A Japanese Rip Van Winkle Story

1878

The Japanese have the story of Rip Van Winkle in another form.

A young man, fishing in his boat, on the ocean, was invited by the goddess of the sea to her home beneath the waves. After three days he desired to go and see his old father and mother. On parting she gave him a golden casket and a key, but begged him never to open it.

At the village where he lived all was changed, and he could get no trace of his parents until an aged woman recollected having heard of their names. He found their graves a hundred years old. Thinking that three days could not have made such a change, and that he was under a spell, he opened the casket. A white vapor arose, and under its influence the young man fell to the ground. His hair turned gray, and his form lost its youth, and in a few moments more he died of old age.