Long ago, there was a big bungalow on the mountain. And in that bungalow, there lived a little girl named Fifi.

Fifi’s parents were musician. They always had to go for world tour and performances. And so, she was taken care by 3 maids. However, she still feels lonely and she began to be more and more capricious.

There was a tower in that bungalow. There’s a little wisdom elf living in that tower. She was worried about Fifi as one of the maid resigned because she couldn’t take Fifi’s capriciousness anymore.

“Oh gosh! I can’t let this go on like that. Wait, I got an idea!” The little wisdom elf opened the door (which was closed for a long period) that linked to the tower to help Fifi.

“Hey, is there a door before this?” Fifi opened up the door cowardly. “Wow! It’s the entrance to that tower!”

After she walked up to the stairs, she saw another door. She opened it and went into a room. Then she saw a blur mirror being hung on the wall. “What a filthy mirror!”

She blew some vapour on the mirror, and wiped it with her skirt. But still, the mirror was blur. “This is weird! It’s still so dirty!”

“Hey! Hey! Miss!”

Fifi got so frightened that a voice suddenly appears out of nowhere.

“Who is it?!”

Then an elf flew out beside the mirror! “I’m the little elf that lives in this tower. My name is Wisdom.”
Fifi curiously asked: “Are you really an elf?! Is it true that an elf could make a person’s wish come true?”

The little elf answered her with a glance: “You silly girl, you’re just too capricious! I will not make your wish come true!”

“Ish! You ego proud elf!”

The next day, Fifi suddenly thought about the mirror. She thought that it would look magnificent if it’s hung on her wall. Without a second thought, she quickly moved her feet to the tower, and hastily grabbed the mirror down without a single embarrassment.

But the little elf came out and stopped her, “You can’t take that mirror yet!” Then Fifi asked proudly: “Why is that so?”

“You mischievous little girl! Listen up! If you ever wanna get the mirror, you must first rub and clean in! And if you wish to rub the mirror, you must first clean and rub your heart!” Then the little elf vanished into thin air after she finished.

One day when Fifi was on her way home after school, she saw a little kitten filled with mud sitting in the grass. “Isn’t this my neighbour, Uncle Wong’s cat? Oh no, it’s hurt!” Then she brought the kitten back to her neighbour’s house.

“Thanks for saving my cat! But you got your clothes dirty.”

“Oh that’s ok. Just check if the cat’s ok.”

“Oh I have to rush to the doctor, anyway thanks for your help!”

All of a sudden, her heart turned good. When she went back to the tower and look at the mirror, she found out that it was a little clearer now. The little elf told her that “Today you’ve helped out your neighbour. And for how much your heart has grown, the mirror will turn clearer.”

“Really? Then I must continue the good work tomorrow!”

Then the next day when she was in a bus, she saw an elder woman coming her way. Then she thought that this would be a good chance to do a good deed. “Here, have my seat.” she told that woman. After that, she quickly ran back to the tower and check out the mirror. But the mirror appeared to be the same as yesterday. “Why is it still the same?” she thought.

She sat on the floor sorrowfully. Then she heard the little elf’s voice plunging in the room again. “Poor little Fifi, wished to polish the mirror by good deeds. Have a seat, but oh, that’s not a good deed. That’s a selfish thought. That’s why you can’t polish the mirror.”

During dinner time, Fifi lost her spirit. She was just thinking “That’s true… I did not helped that lady solely because I wanted to. It was my selfish act.” After she had her dessert, Fifi’s eyes suddenly sparkle with some kind of magical light. “That’s right! I should help people not for my selfish motive! I must help others willingly!”

After a few days, when she was walking on the hills, she saw a baby car rolling down the hills. “Oh no! Who’s gonna stop that!” Without wasting another second, she immediately ran towards the baby car and shouted “No!!!” She stood there just like a wall and she managed to stop the baby car. But…

“Ouch, it hurts…” and so, Fifi fainted after stopping the baby car. After that, she had to stay in the hospital because she fractured her bone. “When I was in the hospital, I’ve thought clearly that I really felt happier to help the other people than just being a mischievous little girl.”

When she got back home and entered her room, she was surprised to see the mirror being hung in her room! To be even astonishing, she could see her own face through that mirror now!

“Oh little elf!”

“From now on, this mirror belongs to you. This mirror is just like your heart. It needs to be polished often. I hope that you won’t get the mirror dirty again. I have to go now, bye Fifi!”

With a ‘woof’, the little elf flew back to the tower and vanished the door forever.

Gosho:
A lost and low ichinen is like an unpolished mirror. But when it’s polished, the Buddhahood that emerges is that of a crystal clear mirror.

This story was written according to this piece of gosho.

Nichiren Daishonin used the mirror to explain the importance of chanting to us. In Nichiren Daishonin’s era, mirrors are made with copper material, which is different from the ones we use now. If it wasn’t polished, then it will be very blur. When we polish it frequently, then we could get a clear mirror that reflects image vividly.

This is the same with the state of life. In the same life, we could get confusion and comprehension. If we didn’t know the mystic law, then we will just keep surrounding in the state on confusion. If we have faith in the mystic law, we would achieve the state of comprehension. In every single life, there is life force, light, and the life of Buddhahood. If we keep on polishing our lives, and do our gongyo and daimoku in fron of the Gohonzon, then we could embrace the wisdom and courage in life.

(Picked from Soka Junior, and edite ）

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