The Princess Moonbeam

Once upon a time, a woodcutter and his wife lived at the edge of a great forest, beneath the shadow of the Honorable Mountain. They were hardworking and kind, and they loved each other dearly, but they were not happy. For no children had come to bless their home, and this the wife mourned deeply.

Her husband pitied her and treated her with great gentleness, yet still she was sad. As she gazed upon the snows of Fujiyama, her heart swelled within her. She knelt down and prayed, "Fuji no Yama, Honorable Mountain, my heart is heavy because no child's arms encircle my neck, no little head nestles in my bosom. From your eternal purity, send some little white soul to comfort me!"

The Honorable Mountain did not speak, but as she prayed, a tiny light sparkled and glowed from its heights. It flickered and gleamed, and it had a silvery radiance like the moon.

The woodcutter's wife saw it and called to her husband eagerly, "Come here, please! See the strange light coming from Fuji San. I seem to see a face smiling at me--the face of a little child!"

Her husband smiled at her fancy, but because he loved her, he said indulgently, "I will go and see what it is."

"Thank you, my lord; go quickly!" she replied.

So he hurried toward the forest, and as he neared a mountain stream, with Fuji gleaming cold and white in the moonlight, he saw the strange light. It hovered and rested upon the branches of a tall bamboo. Hastening there, he found a moon child--a tiny, fragile, fairy thing, more beautiful than any child he had ever seen.

"Little creature," he said, "who are you?"

"My name is Princess Moonbeam," she answered sweetly. "My mother is the Moon Lady, and she has sent me to Earth because every Moon Child must do some good thing, else its silvery light will become pale and wan and be of no avail."

"Little Princess," he said eagerly, "the best good deed is to comfort a sad heart. Come home with me and be a child to my wife, who weeps for want of children. Thus will your beams grow bright."

"I will go with you," said the little Moonbeam, and rejoicing greatly, he bore her tenderly to his wife.

"I bring you a treasure," he said. "The Moon Lady sends you this beam of light to lighten your sad heart."

Then his wife was overjoyed, and she took the little creature to her bosom and cared for her. Lovelier grew the Moon Child every year, and she rejoiced the hearts of her foster parents. Her hair was like a golden halo around her face, her eyes were deep and tender, her cheeks were pale and delicate, and about her there was a subtle, unearthly charm. Everyone loved her, even the emperor's son, who, while hunting in the forest, saw her lighting up the humble cottage with her heavenly glow. He loved her dearly, and she loved him, but alas! She could not marry him because her life on earth was limited to twenty years. Then she must return to her home in the moon, for so her mother, the Moon Lady, had willed.

At last the day came when she had to go. Her parents wept and could not be consoled; her lover, who was now the emperor, could not keep her, though he begged High Heaven to spare her.

Her mother caught her up in a silver moonbeam, and all the way to the moon the little Princess wept silvery tears. As the tears fell from her eyes, they took on wings and floated away, searching for the form of her beloved emperor, whom she might see no more.

Those silver-bright tears are seen to this day, floating here and there about the vales and marshes of fair Nippon. Children chase them with happy cries and say, "See the fireflies! How fair they are! Where did they come from?"

Then their mothers relate the legend and say, "These are the tears of the little Princess, flitting to seek her beloved." And over all, calm and eternal, smiles the Honorable Mountain.