Urashima was a fisher-boy who lived long ago in Japan.
One day he went out in his boat, and after he had been fishing a little
while, he felt something very heavy tugging at his line.
He gave a hard pull and got it up into his boat. Then he found that it
was a big tortoise with such a funny old wrinkled face that he burst
out laughing when he saw it.
In Japan a tortoise lives a thousand years, so Urashima thought it
would be a shame to kill this funny old fellow, when he might have so
long to live. Besides, a small fish would suit him just as well for
dinner, so he threw the tortoise back into the sea, and meant to go on
fishing.
But somehow the air seemed too heavy and drowsy, just as it does on a
summer’s day, and Urashima fell asleep.
While he was sleeping a beautiful maiden rose out of the water and got
into the boat with him. Urashima waked, and when he saw her he thought
she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
The maiden spoke to him. “Urashima,” she said, “you thought you caught
a tortoise a little while ago, but it was really me. My father had sent
me in disguise to see if you were a good, kind boy.
“We know now that you are kind-hearted, as you spared the life of the
old tortoise. So I am going to take you with me to the Dragon Palace,
where my father, the Sea King, and I live. There you shall marry me,
and we shall be very happy.”
[Illustration: I AM GOING TO TAKE YOU WITH ME TO THE DRAGON PALACE.]
Urashima gladly consented, and they floated away till they came to a
wonderful palace at the bottom of the sea.
This palace was all built of the most beautiful pink and white coral,
and was studded with diamonds and pearls.
The leaves of the trees were emeralds, with berries of rubies and
sapphires; and the fishes’ scales were of pure silver and gold.
All this was given to Urashima, and the beautiful princess became his
wife. Any boy would be happy in such a palace, and Urashima was happy
for three years.
Then he said to the princess, “I must go to see my father and mother,
and my brothers and sisters, but I will return again to you.”
This made the poor princess very sad, for she did not wish to have
Urashima go away.
But when she saw how much he wished to go, she gave him a little box to
take with him, telling him under no conditions to open it, for if he
did he could never return to her.
So Urashima started off, and soon found himself on the shore where he
had lived. But everything seemed strangely different. Even the people
were different and looked at him in a curious way.
He could not seem to find his way home, so he asked two men whom he met
if they could tell him how to reach the house of Urashima’s parents.
“Urashima!” they cried. “Why, he was drowned out fishing about four
hundred years ago, and not even his body was found. His father and
mother are buried over there.”
Then they moved away hastily, for they thought he must be insane.
[Illustration]
Poor Urashima could not think what to do. He began to think that the
Dragon Palace must be a part of Fairyland, where a day is the same as a
year on earth, and he wished to return to it. But how could he find the
way?
He could not remember how he had come.
Suddenly he thought of the box that the princess had given him, and
forgetting that he had promised not to open it, he pulled open the lid,
hoping to learn the way back.
There was nothing in the box but a fleecy white cloud that floated
softly up into the blue sky.
Then, too late, he remembered what the princess had said, and he called
and called the cloud to come back. He even ran along the beach trying
to catch it.
But soon he could not call, for his breath came shorter and shorter,
his hair turned white, and his back became weak and bent.
Finally he fell down on the beach, crushed by the weight of his four
hundred years.
—_Charlotte Chaffee Gibson._