Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1877 — A. Japanese Rip Van Winkle. [ARTICLE]

A. Japanese Rip Van Winkle.

The Japanese have tho story of Bip Van Winkle in another form, A young man fishing in a boat on the ocean was invited by the goddess of the sea to her home beneath the waves. After three days he desired to see his old father and mother. On parting, she gave him a golden casket and a key, but begged him never to open it. At the village where he lived all was changed, and he could get no trace of his parents until an aged woman recollected having heard of their names. He found their graves 100 years old. Thinking that three days could not have m;ide such a change, and that he was under a spell, he opened the casket. A white vapor rose, and under its influence the young man fell to the ground. His hair turned gray, his form lost its youth, and in a few moments he died of old age. The country population of California is only equal to the population of Ban Irostcwoo,