Three days and three nights they swam through the sea , and at length Uraschimataro arrived at the beach which lay before his old home . The turtle bade him farewell , and was gone in a moment . Uraschimataro drew near to the village with quick and joyful steps . He saw the smoke curling through the roof , and the thatch where green plants had thickly sprouted . He heard the children shouting and calling , and from a window that he passed came the twang of the koto , and everything seemed to cry a welcome for his return . Yet suddenly he felt a pang at his heart as he wandered down the street . After all , everything was changed . Neither men nor houses were those he once knew . Quickly he saw his old home ; yes , it was still there , but it had a strange look . Anxiously he knocked at the door , and asked the woman who opened it after his parents . But she did not know their names , and could give him no news of them . Still more disturbed , he rushed to the burying ground , the only place that could tell him what he wished to know . Here at any rate he would find out what it all meant . And he was right . In a moment he stood before the grave of his parents , and the date written on the stone was almost exactly the date when they had lost their son , and he had forsaken them for the Daughter of the Sea . And so he found that since he had deft his home , three hundred years had passed by . Shuddering with horror at his discovery he turned back into the village street , hoping to meet some one who could tell him of the days of old . But when the man spoke , he knew he was not dreaming , though he felt as if he had lost his senses . In despair he bethought him of the box which was the gift of the princess . Perhaps after all this dreadful thing was not true .
He might be the victim XXXXX some enchanter 's spell , and in his hand lay the counter-charm .
In after as before from of that though through to