US Navy Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton arrives in Nagasaki. He leases a house for 999 years and marries a 17-year old geisha, Cho-Cho-San. Pinkerton bans her family from visiting, and they disown her.

Pinkerton's duties take him away from Nagasaki, but he promises to return "when the robins nest again". Cho-Cho-San has faith that he will return and bears their baby. She names him Trouble.

A marriage broker harangues Cho-Cho-San to take a new husband. He warns that if Pinkerton does return it will probably only be to retrieve his child. He introduces her to a prince named Yamadori who tells Cho-Cho-San that Pinkerton never viewed their marriage as permanent. Yamadori offers to marry Cho-Cho-San and help her keep Trouble.

Cho-Cho-San visits the American consul, Mr. Sharpless. As Sharpless learns the full scope of Pinkerton's actions, he grows ashamed and contemptuous of the officer. Sharpless encourages her to marry Yamadori.

Several weeks later, Pinkerton's ship arrives. Cho-Cho-San has been keeping a faithful watch for it and is overcome with emotion. Her maid Suzuki helps prepare the house with flowers and arrange Pinkerton's things the way he remembered them. Cho-Cho-San wears her finest kimono and hides behind a shoji to watch Pinkerton's arrival. She waits all night to no avail.

A week later, a civilian ship arrives. Cho-Cho-San spies Pinkerton on deck with a blonde woman. She keeps another fruitless vigil waiting for her husband's homecoming. When Pinkerton's ship leaves the harbor, Cho-Cho-San returns to Sharpless' office. Desperate to avoid inflicting more pain, Sharpless lies to Cho-Cho-San. He tells her that Pinkerton was ordered to China and could not return to her. Sharpless offers her an envelope full of money.

The blonde woman from the steamship bursts into the office and identifies herself as Pinkerton's wife. She asks Sharpless to telegram Pinkerton to say that she had been to Cho-Cho-San's house but could not find her. She asks if she can bring Trouble with her when she joins Pinkerton the following week.

Cho-Cho-San rushes home. She bids farewell to Suzuki and Trouble and shuts herself in her room to end her own life. She opens a wound in her throat and the blood drips down her chest. Suzuki silently enters the room with the baby and pinches him to make him cry. Cho-Cho-San lets the sword drop to the floor. As the baby crawls onto Cho-Cho-San's lap, Suzuki dresses her wound. When Mrs. Pinkerton returns to the house the following day it is empty.

All published appearances of Madame Butterfly from before January 1, )-(95)}} are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

* Madame Butterfly (1898)

* Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan - Play (1900)
* Madame Butterfly - Opera (1904)

* O Mona San: A Tokyo Tragedy (1900)
* Poor Butterfly (1916)

* Madame Butterfly (1915 film)
* Harakiri (1919 film)
* Le ménage moderne du Madame Butterfly (1920)
* The Toll of the Sea (1922)

* Modern Comics #78: The Japanese villain Madame Buttefly began robbing mineral prospectors on islands in the Pacific. This brought the Blackhawk Squadron on her tail. She outmaneuvered them in the air, but Blackhawk followed her underlings to their hideout. He was captured and set to be executed with a special fungus growth. Madame Butterfly rallied her troops against the other Blackhawks, allowing Blackhawk to escape. With her underlings falling like flies and the Blackhawks closing in, she chose to kill herself with her fungus rather than be arrested.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Butterfly_(short_story) Wikipedia]
*[https://myths-in-media.fandom.com/wiki/Madame_Butterfly Myths in Media Wiki]

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