Uraschima Taro, which means in Japanese "Son of the Island," was the
only and dearly beloved son of an old fisherman and his wife:
He was a fine, strong youth, who could manage a boat more cleverly
than any one else on the neighboring coast. He often ventured so far
out to sea that neighbors warned his parents that he would sometime go
too far and never return.
His parents knew, however, that he understood his boat and the sea
very well, and they were never much concerned about him. Even when
he failed to come back as soon as he was expected, they awaited his
return without anxiety. They loved him better than their own lives,
and were proud that he was braver and stronger than their neighbors'
sons.
Early one morning, Uraschima Taro went to haul in his nets, which had
been set the night before. In one of them, among some fishes, he found
a small turtle. This he placed in the boat, by itself, where it would
safely keep, until he could take it home. To his amazement, the turtle
begged for its life in most pitiful tones. "Of what use am I to you?"
it asked. "I am too small to eat, and so young that it will take me a
long time to grow. Have mercy and put me back into the sea, for I do
not want to die." Uraschima Taro had a very kind heart and could not
bear to see anything that was small and helpless suffer; so he did as
the turtle asked him.
Several years after this, when Uraschima Taro was one day far out at
sea, a terrible whirlwind struck his boat and shattered it. He was a
good swimmer, and managed for a long time to make progress toward the
land; but as he was so far from shore in the rough sea, his strength
at last gave out and he felt himself sinking. Just as he had given up
hope, and thought that he would never see his dear parents again, he
heard his name called and saw a large turtle swimming toward him.
"Climb on my back," shouted the turtle, "and I will carry you to
land." When Uraschima Taro was safely sitting on the turtle's back it
continued: "I am the turtle whose life you saved when you found me,
little and helpless, in your net, and I am glad of this opportunity to
show that I am not ungrateful."
Before they reached the shore, the turtle asked Uraschima Taro how he
would like to be shown some of the wonderful beauties hidden under the
sea. The young fisherman replied that the experience would please him.
In a moment they were shooting down through the green water. He clung
to the turtle's back, who carried him many, many fathoms below.
After three nights they reached the bottom of the sea, and came to a
wonderful palace of gold and crystal. Coral and pearls and precious
stones dazzled his eyes; but inside, the palace was more beautiful
still, and blazing fish scales lighted it.
"This," said the turtle, "is the palace of the sea-god. I am a
waiting-maid to his lovely daughter, the Princess."
The turtle went to announce the arrival of Uraschima Taro to the
Princess, and soon returning, led him to her presence. She was so
beautiful that when she asked him to remain in the palace he gladly
consented.
"Do not leave me, and you shall always be as handsome as you are now,
and old age cannot come to you," she said.
So it happened that Uraschima Taro lived in the marvelous palace at
the bottom of the sea with the daughter of the sea-god. He was so
happy that the time passed by unheeded. How long he dwelt there he
could not have told. But one day he thought of his parents; then he
remembered that they must be troubled by his absence. The thought of
them kept coming to him continually, and the longing to see them grew
so strong that at last he told the Princess he must go to visit them.
She begged him not to leave her and wept bitterly.
"If you go, I shall never see you again," she sobbed.
But he told her that he must see his father and mother once again;
then he would return to the palace in the sea, to be with her always.
When she found that she could not persuade him to remain, she gave him
a small gold box, which, she told him, he must on no account open.
"If you heed my words," said she, "you may come back to me. When you
are ready, the turtle will be there to bring you; but if you forget
what I have told you, I shall never see you again."
Uraschima Taro fondly assured her that nothing in the world should
keep him from her, and bade her farewell. Mounting the turtle's back,
he soon left the palace far below. For three days and three nights
they swam, and then the turtle left him on the familiar sands near his
old home.
He eagerly ran to the village and looked about for some of his
comrades. All of the faces were strange, and even the houses seemed
different. The children, playing in the street where he had lived, he
had never seen before. Stopping in front of his own house, he regarded
it with a sinking heart. There was the sound of music from a window
above, and a strange woman opened the door to him. She could tell him
nothing of his parents, and had never heard their names. Every one
whom he questioned looked at him curiously. At last he wandered from
the village and came to the burying ground. Searching about among the
graves, he soon found himself beside a stone bearing the dear names he
sought. The date showed him that his father and mother had died soon
after he left them; and then he discovered that he had been away from
his home three hundred years. Bowed with sorrow, he went back to the
city. At each step he hoped to wake and find it all a dream, but the
people and streets were real.
He thought of the Princess, and remembered the gold box she had given
to him. It might be that he was under some cruel enchantment, and that
this box contained the charm to break the spell. He eagerly raised
the cover, and a purple vapor escaped and left the box empty. To his
alarm, he noticed that the hand that held it had shriveled and grown
suddenly old. Trembling with horror, he ran to a stream of water which
ran down from the mountain, and saw reflected in its waters the face
of a mummy.
He crawled fearfully back to the village, and no one recognized him
as the strong youth who had entered it a few hours before. Nearly
exhausted; he finally reached the shore, where he sat wearily on a
rock and cried to the turtle. But he called to it in vain; the turtle
never came, and soon his quavering voice was hushed in death.
Before he died, the people of the village gathered about him and
listened to his strange story. Long afterward they told their children
of the young man who, for the love of his parents, left a marvelous
palace in the sea, and a Princess more beautiful than the day.
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