Before the fishing villages had forgotten the old ways, a young fisherman named Urashima Taro spared a small turtle on the shore, and was carried in return down through the green water to the Dragon King's palace beneath the sea. There he lived in wonder among coral halls and the four seasons blooming all at once, until his heart turned homeward and he was given a small lacquered box, with one gentle warning. So the people of Japan have long told of the days that pass like waves, and of the white mist that rose when at last the box was opened.
