed, but young and beautiful.
One day this child's stepmother chanced to see her crouching in a corner over an object she could not quite see, murmuring to herself. This ignorant woman, who detested the child and believed that her stepchild detested her in return, fancied that this little one was performing some strange magical art, perhaps making an image and sticking pins in it. Full of these thoughts, the stepmother went to her husband and told her that his wicked child was doing her best to kill her with witchcraft.
When the master of the house had listened to this extraordinary tale he went straight to his daughter's room. Her took her by surprise, immediately the girl saw him and she slipped the mirror into her sleeve. For the first time her doting father grew angry, and he feared that what his wife had told him was true, and he repeated her tale forthwith.
When his daughter had heard this unjust accusation she was amazed at her father's words. She told him that she loved him far too much to wish to kill his wife, who she knew was close to him. "What do you have up your sleeve?" said her father, only half convinced and still much puzzled.
"The mirror that you gave my mother, and which on her deathbed she gave to me. Every time I look into its shining surface I see the face of my dear mother, young and beautiful. When my heart aches, and oh it has ached so much lately, I take out the mirror and my mother's face with her sweet, kind smile, brings me peace and helps me to bear hard words and cross looks.
Then the man understood and loved his child more for her filial piety. Even the girl's stepmother, when she knew what had really taken place, was ashamed and asked for forgiveness. The child, who believed she had seen her mother's face in the mirror, forgave, and trouble forever departed from the home.
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