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 of some enchanter 's spell , and in his hand lay the counter-charm . Almost unconsciously he opened it , and a purple vapour came pouring out . He held the empty box in his hand , and as he looked he saw that the fresh hand of youth had grown suddenly shrivelled , like the hand of an old , old man . He ran to the brook , which flowed in a clear stream down from the mountain . and saw himself reflected as in a mirror . It was the face of a mummy which looked back at him . Wounded to death , he crept back through the village , and no man knew the old , old man to be the strong handsome youth who had run down the street an hour before . So he toiled wearily back , till he reached the shore , and here he sat sadly on a rock , and called loudly on the turtle . But she never came back any more , but instead , death came soon , and set him free .
But before that happened , the people who saw him sitting lonely on the shore had heard his story , and when their children were restless they used to tell them XXXXX the good son who from love to his parents had given up for their sakes the splendour and wonders of the palace in the sea , and the most beautiful woman in the world besides .
after as before from in of on that through to