THE FISHERMAN AND THE SEA KING’S DAUGHTER

The sea was calm and warm, a wide stretch of sun and water. From the waves rolling to the shore from
beyond the horizon, the day was coming up and bringing the sunlight with it, shining gold on the
fishermen’s boats of Mistune. Circling above, the seagulls seem to call them to the out waters, full of
troves of fish with glittering scales. At this time of the morning, a young man was heading towards his
boat tied to the pier, tick-tucking with his wooden sandals. His face was tanned by the countless days
spent at sea, his black eyebrows were arching above the deep eyes that charmed every girl in the little
fishermen’s village. The name of this out-of-the-ordinary young man was Urashima Taro.

The elders could not remember anybody else that handsome and that brave, spending days in a row
alone at sea in his small fishing boat, in the middle of seemingly endless water. The parents of Urashima
Taro were poor, now getting old and often worried about him. They warned him many times about his
long solitary journeys in the middle of the blue water stretches, especially when he was spending too
much time out at sea. They were afraid they would lose their only child to the unknown ocean.

His kimono was long over his knees and an apron made of rice straws was holding his waist as a wide
belt, protecting him from the small lead weights hanging at the bottom of his fishing net that he was
spinning overhead before launching it into the water.

All around his forehead he was wearing a white bandana. One hand was holding his fishing tools and the
other was carrying a linen bag with food for a couple of days. Rowing away from the small fishing
harbour, Urashima Taro was on his way to meet a fate that no other fisherman in the whole Japanese
archipelago had ever faced.

Looking to his homeland and the village he had grown in, the young man suddenly felt something
strange, like a claw grasping his heart out of the blue. He didn’t know what to believe or what that could
mean. He was remembering his childhood, the soft breeze and the refreshing cold water of the small
river he had so many times swam in as a fearless child. Close to the shore he could see the pagoda of the
old village temple and, not far from it, his poor and modest home with his parents still sleeping and
maybe dreaming of him coming back with the nets full of tasty fish.

Three days had passed now, without Urashima Taro catching even one single fish, although he ventured
further at sea than ever before. Three nights he slept in his small boat, gently rocked by the waves, and
his dreams were foretelling him about a great deal of luck coming his way. He rowed and rowed, further
and further, launching his fishing net as far from the boat as possible.

Suddenly, he felt that something big was caught in the net, maybe a big fish. He quickly pulled out the
now heavy net, but to his great disappointment, there was only a turtle. It was for the first time that
kind of thing happened to him. Maybe other fishermen would have felt happy with such a catch, but not
Urashima Taro. He knew that turtles are very dear to the Dragon – the King of the Sea, who had his
palace on a magical island that no human had ever visited so far. Urashima Taro also knew from the old
fishermen’s tales that turtles could live up to a thousand years.

‘Don't be afraid, I will send you back to the Sea King!’ said Urashima Taro to the turtle, placing it on the
bottom of his boat, where it was protected from waves and wind. He then petted the turtle on its head,
looking into its sparkling and almost human twinkling eyes. The turtle’s shell seemed to be made of gold
and precious stones.

‘For now I will keep you with me in the boat, so I could have some company. But do not worry, I will not
put an end to the hundreds of years you might have left to live of your life.’

Then Urashima Taro laid down on his back to the bottom of the boat, careful not to cause any harm to
his turtle guest and started looking up to the blue sky above, with thin long white clouds running high.
With a smile, he remembered the tale of the Dragon, the magical King of the Sea.

Far away, in the middle of the ocean, there are three islands blessed with a forever, eternal summer.
Storms never darkened their skies. Plum trees, cherry trees and peach trees growing on their shores
were fruitful all the time, without ever ceasing or going dry. The cranes were nesting in branches of the
ever green pine trees. Those who lived on those islands were keeping forever young by drinking the
water of a magic spring coming out of a crystal rock.

On the biggest of the islands was the home of the Sea King, made of coral and crystals. The walking
paths around the castle were covered in priceless pearls and the ponds were home to the most beautiful
fish in the world. But the humans, being just ordinary mortals, could never witness so many wonders...

Carried away by the heat of the midday sun, Urashima Taro drifted to less and less awake, bit by bit,
finally falling deeply asleep. He didn’t know for how long he had slept, rocked like a baby by the gentle
waves and warmed by the sun. But he woke up feeling a soft delicate hand caressing his forehead. He
opened his eyes and was left speechless, seeing above him, bent from her waist, an astonishing
beautiful girl like he never met before. She was dressed in a scarlet dress and wearing a diamond
necklace, her black long hair falling from her shoulders all the way down to her feet that were floating
on the water, right next to the boat. The turtle had vanished !

Urashima Taro rubbed his eyes, waiting for the dream girl to disappear, as he thought he is still
dreaming, but the girl kept smiling at him and even talked to him with a voice as soft and charming as
the whisper and music of the waves on a sandy beach:

‘Urashima Taro, wake up! I am Otohime, the daughter of the Sea King. I stood by your side, watching
over you while you were sleeping. Your good heart and kindness you showed when you caught me in
your net and gently took me in your boat will be rewarded by my father. I would like us to get to his
palace before sunset!’

She then stepped into the small fishing boat, next to Urashima Taro who still couldn’t speak a single
word in his amazement, and grabbed one of the oars. The young man took the other and they started to
row, shoulder to shoulder, taking short glances at each other. Otohime noticed how handsome and
charming the young fisherman was and felt her heart throbbing and beating faster every time she was
quickly looking at him. All they could both hear was the oars splashing in the water and the beats of
their hearts.

After a while, Otohime left the oar and put her palms over Urashima Taro’s eyes, as he felt the boat
started flying over the waves, just like seagulls. When the Sea King’s daughter lifted her delicate palms
off his blushing cheeks, the boat was just approaching Ryugu, the palace of the Sea King.

It was a place like no other, made of crystal, the window sills made of coral, with gold doors and ivory
handles, all encrusted with precious stones and the roof covered with tiles like fish scales, but made of
silver. The young man barely could dare walking on the beautiful seashells that covered, like gravel on a
common walk, the path to the entrance of the palace. A hundred servants and a hundred maids came
out to meet the young princess and the fisherman, greeting and cheering them like they were groom
and bride.

Otohime then led Urashima Taro to her father, whose throne was rising on a huge turtle shell. Kai-riujin,
as the king was also known, the Dragon of the Seas, gave them a royal reception and had them seated
on either side of his throne. Otohime confessed she was in love with Urashima Taro to which he then
asked her to be his wife. The King gladly gave his blessing, and the wedding took place immediately,
lasting for seven days in a row. The room of the newly wed couple, where Urashima Taro was to live
with the daughter of the Dragon of the Seas, without ever getting old, was looking towards a garden, a
true wonder of wonders !

On the East side there were delicate flowers of cherry trees and plum trees blooming, from their
emerald leaves you could hear the charming trills of nightingales.

In the South there was a forever summer and from the silky grass you could hear countless chirps of the
crickets.

To the West you could hear the gentle rustling of the scarlet leaves of maple trees and the mum
blossoms were opening up one after another.

At last, to the North there was the winter with snow-covered trees and sheets of ice across lakes and
ponds, with icicles and ice flowers ornating the branches and canopies.

This garden was the only place on the island where you could meet all the four seasons in one day.

The happy life that Urashima Taro was living with his wife, the love he was holding for her, the marvels
surrounding them at every step made him forget completely who he was a while ago. Every day were
just as happy and blessed as the one before, following one another like pearls on a string of a necklace,
so he didn’t even notice them going by. He couldn’t remember now his homeland, his fishing net or his
old parents.

Years had passed, he didn’t even know how many, until one day when he was strolling through the
wonderful palace and he came across a room he hadn’t ever visited.
There, in a corner, there was a small boat with fishing tools inside it. Taking a careful look at the boat he
felt something strange happening to him, like long forgotten memories coming back up, fresh and vivid.
He suddenly remembered that the boat and fishing tools once belonged to him, long time ago. He felt
like missing something so important, so dear, so long time vanished, that he straddled on the back of the
golden scales fish to wander through the wide swathes of ocean in order to find peace for his mind.

But taking more and more walks through the palace and coming back to that small room with his boat
over and over again, he started wondering what his parents might be doing that moment, how happy
they would be finding out that their son was not lost at sea, but he is the son-in-law of the Dragon of the
Seas. What if he would take a quick trip to visit them?

From that day on, Urashima Taro was restless and sadder by the minute. Seeing him so unhappy,
Otohime asked him what is happening. When she heard that he would like to leave, even if just for a few
days, she started crying for the first time. She feared that she will not see him ever again. But Urashima
Taro comforted her, saying he will only be away for a short while, only to see his parents and then he
will come back. Otohime agreed to let him go.

The next day, Urashima Taro prepared his boat and cleaned the cobwebs covering it. Before he left,
Otohime gave him a small ebony diamond-encrusted chest sealed with a fine silk string. She told him the
chest was to remind him of her at every moment, but he should never open it or lift the lid, or else he
will never see her again.

Urashima Taro promised not to open it and gave a loving hug to his wife, telling her she shouldn’t be
worried. Then he jumped in his boat and started rowing, set the course to his homeland. As he was
rowing, he was looking at the magical island which faded away, until it was just a thin blurry line on the
horizon.

After seven days, Urashima Taro finally spotted land in sight. It was his homeland, the shore he left
behind a few years ago. The places seemed the same, but not the houses: they looked bigger and
different. The rice farms were now no longer where he had known them to be, and the old temple on
the sea shore had now moved on a hill. And where his parents’ house used to be, the house where he
had been born and raised, now there was a small pine tree forest. The people looked like strange to him,
like foreigners, their clothes were now so different, even the fishermen’s boats were completely
different from his!

The people passing by him were looking curious at him and Urashima Taro could not see a single face he
knew. After he realised he was indeed in the place he had left years ago, he approached a very old man,
who was leaning on a cane and seemed to be at least a hundred years old, asking him:

‘Tell me please, good old man, do you happen to know where Urashima Taro’s parents are?’

‘You seem to be joking, young man, or you are not from around here!’ mumbled the old man in his
white beard. ‘When I was a child, I heard from my great-grandfather, who in turn heard this legend in
his childhood years from the oldest people in the village, that a young fisherman called Urashima Taro
had gone to sea and never came back. He had a boat pretty much like yours over there. His parents died
about four centuries ago. There is a tombstone that bears the name of Urashima Taro, but it is in the old
village cemetery, that was abandoned about two hundred years ago. If you don’t believe me, go see it
for yourself! Maybe you heard the story of that fisherman from someone in the village, but they did not
mention that more than thirty kings have ruled over the country all this time!’

The old man walked away, while Urashima Taro stood still, like turned to stone. So, the four years he
had spent in the Dragon’s palace were actually like four hundred years here, among ordinary humans?
That couldn’t be possible, he was feeling as young as in the day he left his parents’ home. Deeply
saddened, he set towards the old abandoned village cemetery. He looked around, reading the dates on
the tombstones near him; he could barely read the years carved in stone now covered with moss and
lichens. He understood that the old man was not lying. After a long search he finally found his parents’
grave. He read, although he couldn’t believe his eyes, the names of his parents and his own name as
well on a weathered, centuries-old stone!

What had happened? What was the secret of his eternal youth? Maybe the chest Otohime gave him
could shed some light on all these strange and unbelievable happenings? He then nervously untied the
knot of the silk string surrounding the precious chest and eagerly opened the lid. A white little cloud rose
from the chest, climbing up in the air and floating towards Ryugu, the palace of the Sea Dragon. Only at
that moment he remembered what his wife told him and quickly slammed the lid back but it was too
late. He had now understood he will never see her again and desperate started calling her name: ‘O-to-
hime! O-to-hime!’ But only the sea breeze was answering him, faintly, more like a whisper: ‘O-to-hime!
O-to-hime!’...

All of a sudden he started feeling weaker and weaker, his hair started getting gray, he was getting old in
a second like others were in a year! What was happening, did he return to his homeland only to die next
to his parents’ grave, next to a four hundred year old tombstone with his name on it ? Was this the end?
Maybe there was, on the bottom of the chest, any bit left of that cloud of his eternal youth?