| Back-Island Taro |
October 28, 2016
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| Long long time ago, there was a gentle young guy named Taro. He lived in a small village called Back-Island by the sea. He was a poor fisherman and lived in a hut with his parents. One day, when he was walking on the seaside, he saw children surrounding something and yelling at it. He went into the children's circle. There was a big turtle in the center, and the children were bullying it. He said to them, "What are you doing? Weren't you told by your parents or teachers that bullying weak things is a bad thing?" One of the children replied, "We are bullied by older kids so we need refreshment. This turtle's shell is hard and strong enough to bear our attacks." When he looked at the turtle he saw tears in its eyes. He said, "Ok, ok. I'll give you some money. You can refresh yourselves by eating something." As they received his money, the children happily left. After they left, he said to the turtle, "It was a misfortune for you, but forgive them." He gently moved the turtle to the edge of the sea and let it go. However, the turtle returned to him so he thought that the turtle was thanking him. A couple of days later, when the guy was walking on the same seaside, the same turtle came to him. He said, "Oh, you are that turtle. You should not come here. If you are trapped again, I have no money this time." To his surprise, the turtle spoke to him: He told the guy that after they met, he  returned to his living place, a palace called 'Dragon Palace' on the bottom of the deep sea, and told the Empress what had happened. The Empress told the turtle to bring the young man to the palace, she wanted to thank him in person and give him a warm reception. As the young man was curious about the palace, moreover the Empress, he decided to receive her invitation. The turtle gave him a jellyfish and he put it on his head as an oxygen mask. He got on the turtle, and the turtle started to swim in the sea. As they went deeper, it became darker and darker, and finally it was completely dark. But he didn't feel afraid because some illuminating fish passed nearby them and they were beautiful. Suddenly, he saw a bright ball the size of a ping-pong and it grew to the size of a basketball, and finally he saw a huge gorgeous palace appearing in front of him. He never saw this big and gorgeous thing. (In his era, there was no film or TV, so this thing was beyond his imagination.) A guard came from the inside and led him into the palace. He was introduced to the Empress. The Empress was a middle-aged beautiful lady. As he lived in a poor village, he never saw this kind of beautiful woman in such a beautiful costume. He was completely in awe by her. There were welcome parties every day, beautiful women's dance shows, gorgeous dishes (mainly seafood) and tasty drinks (In their society there was no alcohol). One day he asked the Empress how this huge palace and the uncountable residents were maintained in the deep bottom of the sea. The Empress explained about the system: "Nearby a hot spring bed delivers heated water keeping this building temperature at a steady 18 degrees. Outside is cool, so we can refrigerate things outside. We have a geothermal power generation system and we use this energy to produce oxygen from the water. We use luminous paint from special shells as lights, and the paint never lessens over time. We can eat any sea products, seaweed is especially healthy. Waste is decomposed by the bacteria in the sea so inside is kept clean." The Empress added, "The system in here is very 'eco-friendly'." As the guy lived in an old era, he didn't understand the term 'eco-friendly'. Different from his world, there was no sun here. They used a different type of calendar, a much slower one than his world. As his life was harsh, he was totally relaxed and enjoyed the life here. Actually the Empress came every day and they played games together. But one day, he thought about his parents remaining in his world, and told the Empress it was time to leave. But the Empress said, "It's a pity if you leave. I want you to stay longer even if for only one more night." He couldn't refuse, and ended up staying for a while. This type of thing was repeated. One day, he finally decided to leave and this time the Empress gave up trying to stop him. She gave him a box as a present and said, "It is our tradition from ancient times to give this box to a guest who comes here. You shouldn't open this until you become old." He said, "It's ridiculous to give somebody a present which can't be opened for a long time." But the Empress insisted saying it was their custom, so he received it thinking that he could open it any time when no one was around. He put on the jellyfish mask and rode on the same turtle, the turtle returned him back. He thanked the turtle, and the turtle left immediately, without returning. He walked to his house but soon he realized that something was different. When he got to the place where his house should have been, there was no house. He was upset. He walked around but couldn't see any sign of his house or his parents. "How can this be?" He walked around his village area but there were no other houses either. While he wasn't there, there was a big battle, and the enemy destroyed all the houses and either killed or took the people prisoners? There were no ruins, or even disturbances of the land. It was very strange. He walked far away and finally he found a house. The house looked totally different from the villagers' house, modern. A child came out of the house. He was astonished. His clothes were totally different from his, not a kimono. He never saw that type of fashion, it might be foreign clothes that he had heard about. He asked the boy nervously, "Are you a foreigner?" The boy was astonished too, seeing the young man in a kimono, and quickly rushed into the house. Soon a woman, who seemed to be his mother, came out. She wore beautiful clothes as well. He said, "I'm sorry if I scared the boy c and you. I live near here but I'm now confused because my house and my village disappeared and instead c I'm not familiar about your things c" Fortunately, the mother was a science fiction maniac and guessed about the possibility about him. His clothes were old fashioned, simple kimono. His hair style was old fashioned and not dyed. He was wearing sandals made of grass. He didn't wear glasses, a watch, necklace, tattoo, or any other modern products. She thought that he came from the past, maybe the Edo period. As she was a single mother, and as she was very curious about him (from a scientific point of view), she invited him to live together. She explained about her thought: In the palace, time proceeded differently from our world. The same thing happens in space according to space scientists. Thanks to the mother and her son teaching him, he became accustomed with modern life little by little. When he talked about the box that he had received in the palace to the mother, she shook the box and guessed that it was some gas inside. She said, "You stayed in the palace for about three hundred years in our time. And I think this is something to fix your time gap. So, maybe if you open this, your time will proceed in a second, you will age 300 years, it means you will die. Maybe they have been keeping their palace's secret by this box. Men would rather open it if they are told not to open it, especially by a woman, in any era." She winked at him. |
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*awe :ΨhΜO
*geothermal :nM
*waste :pό¨
*decompose :ͺπ·ι
*disturbance :κ