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THE
MATSUYAMA
MIRROR.
long long time ago,there lived in a quietspot, a young man and his wife.They had one child, a littledaughter, whom they both lovedwith all their hearts. I cannottell you their names, for they havebeen long since forgotten, but thename of the place where theylived was Matsuyama, in theprovince of Echigo.
It happened once, while the littlegirl was still a baby, that thefather was obliged to go to thegreat city, the capital of Japan,upon some business. It was too farfor the mother and her little babyto go, so he set out alone, afterbidding them good bye, andpromising to bring them homesome pretty present.
The mother had never been furtherfrom home than the nextvillage, and she could not helpbeing a little frightened at thethought of her husband takingsuch a long journey, and yet shewas a little proud too, for he wasthe first man in all that countryside who had been to the big townwhere the King and his great lordslived, and where there were somany beautiful and curious thingsto be seen.
At last the time came when shemight expect her husband back, soshe dressed the baby in its bestclothes, and herself put on a prettyblue dress which she knew herhusband liked.
You may fancy how glad thisgood wife was to see him comehome safe and sound, and how thelittle girl clapped her hands, andlaughed with delight, when shesaw the pretty toys her father hadbrought for her. He had much totell of all the wonderful things hehad seen upon the journey, and inthe town itself.
“I have brought you a verypretty thing,” said he to his wife:“it is called a mirror. Look andtell me what you see inside.” Hegave to her a plain, white woodenbox, in which, when she hadopened it, she found a round pieceof metal. One side was white likefrosted silver, and ornamentedwith raised figures of birds andflowers, the other was bright asthe clearest crystal. Into it theyoung mother looked with delightand astonishment, for, from itsdepths was looking at her withparted lips and bright eyes, asmiling happy face.
“What do you see?” againasked the husband, pleased at herastonishment, and gla