A Mother's Mirror

A Mother's Mirror - A Japanese story that I thought I would share.

A long time ago there was a young samurai and his wife who lived in a small town. They had a daughter. Every year the father had to leave for Tokyo to do some samurai errands, while the young wife stayed at home with her daughter and waited for his return. He never failed to bring back presents for the two of them. Cakes and sweets for the two of them and pretty dolls for the daughter. The most treasured souvenir was a hand mirror for his wife. She was intrigued by the mirror because she had never seen such an object before. This was long ago when mirrors were only common for royalty and so common folk were sometimes surprised to see a face staring back at them.

This was true for the wife, she saw a face in it but did not recognize it as her own. It was a young, beautiful face smiling at her so she went to her husband and asked who was in the mirror. He proudly smiled and replied that it was she in the mirror, it was her own face. From that moment on she kept it safe from harm in a drawer for several years, taking it out every so often but always handled it carefully. She loved it so because it was a present from her husband.

After a few blissful years of happiness, the wife suddenly became very ill. Knowing that she would die soon, she called her daughter to her bedside and gave the mirror to the young girl.

"My lovely daughter, you know that I am ill. I need you to listen very carefully now. I won't be alive much longer but please don't grieve for my death. Look into this mirror and you will always see me."

After the mothers death, the daughter always would stare into the mirror, everyday, and was always happy to see her mothers face inside. She did not know that it was her own face she was looking at, when she looked into the mirror she had truly believed that it was her mother looking back at her because the daughter looked exactly like her mother, only much younger. Many times she would speak to the mirror, telling it her secrets and daily stresses until finally her father asked her why she was speaking into the mirror every day.

"Every time I look into this mirror, I see mother looking back at me. She looks young, healthy and beautiful and it helps encourage me to work hard everyday even though she never speaks a word." The father, who knew the truth of how the mirror worked, said nothing and let tears spill down his face.