(Voice actor) Ms.Carolyn Miller

In old stories and folktales, there are stories where a kindhearted but unhappy person finds happiness thanks to a god or princes. A famous one is “Cinderella” of the Grimm Fairy Tales. In Japan, there is also a story of a princess who is bullied by her stepmother but is rescued by a noble man and gets married, called “Ochikubo Monogatari.” It seems that throughout history, people have had a common sentiment of wanting the kindhearted to find happiness. In the Edo period when the Tokugawa regime ruled Japan, there is a similar story. In the town of Edo, there was a shop that sold sea products. There was a girl called Oume in this shop. Oume was very sweet and was kind to everyone. She was also earnest, working hard at the shop. Everybody acknowledged that she was a good girl, but unfortunately, she could not be described as beautiful. She was called a gorgon, or ugly. Humans, especially men, are stupid, so regardless of how nice a girl is, they tend to prefer a beautiful woman to date or marry. So Oume always ended up with “she is a good girl, but,” and never had a relationship with someone. One hot summer day, Oume was watering the front of the shop. Then, a beggar came to the shop. Beggars are called homeless nowadays. They were the sort of people who begged other people for food. This beggar asked Oume for a cup of water. But the shop owner’s wife (a position called okami in Japanese), who was at the storefront, said “we have nothing to give a beggar” and turned him away. But Oume felt sorry as it was hot, and secretly gave him water and even a rice ball. The beggar rejoiced and gave her a dirty tenugui (washcloth) that he had as a token of appreciation. That night, Oume had a dream. Kannon-sama (one of the Buddhas in Japanese Buddhism) appeared right in front of her and gently stroked her cheek. Then, Oume became beautiful. When she woke up in the morning, she hurried to see a mirror. But what she saw was her usual ugly face. After all, she was in her adolescent years, so she did mind her ugliness and felt sad. That day, when she was working at the shop like always, a man at the shop teased her appearance. Oume felt sad and cried. And she wiped her face with the washcloth that the beggar gave her. Then, a miracle happened to Oume.