Story Cue Card
Story: “Urashima” in Japanese
Fairy Tales. By Lafcadio
Hearn.
Horace Liveright, 1928.
Ethnic
Origin:
Running
Time: Approximately 10
minutes
Power
Centers:
Risks I Plan
to Take with This Story:
1) Rather than
being tentative with the emotions in this story, I want to work hard to truly
feel the way that Urashima feels in the story, so that I can successfully
convey the powerful emotions that he is feeling—fear, sorrow, and
hopelessness.
2) I want to be
sure to retain the tale’s beautiful, formal, descriptive style. Rather than rushing through the story
and focusing only on the action (as I tend to do when I am nervous), I want to
include descriptive phrases. I also
want to keep the beautiful, formal sound of the story by including the words
and phrases listed in the “Special Phrases/ Flavor” section of this
cue card. I want to include these
elements in a very natural way, so that the tale does not sound
“rehearsed” or “memorized.”
3) I want to
make sure that the dialogue in the story flows smoothly. Although I want to move my head slightly
to demonstrate that one character is talking to another, I don’t want
this movement to go overboard, as it did in my Frog Prince, Continued
story. Also, I want to
differentiate the two characters that are talking by a slight difference in pitch,
but I do not want this differentiation to go overboard either.
4) I want to
work hard to maintain eye contact with the audience, in order to draw them into
the story.
Characters:
1) Urashima the
Fisherman
2) The Daughter
of the
3) Groups of
People that Urashima Approaches (Villagers, Children, and Men outside of town)
4) Old Man
Scenes: (All of the scenes describe Urashima.)
1) Fishing
– Kneels down in boat, drifts to haunted place, moon makes him mad
2) In Sea
Cave – Daughter takes him, pleads 3 times until he agrees to stay
3) On
Seashore – Daughter brings him up, gives him casket, says not to open
it
4) Runs Home
– Runs happily under pines, calls to children, they don’t answer
5) At his
House – Finds only 4 walls, area overgrown, thinks he’s lost
his mind
6) In Town
– Folks greet him as a stranger, looks for children but can’t find
them
7)
8) At
Graveyard – Sees graves of sons and sons’ sons, nobody to comfort
him
9) At
Seashore – Nobody to comfort him, opens casket, grows old and dies
Synopsis:
One
night when Urashima the fisherman is out in his boat, he kneels down and
dabbles his hand in the water, paying no attention to the fact that his boat
has drifted to a haunted place and that the moon is making him mad. Then a lady comes up from the sea and
takes the fisherman down with her to her cave. She identifies herself as the
“Daughter of the Deep Sea,” and she pleads with the fisherman three
times to stay with her, saying that he is beautiful, that she will let him
reign with her as King of the Deep Sea, and that he has nothing to fear. Each time, he says that he needs to go
home to his family. Finally, when
she begins to cry, Urashima says that he will stay one night.
After
the night has passed, the Daughter of the
When
he goes to the village, he does not recognize any of the people, and they all
greet him as a stranger. He looks
at the faces of the children playing, but none of them are his children. Then he goes to the crossroads outside
the town and pulls each man that passes aside, asking him if he knows of
Urashima. Each man says that he has
not heard of him. Then he asks an
old man, who says that Urashima drowned long ago, and that his sons are dead
and their sons are dead. Urashima
runs to the graveyard, where he finds his sons’ graves and their
sons’ graves. He realizes
that there is nobody there to comfort him.
He runs to the seashore and realizes that there is nobody there to
comfort him either. He opens the
casket, and a faint white smoke rises from it. In a moment Urashima grows old—his
hair turns white, his body shrinks, and his eyes grow dim. He lays down upon the sand and dies.
Special
Phrases/"Flavor" to Include:
1) Wording of
the beginning: “Urashima was a fisherman of the
2) Formal
wording throughout the text—use of words such as “upon,”
“thou,” and “nay,” and occasional inversion of
sentences, such as “Low he leaned,” rather than “He leaned
low.”
3) Repetition
of Urashima’s phrases: “Let me go home. My little children wait and are
tired” and “Ah, now.
Let me go, for the dear gods’ sake. I would go to mine own.”
5) Repetition
of the Daughter of the
6) Repetition
of the phrase “No man more dead than he” by the Old Man and by
Urashima.
7) Wording of
the ending: “He laid down his length upon the sand and died.”
Audience: Adults
This story is
appropriate for adults because it features adult protagonists, and because it
includes the following issues that adults face:
1 Loss of
Magic: In this tale, the magic of the casket is irretrievably lost when
Urashima opens it. Adults can
relate to this loss of magic in a symbolic way because it represents for them
the loss of the magic of childhood that they have felt as they have entered the
real world and taken on the tasks of adulthood. For instance, the magical world in which
food is placed on the table for them to eat has been replaced with a world in
which they must work eight hours a day to pay for that food. And the magical world in which they can
play with friends all day and have few responsibilities has been replaced with
a world in which they are responsible for going to work, paying bills, and
taking care of children. According
to Allan B. Chinen in his article “The Message of Midlife Tales,”
the theme of Loss of Magic is a theme that is often present in midlife tales
and thus particularly appeals to listeners who are in their middle years.
2) Loss of
Children: In this tale, Urashima must deal with the loss of his
children. This issue is one that
many adults must face in various forms.
Some parents must deal with the actual death of a child, other parents
must deal with an adolescent that turns away from them, and almost all parents
must eventually deal with children who leave home to start their own
lives. This nearly universal
experience of parents would enable most parents to identify with Urashima. And because, according to Erik Erikson,
the activities of middle adulthood generally revolve around “child
rearing” and “giving of oneself to the next generation,”
themes having to do with children in any way would particularly appeal to
adults of this age group. Also, as
Allan B. Chinen notes, the theme of “disillusionment and loss” is
one that is often present in midlife tales, and thus particularly appeals to
listeners who are in their middle years.
3) Mortality:
In this tale, Urashima must deal with his mortality when he realizes that the
smoke from the casket has made him old and that he is going to die. All adults, at some point, must deal
with the inevitability of their own mortality, as they realize that they are
getting older and that, at some point, their lives will end. In fact, Allan B. Chinen pointed out
that the theme of dealing with mortality is a common theme in midlife tales,
and thus particularly appeals to listeners who are in their middle years. And Rafe Martin, in his “Telling Tips”
for the Urashima story in Holt and Mooney’s Ready-to-Tell Tales,
mentions that “the story . . . draws upon the awareness of aging we all
carry deep within us” (68).
4) The
Passage of Time: In this tale, Urashima must deal with everything that has happened
in the village during the years that have passed while he was under the
sea. Although real-world adults do
not have to deal with the passage of time in such a sudden, brutal way, they do
have to deal with it in other ways.
For instance, adults must deal with children growing up, with memories
fading, and with relationships disintegrating over time. Rafe Martin particularly focuses on the
importance of this theme in the Urashima tale when he says, “One is
saying by the act of telling, ‘This is true. Time changes all.’ “
5) Loneliness:
In this tale, Urashima must deal with the loneliness that he feels when his
wife and children are gone and there is nobody left to comfort him. All adults have had to deal with
loneliness at some point. Adults feel
loneliness when they are young and move away from people they love to start a
new life, when they are middle-aged and face the loss of parents and other
older adults, and when they are older and face life without spouses, siblings,
and other friends.
Bibliographic
information on other versions/variants:
Versions of the Japanese tale, commonly known as “Urashima,”
“Urashima Taro,” or “Urashima the Fisherman.”
The Fisherman Under the Sea. By
Miyoko Matsutani. Illustrated by
Chihiro
Iwasaki.
English version by Alvin Tresselt.
New York: Parents’ Magazine Press, 1969.
“Urashima the Fisherman” in Japanese Tales. Selected, edited, and translated
by Royall Tyler. New York: Pantheon Books, 1987. p. 154-107.
“Urashima the Fisherman” in Tales Alive! Ten Multicultural Folktales with
Activities. Retold
by Susan Milord. Illustrated by
Michael A. Donato. Charlotte,
Vermont: Williamson Publishing, 1995.
p. 103-107.
“Urashima the Fisherman” in Wonder Tales from Around the
World. By Heather
Inc., 1995.
p. 31-34.
“Urashima Taro” by Rafe Martin in Ready-To-Tell Tales. Edited by David Holt
and Bill Mooney. Little Rock: August House Publishers,
Inc., 1994. p. 64-68.
“Urashima Taro” in Folktales of the World. Edited by Keigo Seki. Translated by
Robert J. Adams. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1963. p. 111-114.
“Urashima Taro” in Mysterious Tales of Japan. By Rafe Martin. Illustrated by
Tatsuro Kiuchi.
New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996. p. 5-11.
“Urashima Taro” in Old Tales of Japan: Volume 1. By Yuri Yasuda. Illustrations
by Yoshinobu Sakakura. Japan: Dai-Nippon Printing Co.,
1947. p. 63-92.
“The Young Urashima” in Japanese Tales and Legends. Retold by Helen and
William McAlpine. New York: Oxford University Press,
1993. p. 106-120.
Russian variant of the “Urashima” tale, in which Sadko, a
musician, travels beneath the sea to the Sea King’s palace to play music
for him. Sadko decides to return to
his home to live rather than to accept the king’s offer to marry his
daughter because, if he kissed or embraced the princess, he could never go home
again.
The Sea King’s Daughter: A Russian Legend. Retold by Aaron Shepard.
Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. New York: Atheneum Books for Young
Readers, 1997.
Brief
comparison of all versions/variants in terms of language, rhythm, "tellability," "flavor," content, etc.
Differences
in Style:
There
are significant differences in the style of the various versions of this
tale. In the first place, there are
differences in the formality of the language used. The version of the tale that I chose to
tell (the Hearn version) uses the most formal language. The text is peppered with rather
antiquated words, such as “upon,” “thou,” and
“nay,” and sentences are occasionally inverted: for instance, the
text says ““Low he leaned,” rather than “He leaned
low.” In my opinion, although
it is difficult for the teller to use this formal language without making the
tale sound memorized, the formal words give the tale a very beautiful sound as
well as a smooth, rolling rhythm, like the waves of the sea upon which Urashima
is fishing. For this reason, this
version of the tale is the most “tellable.” Other versions of the tale, such as the
Tyler and Martin versions, as well as the Shepard variant, use somewhat less
formal language, but language that is still more formal than that which is used
in everyday conversation. For
instance, Martin’s version begins with “Once there was a poor but
kind-hearted fisherman, named Urashima Taro.” These versions are still quite tellable,
but lack the beauty of Hearn’s version of the tale. Finally, several versions of the tale,
such as the Yasuda version, use extremely informal language, similar to
language used in everyday conversation.
For instance, Yasuda’s version begins with “Urashima Taro
was a poor fisherman.” It
also includes phrases such as “weird looking.” In my opinion, these informal versions
do not sound very pleasant to the ear and therefore would be poor choices for
telling.
Another
significant difference is in the length of the tales. The version of the tale that I chose to
tell (the Hearn version) is fairly short and can be told in less than ten
minutes, which makes it a very tellable tale. The
The
other main difference between the tales is in the specification of location and
time within the text. The
Differences
in Content:
There
are many significant differences in the content of this tale between the
various versions. One significant
difference is that, in all of the tales except for the Hearn version that I
chose to tell, Urashima is chosen to come to the other world (either under the
sea or in the sky, depending on the version) because he has rescued a
turtle. The inclusion of the turtle
is so significant because it introduces the theme of a reward into the story:
Urashima is rewarded for his kindness to the turtle by getting to visit the
other world.
Another
difference between the versions of the tale is in Urashima’s role in the
decision to stay in the other world rather than to return home to his
family. In the Hearn version that I
chose to tell, the lady begs Urashima to stay, and he finally stays one night as
a favor to her, but he does not ever actually want to be with her; he spends
his whole time in the other world wanting to go home. However, in all of the other versions of
the story, Urashima wants to stay with the lady and stays there with her a long
time (three years in some versions) before deciding to go home. This difference in content is so
significant because, in all of these versions, some of the blame for
Urashima’s fate must be placed on Urashima, while in Hearn’s
version, most of the blame for Urashima’s fate must be placed on the
lady, making Urashima’s fate that much more tragic.
The
third main difference between the various versions of the tale is in the
endings of the story. In the Hearn,
Martin, and
The
content of the Russian variant of the tale is significantly different from the
content of the Japanese tale. In
this variant, although the main character gets to visit the land under the sea,
he is able to resist the temptation to stay there and marry the Princess and
instead chooses to return to his home.
He is ultimately rewarded for this decision because he becomes the
richest man in his city, marries a wonderful woman, and has a beautiful
family. Thus the happy ending of the
Russian variant is a stark contrast to the tragic ending of the Japanese tale.