So they were married and lived happily, and even the old Sea King grew to like Urashima and blessed him before he died.
Urashima had lived in the Dragon Palace of the Princess of the Sea what seemed to him but a short time when memory came to him again. He thought of his father and mother and of his little brothers and sisters, and he grew sad. The princess watched him and her heart sank.
“He will go from me and not return,” she sighed. “Alas! alas! for mortal love!”
Urashima at last said to the princess, “Beloved princess, I have spent these months of our life together in happiness so great that I would that it could last forever. I remember, however, my old home and the dear ones I left there. Give me leave, therefore, to return to earth for but a day, that I may see them once more. They know not where I am. They know nothing of my happiness. Let me go, and quickly I will return.”
“Alas, my beloved, you will never return,” she said. “Never more will your deep sea home see you again,—that my poor heart tells me. But if the yearning for home has seized you, I may not keep you here. Go, but take this with you,” and she handed him a casket made of a single pearl and set with a picture of the princess. “So long as you keep this unopened you may return; but open it, and you will never see me again. Farewell.”
So Urashima returned to earth bearing with him the little casket.
His home seemed strange to him. The village street was not what it used to be; his father’s house no longer stood beneath the tall bamboo; he saw no familiar faces. At last, puzzled and distressed, he asked a passer-by if he knew aught of the people of Urashima.
“Urashima!” he answered in amazement. “He was drowned in the sea, many, many years ago. His people all lie buried on the hill. Their very tombs are lichen-grown with age.”
“Am I dreaming,” cried Urashima. “My Sea Princess, what have you done to me?”
Then seizing the casket he gazed upon the face of the nymph and as he did so a strange desire came over him to see what was within. He opened it just a crack and a thin, gray smoke rose toward heaven, and in the curling clouds he seemed to see the lovely form of the princess, and her eyes gazed sadly at him. Then he looked down at himself in wonder. From a stalwart youth he had become a white-haired old man; and, weeping bitterly, he stretched forth his hands to the sea.