"O Chichi San, how worthily beautiful!" and Umé danced about the room, clasping the pretty things to her heart. "This is what I have asked of Benten Sama and Kwannon and of the other goddesses," she said with shining eyes.
Then she stood still and said wonderingly, "But I did not ask for a baby brother, although he was more to be desired."
"Your mother gives both the shoes and the baby brother to you," said her father.
"May I not go to her and give her many thanks truly?" asked Umé.
"Your mother is ill," said her father. "It may be that she will never speak to us again."
"Oh, no!" cried Umé in great distress. She looked at the little red shoes and suddenly dropped them to the floor.
"Benten Sama may have them, if she will only make my honorable mother well," she said.
The pretty things which she had dreamed of, and longed for, and begged of all the gods, suddenly became of no value to her except as an offering to save her mother's life.
She knelt at her father's feet and bowed her head to the floor. "Have I your noble permission to go to Asakusa Temple and pray to the good Kwannon that my mother may become well?" she asked.
"Yes," her father answered, "and it may be that a gift of that which you most treasure will be pleasing to the Goddess of Mercy."