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| From Japan Info |
My mother told us this ocean-themed folk tale when we were young, and I remember thinking at the time how very similar the story was to that of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle. Urashima Taro is a young fisherman who saves a sea turtle, and in return is allowed to visit a wonderful undersea world inhabited by a beautiful princess. He is delighted with the world, but eventually becomes homesick for his family and asks to return home. Although Urashima Taro is warned against this visit, he insists, and the undersea inhabitants send him home. He is given a box to take with him, but is warned never to open the box. Upon his return home he discovers that what he thought was just a short separation had instead been centuries. His home and parents are long gone. In his sorrow, he forgets the warning and opens the forbidden box, with dire consequences. This is a rather grim fairy tale, but like many stories of this sort there is a lesson to be learned, in this case one of obedience. Perhaps my mother had a good reason for telling us this tale!
This would be a good story to recount to children on Halloween - it is only a little bit scary, and they just might take the lesson to heart! You can read the story here, or listen to an audio version on YouTube:
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