Urashima
Taro
By Yuka Okuno
One
day, a boy named Urashimataro was walking on the beach. He saw some
ruffians bullying a turtle. Urashimataro helped the turtle. In the
evening the turtle came back to the beach to thank Urashimataro.
Urashimataro
rode on the turtle's back and dove into the deep sea. They arrived
at the gate of Ryugujo, an underwater castle. A beautiful woman
called Otohime welcomed them. They treated Urashimataro very kindly.
Urashimataro stayed with them at Rugujo for quite a while until
one day, he remembered his family and wanted to go back home. The
turtle and Otohime bid him farewell and Otohime gave him a big treasure
box. But she told him not to open it.
Urashimataro
returned home. He wondered what was in the box, so he opened the
box anyway. Then he became an old man in an instant.
Although
Urashimataro had thought he had only been gone a few days, it was
actually many years. Otohime had kept his old age in the box.
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