Taro Urashima: the True Story
Written by Mashiro yuh

All translation here is made by Mr.Raccoon.


"And Taro Urashima was taken to the Ryugu-jo."
"Didn’t he have difficulty breathing?"
"Strange enough, he didn’t have any."
"So!"
The old woman went on telling the story.
"And at last when he returned home, 300 years had passed since his departure and in his home village he could find nobody he knew. Taro was so devasgated by the fact and…"
"I know the story."
"You do? Really? "”
"I do. He opened the secret box only to find himself being an old man."
The old woman shook her head, smiling at the child.


"Oh, my God!"
Taro Urashima was devasgated.
Sitting on the beach, he stared at the waves.
His unexpected doom made him unable to think of anything.
I am not worth living any longer.
Now he possibly got ready, unconscious smiles were spreading over his face.
Well, I remember they gave me some gift in a box.
Taro took out the box.
Though she told me not to open the box, then why the hell did she give such a thing? Why can’t I think she actually meant “open it!” ?
Taro made himself bold to open the box.
The next moment the box belched out clouds of smoke.
"Ooooh!"
He could not help coughing, and tried to drive away the smoke desperately.
It lasted for a considerable time, and stopped.
"…W-what the hell was that?"
What did happen to my voice? I’m afraid this is not my voice…
The smoke completely disappeared.
"What?"
Some other changes were happening to him.
He could not believe his eyes when he saw his own hands and arms. He had never seen such beautiful and cute arms before. For some time he had been being stunned with them.
"…Aah…..aaaah…"
A beautiful girl, standing absentmindedly beside the box, flopped down on the beach.



"Gee! Are you sure Taro became a girl?"
The child was much surprised.
"Oh yes! It isn’t true that he became an old man then a crane, though such a story got around in the world."
"So! And?"
"What do you mean by ‘and’ ?"
"I mean, what became of Taro after he had changed to a girl?"
"Well," the old woman replied with a distant look. "I’m not sure but do hope she got married and lived happily ever after."
Her eyes seemed a little wet with tears.

Notes:

*Taro Urashima (Urashima Taro) a very famous Japanese folktale: Taro, a young fisherman, saved a big turtle from children’s attacks. The turtle, in reward, took him to the Ryugu-jo under the sea, where the princess Oto-hime entertained him. Several days later when he was about to return home the princess gave him a gift in a box, saying "please don’t open it." However, when he was back home he got aware that some hundreds of years had passed since his departure, and opened the box against her words only to find himself being an old man.
Though I think it improper to explain about a parody, I must explain; that is a parody which I wrote, assuming Taro to undergo a transgender transformation, namely, become a woman instead of an old man.
In Japan we often call the time warp (that Einstein explained in his Special Theory of Relativity) "Urashima effect" after this old tale. Some enthusiasts even say that it was a story of a man abducted by E.Ts.

**Ryugu-jo a castle under the sea, which Taro was taken to.