WINELAND THE GOOD 



China, put to sea on the pretext of looking for this country and seeking for 

 his master the plant of immortality which grows on Fusan, the highest moun- 

 tain there. He came first to Japan; but went farther and farther out into the 

 ocean until he really reached Horaisan; there he enjoyed complete happiness, 

 and never thought of returning to prolong his tyrant's life. 



The old Japanese wise man, Vasobiove, who had withdrawn from the world 

 and passed his days in contemplative peace, was one day out fishing by himself 

 (to avoid many trivial visits), when he was driven out to sea by a violent 

 storm; he then rowed about the sea, keeping himself alive by fishing. After 

 three months he came to the " muddy sea," which nearly cost him his life, as 

 there were no fish there. But after a desperate struggle, and finally twelve 

 hours' hard rowing, he reached the shore of Horaisan. There he was met by 

 an old man whom he understood, for he spoke Chinese. This was Jofuku, who 

 received Vasobiove in friendly fashion and told him his story. Vasobiove was 

 overjoyed on hearing where he was. He stayed there for a couple of hundred 

 years, but did not know how long it was; for where all is alike, where there is 

 neither birth nor death, no one heeds the passing of time. With dancing and 

 music, in conversation with wise and brilliant men, in the society of beautiful 

 and amiable ladies, he passed his days. 



But at last Vasobiove grew tired of this sweet existence and longed for 

 death. It was hopeless, for here he could not die, nor could he take his own 

 life, there were no poisons, no lethal weapons; if he threw himself over a preci- 

 pice or ran his head against a sharp rock, it was like a fall on to soft cushions, 

 and if he threw himself into the sea, it supported him like a cork. Finally he 

 tamed a gigantic stork, and on its back he at last returned to Japan.^^ after the 

 stork had carried him through many strange countries, of which the most re- 

 markable was that of the Giants, who are immensely superior to human beings 

 in everything. Whereas Vasobiove was accustomed to admiration wherever he 

 propounded his philosophical views and systems, he left that country in humili- 

 ation; for the Giants said they had no need of all that, and declared Vasobiove's 

 whole philosophy to be the immature cries of distress of the children of men. 



A connection between the intellectual world of China 

 and Japan and that of Europe in the Middle Ages may well 

 be supposed to have been brought about by the Arabs, who 

 penetrated as far as China on their trading voyages, and who, 

 on the other hand, had close communication with western 

 Europe. Furthermore, it must be remembered how many 

 of our mythical conceptions and tales are more or less 

 connected with India, just as many of the Arabian tales 



1 Cf. the resemblance to the second voyage of Sindbad, to the tales in Abu 

 Hamid, Qaswini, Pseudo-Callisthenes' romance of Alexander, Indian tales, etc. 

 [cf. E. Rohde, 1900, p. 192]. 



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