LONG ago there lived a man named Tosonu  in a remote hamlet surrounded by mountains and great forests of pine. Tosonu had a wife and sons and daughters. He was a woodman, and his days were spent in the forest where he worked patiently in the soft light under the pines from dawn till dusk. At sundown he would lift to his back a burden of sticks and twigs and toil slowly homeward.

One day the woodman wandered farther than usual into the forest. At noon he was in a very lonely spot. The air was mild and sweet, and the sky was so clear and blue that he looked long at it and then took a deep breath. Tosonu was happy.

Now his eyes fell on a little fox that was watching him stealthily from the bushes. The creature ran away when it saw that the man's attention had been attracted. "I will follow the little fox and find out where it goes," said Tosonu.

Off he started in pursuit. He soon came to a dense thicket of slender saplings, and as he peered through the crowded stems he saw a sight that caused him to stand spellbound. On a plot of mossy grass beyond the thicket, sat two maidens of surpassing beauty engaged in a game of chess. They were as graceful as the willow and as fair as the blossom of the cherry-tree. Between them on the grass lay a chessboard. Slowly they moved the chessmen and Tosonu hardly dared to breath lest he should disturb them. The breeze caught their long, hair, and the sunshine played on it and lit up their faces. The woodman gazed enraptured for a long time. The chessmen were still slowly moved to and fro. The sun still shone.

But at length Tosonu said to himself, "I must return and tell those at home of the beautiful maidens."

Alas! when he attempted to move, he found his knees were stiff and weak. "I have stood here longer than I supposed I had," he said.

He leaned for support on his ax. The handle crumbled into dust. Looking down, he saw that a flowing white beard hung from his chin. "Surely," thought he, "I have been on magic ground, and I, who left home in the prime of life, am now old and 'weak. But I will go back to my family as fast as I am able."

The poor woodman was many hours making his feeble way out of the forest. Wearied and faint, he at last came to the farmlands and to houses. He thought he knew the region thoroughly and all its homes, but everything was changed. Strange faces peered curiously at him. The speech of the people unfamiliar. "Where are my wife and my children?" he cried.

No one could say, and when he told them his name they had never heard it before. Finally, he came to understand that seven generations had passed since he bade farewell to his dear ones in the early morning. While he gazed at the beautiful maidens playing their game of chess, his wife, his children and his children's children had lived and died.

Now he was too feeble to work, but his few remaining years were made pleasant to him by the peasants who gave him food and shelter, and who never tired of hearing him relate his strange history.