URASHIMA

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 tugging¹ 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 drowsy², just as it does on a summer’s day, and Urashima fell asleep.

While he was sleeping a beautiful maiden³ rose outdecoration126decoration 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 spoke⁴ 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.”
Woman and boy in boat surrounded by lilies
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 rubies⁵ and sapphires⁶; and the fishes’ scales were of pure silver and gold.

decoration127decoration

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 drowneddecoration128decoration 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.
boy releasing cloud

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?

decoration129decoration

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 bent⁷.

Finally he fell down on the beach, crushed by the weight of his four hundred years.

—Charlotte Chaffee Gibson.

1 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句

2 drowsy   

adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的

参考例句：

• Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。
• I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

3 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 rubies   

红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色

参考例句：

• a necklace of rubies intertwined with pearls 缠着珍珠的红宝石项链
• The crown was set with precious jewels—diamonds, rubies and emeralds. 王冠上镶嵌着稀世珍宝—有钻石、红宝石、绿宝石。

6 sapphires   

n.蓝宝石，钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 )；蔚蓝色

参考例句：

• Again there was that moment of splintered sapphires before the lids, dropping like scales, extinguished it. 她眼眶中又闪烁出蓝宝石的光彩，接着眼睑象鱼鳞般地垂落下来，双目又黯然失色了。 来自辞典例句
• She also sported a somewhat gawdy gold watch set with diamonds and sapphires. 她还收到一块镶着钻石和蓝宝石的金表。 来自辞典例句

7 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。