But what is the strange fear that seizes Urashima as he stands and
looks about him? Why does he gaze so fixedly at the people that pass
him by, and why do they in turn stand and look at him? The shore is
the same and the hills are the same, but the people that he sees
walking past him have very different faces to those he had known so
well before.

Wondering what it can mean he walks quickly towards his old home.
Even that looks different, but a house stands on the spot, and he
calls out:

"Father, I have just returned!" and he was about to enter, when he
saw a strange man coming out.

"Perhaps my parents have moved while I have been away, and have gone
somewhere else," was the fisherman's thought. Somehow he began to
feel strangely anxious, he could not tell why.

"Excuse me," said he to the man who was staring at him, "but till
within the last few days I have lived in this house. My name is
Urashima Taro. Where have my parents gone whom I left here?"

A very bewildered expression came over the face of the man, and,
still gazing intently on Urashima's face, he said:

"What? Are you Urashima Taro?"

"Yes," said the fisherman, "I am Urashima Taro!"

"Ha, ha!" laughed the man, "you must not make such jokes. It is true