APDL Eductation Resources/APDL Eductation Resources.iso/text/books/arabian/ARABIAN_3

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And they tell another tale of the adventures of
SINDBAD

         SINDBAD THE SEAMAN AND SINDBAD THE LANDSMAN


THERE lived in the city of Baghdad during the reign of the Commander
of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, a man named Sindbad the Hammal,
one in poor case who bore burdens on his head for hire. It happened to
him one day of great heat that whilst he was carrying a heavy load, he
became exceeding weary and sweated profusely, the heat and the
weight alike oppressing him. Presently, as he was passing the gate
of a merchant's house before which the ground was swept and watered,
and there the air was temperate, he sighted a broad bench beside the
door, so he set his load thereon, to take rest and smell the air. He
sat down on the edge of the bench, and at once heard from within the
melodious sound of lutes and other stringed instruments, and
mirth-exciting voices singing and reciting, together with the song
of birds warbling and glorifying Almighty Allah in various tunes and
tonguess- turtles, mocking birds, merles, nightingales, cushats, and
stone curlews- whereat he marveled in himself and was moved to mighty
joy and solace.

Then he went up to the gate and saw within a great flower garden
wherein were pages and black slaves and such a train of servants and
attendants and so forth as is found only with kings and sultans. And
his nostrils were greeted with the savory odours of an manner meats
rich and delicate, and delicious and generous wines. So he raised
his eyes heavenward and said, "Glory to Thee, O Lord, O Creator and
Provider, Who providest whomso Thou wilt without count or stint! O
mine Holy One, I cry Thee pardon for an sins and turn to Thee
repenting of all offenses!

   "How many by my labors, that evermore endure,
   All goods of life enjoy and in cooly shade recline?
   Each morn that dawns I wake in travail and in woe,
   And strange is my condition and my burden gars me pine.
   Many others are in luck and from miseries are free,
   And Fortune never load them with loads the like o' mine.
   They live their happy days in all solace and delight,
   Eat, drink, and dwell in honor 'mid the noble and the digne.
   All living things were made of a little drop of sperm,
   Thine origin is mine and my provenance is thine,
   Yet the difference and distance 'twixt the twain of us are far
   As the difference of savor 'twixt vinegar and wine.
   But at Thee, O God All-wise! I venture not to rail,
   Whose ordinance is just and whose justice cannot fail."

When Sindbad the Porter had made an end of reciting his verses, he
bore up his burden and was about to fare on when there came forth to
him from the gate a little foot page, fair of face and shapely of
shape and dainty of dress, who caught him by the hand saying, "Come in
and speak with my lord, for he calleth for thee." The porter would
have excused himself to the page, but the lad would take no refusal,
so he left his load with the doorkeeper in the vestibule and
followed the boy into the house, which he found to be a goodly
mansion, radiant and full of majesty, till he brought him to a grand
sitting room wherein he saw a company of nobles and great lords seated
at tables garnished with all manner of flowers and sweet-scented
herbs, besides great plenty of dainty viands and fruits dried and
fresh and confections and wines of the choicest vintages. There also
were instruments of music and mirth and lovely slave girls playing and
singing. All the company was ranged according to rank, and in the
highest place sat a man of worshipful and noble aspect whose beard
sides hoariness had stricken, and he was stately of stature and fair
of favor, agreeable of aspect and full of gravity and dignity and
majesty. So Sindbad the Porter was confounded at that which he
beheld and said in himself, "By Allah, this must be either a piece
of Paradise or some king's palace!"

Then he saluted the company with much respect, praying for their
prosperity, and kissing the ground before them, stood with his head
bowed down in humble attitude. The master of the house bade him draw
near and be seated and bespoke him kindly, bidding him welcome. Then
he set before him various kinds of viands, rich and delicate and
delicious, and the porter, after saying his Bismillah, fell to and ate
his fill, after which he exclaimed, "Praised be Allah, whatso be our
case!" and, washing his hands, returned thanks to the company for
his entertainment. Quoth the host: "Thou art welcome, and thy day is a
blessed. But what thy name and calling?" Quoth the other, "O my
lord, my name is Sindbad the Hammal, and I carry folk's goods on my
head for hire." The housemaster smiled and rejoined: "Know, O
Porter, that thy name is even as mine, for I am Sindbad the Seaman.
And now, O Porter, I would have thee let me hear the couplets thou
recitedst at the gate anon.' The porter was abashed and replied:
"Allah upon thee! Excuse me, for toil and travail and lack of luck
when the hand is empty teach a man ill manners and boorish ways." Said
the host: "Be not ashamed. Thou art become my brother. But repeat to
me the verses, for they pleased me whenas I heard thee recite them
at the gate."

Hereupon the Porter repeated the couplets and they delighted the
merchant, who said to him: "Know, O Hammal, that my story is a
wonderful one, and thou shalt hear all that befell me and all I
underwent ere I rose to this state of prosperity and became the lord
of this place wherein thou seest me. For I came not to this high
estate save after travail sore and perils galore, and how much toil
and trouble have I not suffered in days of yore! I have made seven
voyages, by each of which hangeth a marvelous tale, such as
confoundeth the reason, and all this came to pass by doom of Fortune
and Fate. For from what Destiny doth write there is neither refuge nor
flight. Know, then, good my lords," continued he, "that I am about
to relate the

          FIRST VOYAGE OF SINDBAD HIGHT THE SEAMAN


MY father was a merchant, one of the notables of my native place,
a moneyed man and ample of means, who died whilst I was yet a child,
leaving me much wealth in money and lands and farmhouses. When I
grew up, I laid hands on the whole and ate of the best and drank
freely and wore rich clothes and lived lavishly, companioning and
consorting with youths of my own age, and considering that this course
of life would continue forever and ken no change. Thus did I for a
long time, but at last I awoke from my heedlessness and, returning
to my senses, I found my wealth had become unwealth and my condition
ill-conditioned, and all I once hent had left my hand. And
recovering my reason, I was stricken with dismay and confusion and
bethought me of a saying of our lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be
peace!), which I had heard aforetime from my father: things are better
than other three. The day of death is better than the day of birth,
a live dog is better than a dead lion, and the grave is better than
want." Then I got together my remains of estates and property and sold
all, even my clothes, for three thousand dirhams, with which I
resolved to travel to foreign parts, remembering the saying of the
poet:

   By means of toil man shall scale the height,
   Who to fame aspires mustn't sleep o' night.
   Who seeketh pearl in the deep must dive,
   Winning weal and wealth by his main and might.
   And who seeketh Fame without toil and strife
   Th' impossible seeketh and wasteth life.

So, taking heart, I bought me goods, merchandise and all needed
for a voyage, and impatient to be at sea, I embarked, with a company
of merchants, on board a ship bound for Bassorah. There we again
embarked and sailed many days and nights, and we passed from isle to
isle and sea to sea and shore to shore, buying and selling and
bartering everywhere the ship touched, and continued our course till
we came to an island as it were a garth of the gardens of Paradise.
Here the captain cast anchor and, making fast to the shore, put out
the landing planks. So all on board landed and made furnaces, and
lighting fires therein, busied themselves in various ways, some
cooking and some washing, whilst other some walked about the island
for solace, and the crew fell to eating and drinking and playing and
sporting. I was one of the walkers, but as we were thus engaged,
behold the master, who was standing on the gunwale, cried out to us at
the top of his voice, saying: "Ho there! Passengers, run for your
lives and hasten back to the ship and leave your gear and save
yourselves from destruction, Allah preserve you!. For this island
whereon ye stand is no true island, but a great fish stationary
a-middlemost of the sea, whereon the sand hath settled and trees
have sprung up of old time, so that it is become like unto an
island. But when ye lighted fires on it, it felt the heat and moved,
and in a moment it will sink with you into the sea and ye will all
be drowned. So leave your gear and seek your safety ere ye die!"

All who heard him left gear and goods, clothes washed and
unwashed, fire pots and brass cooking pots, and fled back to the
ship for their lives, and some reached it while others (amongst whom
was I) did not, for suddenly the island shook and sank into the
abysses of the deep, with all that were thereon, and the dashing sea
surged over it with clashing waves. I sank with the others down,
down into the deep, but Almighty Allah preserved me from drowning
and threw in my way a great wooden tub of those that had served the
ship's company for tubbing. I gripped it for the sweetness of life
and, bestriding it like one riding, paddled with my feet like oars,
whilst the waves tossed me as in sport right and left. Meanwhile the
captain made sail and departed with those who had reached the ship,
regardless of the drowning and the drowned. And I ceased not following
the vessel with my eyes till she was hid from sight and I made sure of
death.

Darkness closed in upon me while in this plight, and the winds and
waves bore me on all that night and the next day, till the tub brought
to with me under the lee of a lofty island with trees overhanging
the tide. I caught hold of a branch and by its aid clambered up onto
the land, after coming nigh upon death. But when I reached the
shore, I found my legs cramped and numbed and my feet bore traces of
the nibbling of fish upon their soles, withal I had felt nothing for
excess of anguish and fatigue. I threw myself down on the island
ground like a dead man, and drowned in desolation, swooned away, nor
did I return to my senses till next morning, when the sun rose and
revived me. But I found my feet swollen, so made shift to move by
shuffling on my breech and crawling on my knees, for in that island
were found store of fruits and springs of sweet water. I ate of the
fruits, which strengthened me. And thus I abode days and nights till
my life seemed to return and my spirits began to revive and I was
better able to move about. So, after due consideration, I fell to
exploring the island and diverting myself with gazing upon all
things that Allah Almighty had created there, and rested under the
trees, from one of which I cut me a staff to lean upon.

One day as I walked along the marge I caught sight of some object in
the distance and thought it a wild beast or one of the monster
creatures of the sea, but as I drew near it, looking hard the while,
saw that it was a noble mare, tethered on the beach. Presently I
went up to her, but she cried out against me with a great cry, so that
I trembled for fear and turned to go away, when there came forth man
from under the earth and followed me, crying out and saying, "Who
and whence art thou, and what caused thee to come hither?" "O my
lord," answered I, "I am in very sooth a waif, a stranger, and was
left to drown with sundry others by the ship we voyaged in. But
Allah graciously sent me a wodden tub, so I saved myself thereon and
it floated with me, till the waves cast me up on this island." When he
heard this, he took my hand and saying, "Come with me," carried me
into a great sardab, or underground chamber, which was spacious as a
saloon.

He made me sit down at its upper end, then he brought me somewhat of
food and, being a-hungered, I ate till I was satisfied and
refreshed. And when he had put me at mine ease, he questioned me of
myself, and I told him all that had befallen me from first to last.
And as he wondered at my adventure, I said: "By Allah, O my lord,
excuse me, I have told thee the truth of my case and the accident
which betided me, and now I desire that thou tell me who thou art
and why thou abidest here under the earth and why thou hast tethered
yonder mare on the brink of the sea." Answered he: "Know that I am one
of the several who are, stationed in different parts of this island,
and we are of the grooms of King Mihrjan, and under our hand are all
his horses. Every month about new-moon tide we bring hither our best
mares which have never been covered, and picket them on the seashore
and hide ourselves in this place under the ground, so that none may
espy us. Presently the stallions of the sea scent the mares and come
up out of the water and, seeing no one, leap the mares and do their
will of them. When they have covered them, they try to drag them
away with them, but cannot, by reason of the leg ropes. So they cry
out at them and butt at them and kick them, which we hearing, know
that the stallions have dismounted, so we run out and shout at them,
whereupon they are startled and return in fear to the sea. Then the
mares conceive by them and bear colts and fillies worth a mint of
money, nor is their like to be found on earth's face.

This is the time of the coming forth of the sea stallions, and
Inshallah! I will bear thee to King Mihrjan and show thee our country.
And know that hadst thou not happened on us, thou hadst perished
miserably and none had known of thee. But I will be the means of the
saving of thy life and of thy return to thine own land." I called down
blessings on him and thanked him for his kindness and courtesy. And
while we were yet talking, behold, the stallion came up out of the
sea, and giving a great cry, sprang upon the mare and covered her.
When he had done his will of her, he dismounted and would have carried
her away with him, but could not by reason of the tether. She kicked
and cried out at him, whereupon the groom took a sword and target
and ran out of the underground saloon, smiting the buckler with the
blade and calling to his company, who came up shouting and brandishing
spears. And the stallion took fright at them and plunging into the sea
like a buffalo, disappeared under the waves.

After this we sat awhile till the rest of the grooms came up, each
leading a mare, and seeing me with their fellow syce, questioned me of
my case, and I repeated my story to them. Thereupon they drew near
me and spreading the table, ate and invited me to eat. So I ate with
them, after which they took horse and mounting me on one of the mares,
set out with me and fared on without ceasing till we came to the
capital city of King Mihrjan, and going in to him, acquainted him with
my story. Then he sent for me, and when they set me before him and
salaams had been exchanged, he gave me a cordial welcome and wishing
me long life, bade me tell him my tale. So I related to him all that I
had seen and all that had befallen me from first to last, whereat he
marveled and said to me: "By Allah, O my son, thou hast indeed been
miraculously preserved! Were not the term of thy life a long one, thou
hadst not escaped from these straits. But praised be Allah for
safety!" Then he spoke cheerily to me and entreated me with kindness
and consideration. Moreover, he made me his agent for the port and
registrar of all ships that entered the harbor. I attended him
regularly, to receive his commandments, and he favored me and did me
all manner of kindness and invested me with costly and splendid robes.
Indeed, I was high in credit with him as an intercessor for the folk
and an intermediary between them and him when they wanted aught of
him.

I abode thus a great while, and as often as I passed through the
city to the port, I questioned the merchants and travelers and sailors
of the city of Baghdad, so haply I might hear of an occasion to return
to my native land, but could find none who knew it or knew any who
resorted thither. At this I was chagrined, for I was weary of long
strangerhood, and my disappointment endured for a time till one day,
going in to King Mihrjan, I found with him a company of Indians. I
saluted them and they returned my salaam, and politely welcomed me and
asked me of my country. When they asked me of my country, I questioned
them of theirs and they told me that they were of various castes, some
being called shakiriyah, who are the noblest of their casts and
neither oppress nor offer violence to any, and others Brahmans, a folk
who abstain from wine but live in delight and solace and merriment and
own camels and horses and cattle. Moreover, they told me that the
people of India are divided into two and seventy castes, and I
marveled at this with exceeding marvel.

Amongst other things that I saw in King Mihrijan's dominions was
an island called Kasil, wherein all night is heard the beating of
drums and tabrets, but we were told by the neighboring islanders and
by travelers that the inhabitants are people of diligence and
judgment. In this sea I saw also a fish two hundred cubits long and
the fishermen fear it, so they strike together pieces of wood and
put it to flight. I also saw another fish with a head like that of
an owl, besides many other wonders and rarities, which it would be
tedious to recount. I occupied myself thus in visiting the islands
till one day as I stood in the port with a staff in my hand, according
to my custom, behold, a great ship, wherein were many merchants,
came sailing for the harbor. When it reached the small inner port
where ships anchor under the city, the master furled his sails and
making fast to the shore, put out the landing planks, whereupon the
crew fell to breaking bulk and landing cargo whilst I stood by, taking
written note of them.

They were long in bringing the goods ashore, so I asked the
master, "Is there aught left in thy ship?" and he answered: "O my
lord, there are divers bales of merchandise in the hold, whose owner
was drowned from amongst us at one of the islands on our course; so
his goods remained in our charge by way of trust, and we purpose to
sell them and note their price, that we may convey it to his people in
the city of Baghdad, the Home of Peace." "What was the merchant's
name?" quoth I, and quoth he, "Sindbad the Seaman," whereupon I
straitly considered him and knowing him, cried out to him with a great
cry, saying: "O Captain, I am that Sindbad the Seaman who traveled
with other merchants, and when the fish heaved and thou calledst to
us, some saved themselves and others sank, I being one of them. But
Allah Almighty threw in my way a great tub of wood, of those the
crew had used to wash withal, and the winds and waves carried me to
this island, where by Allah's grace I fell in with King Mihrjan's
grooms and they brought me hither to the King their master. When I
told him my story, he entreated me with favor and made me his
harbor-master, and I have prospered in his service and found
acceptance with him. These bales therefore are mine, the goods which
God hath given me."

The other exclaimed: "There is no Majesty and there is no Mihgt save
in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Verily, there is neither conscience
nor good faith left among men!" Said I, "O Rais, what mean these
words, seeing that I have told thee my case?" And he answered,
"Because thou heardest me say that I had with me goods whose owner was
drowned, thou thinkest to take them without right. But this is
forbidden by law to thee, for we saw him drown before our eyes,
together with many other passengers, nor was one of them saved. So how
canst thou pretend that thou art the owner of the goods?" "O Captain,"
said I, "listen to my story and give heed to my words, and my truth
will be manifest to thee, for lying and leasing are the letter marks
of the hypocrites." Then I recounted to him all that had befallen me
since I sailed from Baghdad with him to the time when we came to the
fish island where we were nearly drowned, and I reminded him of
certain matters which had passed between us. Whereupon both he and the
merchants were certified of the truth of my story and recognized me
and gave me joy of my deliverance, saying: "By Allah, we thought not
that thou hadst escaped drowning! But the Lord hath granted thee new
life."

Then they delivered my bales to me, and I found my name written
thereon, nor was aught thereof lacking. So I opened them and making up
a present for King Mihrjan of the finest and costliest of the
contents, caused the sailors carry it up to the palace, where I went
in to the King and laid my present at his feet, acquainting him with
what had happened, especially concerning the ship and my goods,
whereat he wondered with exceeding wonder, and the truth of an that
I had told him was made manifest to him. His affection for me
redoubled after that and he showed me exceeding honor and bestowed
on me a great present in return for mine. Then I sold my bales and
what other matters I owned, making a great profit on them, and
bought me other goods and gear of the growth and fashion of the island
city.

When the merchants were about to start on their homeward voyage, I
embarked on board the ship all that I possessed, and going in to the
King, thanked him for all his favors and friendship and craved his
leave to return to my own land and friends. He farewelled me and
bestowed on me great store of the country stuffs and produce, and I
took leave of him and embarked. Then we set sail and fared on nights
and days, by the permission of Allah Almighty, and Fortune served us
and Fate favored us, so that we arrived in safety at Bassorah city,
where I landed rejoiced at my safe return to my natal soil. After a
short stay, I set out for Baghdad, the House of Peace, with store of
goods and commodities of great price. Reaching the city in due time, I
went straight to my own quarter and entered my house, where all my
friends and kinsfolk came to greet me.

Then I bought me eunuchs and concubines, servants and Negro
slaves, till I had a large establishment, and I bought me houses,
and lands and gardens, till I was richer and in better case than
before, and returned to enjoy the society of my friends and
familiars more assiduously than ever, forgetting all I had suffered of
fatigue and hardship and strangerhood and every peril of travel. And I
applied myself to all manner joys and solaces and delights, eating the
daintiest viands and drinking the deliciousest wines, and my wealth
allowed this state of things to endure.

This, then, is the story of my first voyage, and tomorrow,
Inshallah! I will tell you the tale of the second of my seven voyages.
(Saith he who telleth the tale): Then Sindbad the Seaman made
Sindbad the Landsman sup with him and bade give him a hundred gold
pieces, saying, "Thou hast cheered us with thy company this day."
The porter thanked him and, taking the gift, went his way, pondering
that which he had heard and marveling mightily at what things betide
mankind. He passed the night in his own place and with early morning
repaired to the abode of Sindbad the Seaman, who received him with
honor and seated him by his side. As soon as the rest of the company
was assembled, he set meat and drink before them, and when they had
well eaten and drunken and were merry and in cheerful case, he took up
his discourse and recounted to them in these words the narrative of

          THE SECOND VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN


KNOW, O my brother, that I was living a most comfortable and
enjoyable life, in all solace and delight, as I told you yesterday,
until one day my mind became possessed with the thought of traveling
about the world of men and seeing their cities and islands, and a
longing seized me to traffic and to make money by trade. Upon this
resolve I took a great store of cash and buying goods and gear fit for
travel, bound them up in bales. Then I went down to the riverbank,
where I found a noble ship and brand-new about to sail equipped with
sails of fine cloth and well manned and provided. So I took passage in
her, with a number of other merchants, and after embarking our
goods, we weighed anchor the same day. Right fair was our voyage,
and we sailed from place to place and from isle to isle, and
whenever we anchored we met a crowd of merchants and notables and
customers, and we took to buying and selling and bartering.

At last Destiny brought us to an island, fair and verdant, in
trees abundant, with yellow-ripe fruits luxuriant, and flowers
fragrant and birds warbling soft descant, and streams crystalline
and radiant. But no sign of man showed to the descrier- no, not a
blower of the fire. The captain made fast with us to this island,
and the merchants and sailors landed and walked about, enjoying the
shade of the trees and the song of the birds, that chanted the praises
of the One, the Victorious, and marveling at the works of the
Omnipotent King. I landed with the rest, and, sitting down by a spring
of sweet water that welled up among the trees, took out some vivers
I had with me and ate of that which Allah Almighty had allotted unto
me. And so sweet was the zephyr and so fragrant were the flowers
that presently I waxed drowsy and, lying down in that place, was
soon drowned in sleep.

When I awoke, I found myself alone, for the ship had sailed and left
me behind, nor had one of the merchants or sailors bethought himself
of me. I searched the island right and left, but found neither man nor
Jinn, whereat I was beyond measure troubled, and my gall was like to
burst for stress of chagrin and anguish and concern, because I was
left quite alone, without aught of worldly gear or meat or drink,
weary and heartbroken. So I gave myself up for lost and said: "Not
always doth the crock escape the shock. I was saved the first time
by finding one who brought me from the desert island to an inhabited
place, but now there is no hope for me." Then I fell to weeping and
wailing and gave myself up to an access of rage, blaming myself for
having again ventured upon the perils and hardships of voyage,
whenas I was at my ease in mine own house in mine own land, taking
my pleasure with good meat and good drink and good clothes and lacking
nothing, neither money nor goods. And I repented me of having left
Baghdad, and this the more after all the travails and dangers I had
undergone in my first voyage, wherein I had so narrowly escaped
destruction, and exclaimed, "Verily we are, Allah's, and unto Him we
are returning!"

I was indeed even as one mad and Jinn-struck, and presently I rose
and walked about the island, right and left and every whither,
unable for trouble to sit or tarry in ay one place. Then I climbed a
tall tree and looked in all directions, but saw nothing save sky and
sea and trees and birds and isles and sands. However, after a while my
eager glances fell upon some great white thing, afar off in the
interior of the island. So I came down from the tree and made for that
which I had seen, and behold, it was a huge white dome rising high
in air and of vast compass. I walked all around it, but found no
door thereto, nor could I muster strength or nimbleness by reason of
its exceeding smoothness and slipperiness. So I marked the spot
where I stood and went round about the dome to measure its
circumference, which I found fifty good paces. And as I stood
casting about how to gain an entrance, the day being near its fall and
the sun being near the horizon, behold, the sun was suddenly hidden
from me and the air became dull and dar! Methought a cloud had come
over the sun, but it was the season of summer, so I marveled at this
and, lifting my head, looked steadfastly at the sky, when I saw that
the cloud was none other than an enormous bird, of gigantic girth
and inordinately wide of wing, which as it flew through the air veiled
the sun and hid it from the island.

At this sight my wonder redoubled and I remembered a story I had
heard aforetime of pilgrims and travelers, how in a certain island
dwelleth a huge bird, called the "roc," which feedeth its young on
elephants, and I was certified that the dome which caught my sight was
none other than a roc's egg. As I looked and wondered at the marvelous
works of the Almighty, the bird alighted on the dome and brooded
over it with its wings covering it and its legs stretched out behind
it on the ground, and in this posture it fell asleep, glory be to
Him who sleepeth not! When I saw this, I arose and, unwinding my
turban from my head, doubled it and twisted it into a rope, with which
I girt my middle and bound my waist fast to the legs of the roc,
saying in myself, "Peradventure this bird may carry me to a land of
cities and inhabitants, and that will be better than abiding in this
desert island." I passed the night watching and fearing to sleep, lest
the bird should fly away with me unawares, and as soon as the dawn
broke and morn shone, the roc rose off its egg and spreading its wings
with a great cry, flew up into the air dragging me with it, nor ceased
it to soar and to tower till I thought it had reached the limit of the
firmament. After which it descended earthward, little by little,
till it lighted on the top of a high hill.

As soon as I found myself on the hard ground, I made haste to unbind
myself, quaking for fear of the bird, though it took no heed of me nor
even felt me, and loosing my turban from its feet, I made off with
my best speed. Presently I saw it catch up in its huge claws something
from the earth and rise with it high in air, and observing it
narrowly, I saw it to be a serpent big of bulk and gigantic of
girth, wherewith it flew away clean out of sight. I marveled at this,
and faring forward, found myself on a peak overlooking a valley,
exceeding great and wide and deep and bounded by vast mountains that
spired high in air. None could descry their summits for the excess
of their height, nor was any able to climb up thereto. When I saw
this, I blamed myself for that which I had done and said: "Would
Heaven I had tarried in the island! It was better than this wild
desert, for there I had at least fruits to eat and water to drink, and
here are neither trees nor fruits nor streams. But there is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
Verily, as often as I am quit of one peril I fall into a worse
danger and a more grievous."

However, I took courage and walking along the wady, found that its
soil was of diamond, the stone wherewith they pierce minerals and
precious stones and porcelain and onyx, for that it is a dense stone
and a dure, whereon neither iron nor hardhed hath effect, neither
can we cut off aught therefrom nor break it, save by means of
loadstone. Moreover, the valley swarmed with snakes and vipers, each
big as a palm tree, that would have made but one gulp of an
elephant. And they came out by night, hiding during the day lest the
rocs and eagles pounce on them and tear them to pieces, as was their
wont, why I wot not. And I repented of what I had done and Allah, I
have made haste to bring destruction upon myself!" The day began to
wane as I went along, and I looked about for a place where I might
pass the night, being in fear of the serpents, ace for my and I took
no thought of meat and drink in my concern for my life. Presently, I
caught sight of a cave near-hand, with a narrow doorway, so I entered,
and seeing a great stone close to the mouth, I rolled it up and
stopped the entrance, saying to myself, "I am safe here for the night,
and as soon as it is day, I will go forth and see what Destiny will
do." Then I looked within the cave and saw at the upper end a great
serpent brooding on her eggs, at which my flesh quaked and my hair
stood on end, but I raised my eyes to Heaven and, committing my case
to fate and lot, abode all that night without sleep till daybreak,
when I rolled back the stone from the mouth of the cave and went
forth, staggering like a drunken man and giddy with watching and
fear and hunger.

As in this sore case I walked along the valley, behold, there fell
down before me a slaughtered beast. But I saw no one, whereat I
marveled with great marvel and presently remembered a story I had
heard aforetime of traders and pilgrims and travelers- how the
mountains where are the diamonds are full of perils and terrors, nor
can any fare through them, but the merchants who traffic in diamonds
have a device by which they obtain them; that is to say, they take a
sheep and slaughter and skin it and cut it in pieces and cast them
down from the mountaintops into the valley sole, where, the meat being
fresh and sticky with blood, some of the gems cleave to it. Then
they leave it till midday, when the eagles and vultures swoop down
upon it and carry it in their claws to the mountain summits, whereupon
the merchants come and shout at them and scare them away from the
meat. Then they come, and taking the diamonds which they find sticking
to it, go their ways with them and leave the meat to the birds and
beasts, nor can any come at the diamonds but by this device.

So when I saw the slaughtered beast fall (he pursued) and
bethought me of the story, I went up to it and filled my pockets and
shawl girdle and turban and the folds of my clothes with the
choicest diamonds, and as I was thus engaged, down fell before me
another great piece of meat. Then with my unrolled turban and lying on
my back, I set the bit on my breast so that I was hidden by the
meat, which was thus raised above the ground. Hardly had I gripped
it when an eagle swooped down upon the flesh and, seizing it with
his talons, flew up with it high in air and me clinging thereto, and
ceased not its flight till it alighted on the head of one of the
mountains, where, dropping the carcass he fell to rending it. But,
behold, there arose behind him a great noise of shouting and
clattering of wood, whereat the bird took fright and flew away. Then I
loosed off myself the meat, with clothes daubed with blood
therefrom, and stood up by its side. Whereupon up came the merchant
who had cried out at the eagle, and seeing me standing there,
bespoke me not, but was affrighted at me and shook with fear.

However, he went up to the carcass and, turning it over, found no
diamonds sticking to it, whereat he gave a great cry and exclaimed:
"Harrow, my disappointment! There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah with Whom we seek refuge from Satan the stoned!"
And he bemoaned himself and beat hand upon hand, saying: "Alas, the
pity of it! How cometh this?" Then I went up-to him and he said to me,
"Who art thou, and what causeth thee to come hither?" And I: "Fear
not, I am a man and a good man and a merchant. My story is a
wondrous and my adventures marvelous and the manner of my coming
hither is prodigious. So be of good cheer. Thou shalt receive of me
what shall rejoice thee, for I have with me great plenty of diamonds
and I will give thee thereof what shall suffice thee, for each is
better than aught thou couldst get otherwise. So fear nothing." The
man rejoiced thereat and thanked and blessed me. Then we talked
together till the other merchants, hearing me in discourse with
their fellow, came up and saluted me, for each of them had thrown down
his piece of meat.

And as I went off with them and told them my whole story, how I
had suffered hardships at sea and the fashion of my reaching the
valley. But I gave the owner of the meat a number of the stones I
had by me, so they all wished me joy of my escape, saying: "By
Allah, a new life hath been decreed to thee, for none ever reached
yonder valley and came off thence alive before thee, but praised be
Allah for thy safety!" We passed the night together in a safe and
pleasant place, beyond measure rejoiced at my deliverance from the
valley of Serpents and my arrival in an inhabited land. And on the
morrow we set out and journeyed over the mighty range of mountains,
seeing many serpents in the valley, till we came to a fair great
island wherein was a garden of huge champhor trees under each of which
a hundred men might take shelter. When the folk have a mind to get
camphor, they bore into the upper part of the bole with a long iron,
whereupon the liquid camphor, which is the sap of the tree, floweth
out and they catch it in vessels, where it concreteth like gum; but
after this the tree dieth and becometh firewood.

Moreover, there is in this island a kind of wild beast, called
rhinoceros, that pastureth as do steers and buffaloes with us; but
it is a huge brute, bigger of body than the camel, and like it feedeth
upon the leaves and twigs of trees. It is a remarkable animal with a
great and thick horn, ten cubits long, a-middleward its head,
wherein, when cleft in twain, is the likeness of a man. Voyagers and
pilgrims and travelers declare that this beast called karkadan will
carry off a great elephant on its horn and graze about the island
and the seacoast therewith and take no heed of it till the elephant
dieth and its fat, melting in the sun, runneth down into the
rhinoceros's eyes and blindeth him, so that he lieth down on the
shore. Then comes the bird roc and carrieth off both the rhinoceros
and that which is on its horn, to feed its young withal. Moreover, I
saw in this island many kinds of oxen and buffaloes, whose like are
not found in our country.

Here I sold some of the diamonds which I had by me for gold dinars
and silver dirhams and bartered others for the produce of the country,
and loading them upon beasts of burden, fared on with the merchants
from valley to valley and town to town, buying and selling and viewing
foreign countries and the works and creatures of Allah till we came to
Bassorah city, where we abode a few days, after which I continued my
journey to Baghdad. I arrived at home with great store of diamonds and
money and goods, and forgathered with my friends and relations and
gave alms and largess and bestowed curious gifts and made presents
to all my friends and companions. Then I betook myself to eating
well and drinking well and wearing fine clothes and making merry
with my fellows, and forgot all my sufferings in the pleasures of
return to the solace and delight of life, with light heart and
broadened breast. And everyone who heard of my return came and
questioned me of my adventures and of foreign countries, and I related
to them all that had befallen me, and the much I had suffered, whereat
they wondered and gave me joy of my safe return.

This, then, is the end of the story of my second voyage, and
tomorrow, Inshallah! I will tell you what befell me in my third
voyage.
The company marveled at his story and supped with him, after which
he ordered a hundred dinars of gold to be given to the porter, who
took the sum with many thanks and blessings (which he stinted not even
when he reached home) and went his way, wondering at what he had
heard. Next morning as soon as day came in its sheen and shone, he
rose and, praying the dawn prayer, repaired to the house of Sindbad
the Seaman, even as he had bidden him, and went in and gave him good
morrow. The merchant welcomed him and made him sit with him till the
rest of the company arrived, and when they had well eaten and
drunken and were merry with joy and jollity, their host began by
saying: Hearken, O my brothers, to what I am about to tell you, for it
is even more wondrous than what you have already heard. But Allah
alone kenneth what things His Omniscience concealed from man! And
listen to

         THE THIRD VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN


AS I told you yesterday, I returned from my second voyage
overjoyed at my safety and with great increase of wealth, Allah having
requited me all that I had wasted and lost, and I abode awhile in
Baghdad city savoring the utmost ease and prosperity and comfort and
happiness, till the carnal man was once more seized with longing for
travel and diversion and adventure, and yearned after traffic and
lucre and emolument, for that the human heart is naturally prone to
evil. So, making up my mind, I laid in great plenty of goods
suitable for a sea voyage and repairing to Bassorah, went down to
the shore and found there a fine ship ready to sail, with a full
crew and a numerous company of merchants, men of worth and
substance, faith, piety, and consideration. I embarked with them and
we set sail on the blessing of Allah Almighty and on His aidance and
His favor to bring our voyage to a safe and prosperous issue, and
already we congratulated one another on our good fortune and boon
voyage.

We fared on from sea to sea and from island to island and city to
city, in all delight and contentment, buying and selling wherever we
touched, and taking our solace and our pleasure, till one day when
as we sailed athwart the dashing sea swollen with clashing billows,
behold, the master (who stood on the gunwale examining the ocean in
all directions) cried out with a great cry, and buffeted his face
and pluckt out his beard and rent his raiment, and bade furl the
sail and cast the anchors. So we said to him, "O Rais, what is the
matter?" "Know, O my brethren (Allah preserve you!) that the wind hath
gotten the better of us and hath driven us out of our course into
midocean, and Destiny, for our ill luck, hath brought us to the
Mountain of the Zughb, a hairy folk like apes, among whom no man
ever fell and came forth alive. And my heart presageth that we all
be dead men."

Hardly had the master made an end of his speech when the apes were
upon us. They surrounded the ship on all sides, swarming like
locusts and crowding the shore. They were the most frightful of wild
creatures, covered with black hair like felt, foul of favor and
small of stature, being but four spans high, yellow-eyed and
black-faced. None knoweth their language nor what they are, and they
shun the company of men. We feared to slay them or strike them or
drive them away, because of their inconceivable multitude, lest if
we hurt one, the rest fall on us and slay us, for numbers prevail over
courage. So we let them do their will, albeit we feared they would
plunder our goods and gear. They swarmed up the cables and gnawed them
asunder, and on like wise they did with all the ropes of the ship,
so that if fell off from the wind and stranded upon their
mountainous coast. Then they laid hands on all the merchants and crew,
and landing us on the island, made off with the ship and its cargo and
went their ways, we wot not whither.

We were thus left on the island, eating of its fruits and potherbs
and drinking of its streams till one day we espied in its midst what
seemed an inhabited house. So we made for it as fast as our feet could
carry us and, behold, it was a castle strong and tall, compassed about
with a lofty wall, and having a two-leaved gate of ebony wood, both of
which leaves open stood. We entered and found within a space wide
and bare like a great square, round which stood many high doors open
thrown, and at the farther end a long bench of stone and braziers,
with cooking gear hanging thereon and about it great Plenty of
bones. But we saw no one and marveled thereat with exceeding wonder.
Then we sat down in the courtyard a little while, and presently
falling asleep, slept from the forenoon till sundown, when lo! the
earth trembled under our feet and the air rumbled with a terrible
tone.

Then there came down upon us, from the top of the castle, a huge
creature in the likeness of a man, black of color, tall and big of
bulk, as he were a great date tree, with eyes like coals of fire and
eyeteeth like boar's tusks and a vast big gape like the mouth of a
well. Moreover, he had long loose lips like camel's hanging down
upon his breast, and ears like two jarms falling over his shoulder
blades, and the nails of his hands were like the claws of a lion. When
we saw this frightful giant, we were like to faint and every moment
increased our fear and terror, and we became as dead men for excess of
horror and affright. And after trampling upon the earth, he sat awhile
on the bench. Then he arose and coming to us, seized me by the arm,
choosing me out from among my comrades the merchants. He took me up in
his hand and turning me over, felt me as a butcher feeleth a sheep
he is about to slaughter, and I but a little mouthful in his hands.
But finding me lean and fleshless for stress of toil and trouble and
weariness, let me go and took up another, whom in like manner he
turned over and felt and let go. Nor did he cease to feel and turn
over the rest of us, one after another, till he came to the master
of the ship.

Now he was a sturdy, stout, broad-shouldered wight, fat and in
full vigor, so he pleased the giant, who seized him as a butcher
seizeth a beast, and throwing him down, set his foot on his neck and
brake it, after which he fetched a long spit and thrusting it up his
backside, brought it forth of the crown of his head. Then, lighting
a fierce fire, he set over it the spit with the rais thereon, and
turned it over the coals till the flesh was roasted, when he took
the spit off the fire and set it like a kobab stick before him. Then
he tare the body, limb from limb, as one jointeth a chicken and,
rending the fresh with his nails, fell to eating of it and gnawing the
bones, till there was nothing left but some of these, which he threw
on one side of the wall. This done, he sat for a while, then he lay
down on the stone bench and fell asleep, snarking and snoring like the
gurgling of a lamb or a cow with its throat cut, nor did he awake till
morning, when he rose and fared forth and went his ways.

As soon as we were certified that he was gone, we began to talk with
one another, weeping and bemoaning ourselves for the risk we ran,
and saying: "Would Heaven we had been drowned in the sea or that the
apes had eaten us! That were better than to be roasted over the coals.
By Allah, this is a vile, foul death! But whatso the Lord willeth must
come-to pass, and there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Him, the Glorious, the Great! We shall assuredly perish miserably
and none will know of us, as there is no escape for us from this
place." Then we arose and roamed about the island, hoping that haply
we might find a place to hide us in or a means of flight, for indeed
death was a light matter to us, provided we were not roasted over
the fire and eaten. However, we could find no hiding place, and the
evening overtook us, so, of the excess of our terror, we returned to
the castle and sat down awhile.

Presently, the earth trembled under our feet and the black ogre came
up to us and turning us over, felt one after other till he found a man
to his liking, whom he took and served as he had done the captain,
killing and roasting and eating him. After which he lay down on the
bench and slept and night, snarling and snoring like a beast with
its throat cut, till daybreak, when he arose and went out as before.
Then we drew together and conversed and add one to other, "By Allah,
we had better throw ourselves into the sea and be drowned than die
roasted for this is an abominable death!" Quoth one of us: "Hear ye my
words! Let us cast about to kill him, and be at peace from the grief
of him and rid the Moslems of his barbarity and tyranny." Then said I:
"Hear me, O my brothers. If there is nothing for it but to slay him,
let us carry some of this firewood and planks down to the seashore and
make us a boat wherein, if we succeed in slaughtering him, we may
either embark and let the waters carry us whither Allah willeth, or
else abide here till some ship pass, when we will take passage in
it. If we fail to kill him, we will embark in the boat and put out
to sea. And if we be drowned, we shall at least escape being roasted
over a kitchen fire with sliced weasands, whilst if we escape, we
escape, and if we be drowned, we die martyrs." "By Allah," said they
all, "this rede is a right," and we agreed upon this, and set about
carrying it out. So we haled down to the beach the pieces of wood
which lay about the bench, and making a boat, moored it to the strand,
after which we stowed therein somewhat of victual and returned to
the castle.

As soon as evening fell the earth trembled under our feet and in
came the blackamoor upon us, snarling like a dog about to bite. He
came up to us, and feeling us and turning us over one by one, took one
of us and did with him as he had done before and ate him, after
which he lay down on the bench and snored and snorted like thunder. As
soon as we were assured that he slept, we arose and taking two iron
spits of those standing there, heated them in the fiercest of the fire
till they were red-hot, like burning coals, when we gripped fast
hold of them, and going up to the giant as he lay snoring on the
bench, thrust them into his eyes and pressed upon them, all of us,
with our united might, so that his eyeballs burst and he became
stone-blind. Thereupon he cried with a great cry, whereat our hearts
trembled, and springing up from the bench, he fell a-groping after us,
blindfold. We fled from him right and left and he saw us not, for his
sight was altogether blent, but we were in terrible fear of him and
made sure we were dead men despairing of escape. Then he found the
door, feeling for it with his hands, and went out roaring aloud, and
behold, the earth shook under us for the noise of his roaring, and
we quaked for fear. As he quitted the castle we followed him and
betook ourselves to the place where we had moored our boat, saying
to one another: "If this accursed abide absent till the going down
of the sun and come not to the castle, we shall know that he is
dead; and if he come back, we will embark in the boat and paddle
till we escape, committing our affair to Allah."

But as we spoke, behold, up came the blackamoor with other two as
they were Ghuls, fouler and more frightful than he, with eyes like
red-hot coals, which when we saw, we hurried into the boat and casting
off the moorings, paddled away, and pushed out to sea. As soon as
the ogres caught sight of us, they cried out at us, and running down
to the seashore, fell a-pelting us with rocks, whereof some fell
amongst us and others fell into the sea. We paddled with all our might
till we were beyond their reach, but the most part of us were slain by
the rock-throwing, and the winds and waves sported with us and carried
us into the midst of the dashing sea, swollen with billows clashing.
We knew not whither we went, and my fellows died one after another
till there remained but three, myself and two others, for as often
as one died, we threw him into the sea. We were sore exhausted for
stress of hunger, but we took courage and heartened one another and
worked for dear life, and paddled with main and might till the winds
cast us upon an island, as we were dead men for fatigue and fear and
famine.

We landed on the island and walked about it for a while, finding
that it abounded in trees and streams and birds, and we ate of the
fruits and rejoiced in our escape from the black and our deliverance
from the perils of the sea. And thus we did till nightfall, when we
lay down and fell asleep for excess of fatigue. But we had hardly
closed our eyes before we were aroused by a hissing sound, like the
sough of wind, and awakening, saw a serpent like a dragon, a
seldseen sight, of monstrous make and belly of enormous bulk, which
lay in a circle around us. Presently it reared its head, and seizing
one of my companions, swallowed him up to his shoulders. Then it
gulped down the rest of him, and we heard his ribs crack in its belly.
Presently it went its way, and we abode in sore amazement and grief
for our comrade and mortal fear for ourselves, saying: "By Allah, this
is a marvelous thing! Each kind of death that threateneth us is more
terrible than the last We were rejoicing in our escape from the
black ogre and our deliverance from the perils of the sea, but now
we have fallen into that which is worse. There is no Majesty and there
is no Might save in Allah! By the Almighty, we have escaped from the
blackamoor and from drowning, but how shall we escape from this
abominable and viperish monster?" Then we walked about the island,
eating of its fruits and drinking of its streams till dusk, when we
climbed up into a high tree and went to sleep there, I being on the
topmost bough.

As soon as it was dark night, up came the serpent, looking right and
left, and making for the tree whereon we were, climbed up to my
comrade and swallowed him down to his shoulders. Then it coiled
about the bole with him, whilst I, who could not take my eyes off
the sight, heard his bones crack in its belly, and it swallowed him
whole, after which it slid down from the tree. When the day broke
and the light showed me that the serpent was gone, I came down, as I
were a dead man for stress of fear and anguish, and thought to cast
myself into the sea and be at rest from the woes of the world, but
could not bring myself to this, for verily life is dear. So I took
five pieces of wood, broad and long, and bound one crosswise to the
soles of my feet and others in like fashion on my right and left sides
and over my breast, and the broadest and largest I bound across my
head and made them fast with ropes. Then I lay down on the ground on
my back, so that I was completely fenced in by the pieces of wood,
which enclosed me like a bier.

So as soon as it was dark, up came the serpent as usual, and made
toward me, but could not get at me to swallow me for the wood that
fenced me in. So it wriggled round me on every side whilst I looked on
like one dead by reason of my terror, and every now and then it
would glide away, and come back. But as often as it tried to come at
me, it was hindered by the pieces of wood wherewith I had bound myself
on every side. It ceased not to beset me thus from sundown till
dawn, but when the light of day shone upon the beast it made off, in
the utmost fury and extreme disappointment. Then I put out my hand and
unbound myself, well-nigh down among the dead men for fear and
suffering, and went down to the island shore, whence a ship afar off
in the midst of the waves suddenly struck my sight. So I tore off a
great branch of a tree and made signs with it to the crew, shouting
out the while, which when the ship's company saw they said to one
another: "We must stand in and see what this is. Peradventure 'tis a
man." So they made for the island and presently heard my cries,
whereupon they took me on board and questioned me of my case. I told
them all my adventures from first to last, whereat they marveled
mightily and covered my shame with some of their clothes. Moreover,
they set before me somewhat of food and I ate my fill and I drank cold
sweet water and was mightily refreshed, and Allah Almighty quickened
me after I was virtually dead. So I praised the Most Highest and
thanked Him for His favors and exceeding mercies, and my heart revived
in me after utter despair, till meseemed as if all I had suffered were
but a dream I had dreamed.

We sailed on with a fair wind the Almighty sent us till we came to
an island called Al-Salahitah, which aboundeth in sandalwood, when the
captain cast anchor. And when we had cast anchor, the merchants and
the sailors landed with their goods to sell and to buy. Then the
captain turned to me and said: "Hark'ee, thou art a stranger and a
pauper and tellest us that thou hast undergone frightful hardships,
wherefore I have a mind to benefit thee with somewhat that may further
thee to thy native land, so thou wilt ever bless me and pray for
me." "So be it," answered I. "Thou shalt have my prayers." Quoth he:
"Know then that there was with us a man, a traveler, whom we lost, and
we know not if he be alive or dead, for we had no news of him. So I
purpose to commit his bales of goods to thy charge, that thou mayst
sell them in this island. A part of the proceeds we will give thee
as an equivalent for thy pains and service, and the rest we will
keep till we return to Baghdad, where we will inquire for his family
and deliver it to them, together with the unsold goods. Say me then,
wilt thou undertake the charge and land and sell them as other
merchants do?" I replied, "Hearkening and obedience to thee, O my
lord, and great is thy kindness to me," and thanked him. Whereupon
he bade the sailors and porters bear the bales in question ashore, and
commit them to my charge.

The ship's scribe asked him, "O master, what bales are these, and
what merchant's name shall I write upon them?" and he answered: "Write
on them the name of Sindbad the Seaman, him who was with us in the
ship and whom we lost at the roc's island, and of whom we have no
tidings. For we mean this stranger to sell them, and we will give
him a part of the price for his pains and keep the rest till we return
to Baghdad, where if we find the owner we will make it over to him,
and if not, to his family." And the clerk said, "Thy words are
apposite and thy rede is right." Now when I heard the captain give
orders for the bales to be inscribed with my name, I said to myself,
"By Allah, I am Sindbad the Seaman!" So I armed myself with courage
and patience and waited till all the merchants had landed and were
gathered together, talking and chattering about buying and selling.
Then I went up to the captain and asked him, "O my lord, knowest
thou what manner of man was this Sindbad whose goods thou hast
committed to me for sale?" and he answered, "I know of him naught save
that he was a man from Baghdad city, Sindbad hight the Seaman, who was
drowned with many others when we lay anchored at such an island, and I
have heard nothing of him since then."

At this I cried out with a great cry and said: "O Captain, whom
Allah keep! know that I am that Sindbad the Seaman and that I was
not drowned, but when thou castest anchor at the island, I landed with
the rest of the merchants and crew. And I sat down in a pleasant place
by myself and ate somewhat of food I had with me and enjoyed myself
till I became drowsy and was drowned in sleep. And when I awoke, I
found no ship, and none near me. These goods are my goods and these
bales are my bales, and all the merchants who fetch jewels from the
Valley of Diamonds saw me there and will bear me witness that I am the
very Sindbad the Seaman; for I related to them everything that had
befallen me and told them how you forgot me and left me sleeping on
the island, and that betided me which betided me." When the passengers
and crew heard my words, they gathered about me and some of them
believed me and others disbelieved, but presently, behold, one of
the merchants, hearing me mention the Valley of Diamonds, came up to
me and said to them: "Hear what I say, good people! When I related
to you the most wonderful things in my travels, and I told you that at
the time we cast down our slaughtered animals into the Valley of
Serpents (I casting with the rest as was my wont), there came up a man
hanging to mine, ye believed me not and live me the lie." "Yes," quoth
they, "thou didst tell us some such tale, but we had no call to
credit thee." He resumed: "Now this is the very man, by token that
he gave me diamonds of great value and high price whose like are not
to be found, requiting me more than would have come up sticking to
my quarter of meat. And I companied with him to Bassorah city, where
he took leave of us and went on to his native stead whilst we returned
to our own land. This is he, and he told us his name, Sindbad the
Seaman, and how the ship left him on the desert island. And know ye
that Allah hath sent him hither, so might the truth of my story be
made manifest to you. Moreover, these are his goods, for when he first
forgathered with us, he told us of them; and the truth of his words is
patent."

Hearing the merchant's speech, the captain came up to me and
considered me straitly awhile, after which he said, "What was the mark
on thy bales?" "Thus and thus," answered I, and reminded him of
somewhat that had passed between him and me when I shipped with him
from Bassorah. Thereupon he was convinced that I was indeed Sindbad
the Seaman and took me round the neck and gave me joy of my safety,
saying: "By Allah, O my lord, thy case is indeed wondrous and thy tale
marvelous. But lauded be Allah Who hath brought thee and me together
again, and Who hath restored to thee thy goods and gear!" Then I
disposed of my merchandise to the best of my skill, and profited
largely on them, whereat I rejoiced with exceeding joy and
congratulated myself on my safety and the recovery of my goods. We
ceased not to buy and sell at the several islands till we came to
the land of Hind, where we bought cloves and ginger and all manner
spices. And thence we fared on to the land of Sind, where also we
bought and sold.

In these Indian seas I saw wonders without number or count,
amongst others a fish like a cow which bringeth forth its young and
suckleth them like human beings, and of its skin bucklers are made.
There were eke fishes like asses and camels and tortoises twenty
cubits wide. And I saw also a bird that cometh out of a sea shell
and layeth eggs and hatcheth her chicks on the surface of the water,
never coming up from the sea to the land. Then we set sail again
with a fair wind and the blessing of Almighty Allah, and after a
prosperous voyage, arrived safe and sound at Bassorah. Here I abode
a few days, and presently returned to Baghdad, where I went at once to
my quarter and my house and saluted my family and familiars and
friends. I had gained on this voyage what was beyond count and
reckoning, so I gave alms and largess and clad the widow and orphan,
by way of thanksgiving for my happy return, and fell to feasting and
making merry with my companions and intimates and forgot while
eating well and drinking well and dressing well everything that had
befallen me and all the perils and hardships I had suffered.

These, then, are the most admirable things I sighted on my third
voyage, and tomorrow, an it be the will of Allah, you shall come to me
and I will relate the adventures of my fourth voyage, which is still
more wonderful than those you have already heard. (Saith he who
telleth the tale): Then Sindbad the Seaman bade give Sindbad the
Landsman a hundred golden dinars as of wont, and called for food. So
they spread the tables and the company ate the night meal and went
their ways, marveling at the tale they had heard. The porter after
taking his gold passed the night in his own house, also wondering at
what his namesake the seaman had told him, and as soon as day broke
and the morning showed with its sheen and shone, he rose and praying
the dawn prayer, betook himself to Sindbad the Seaman, who returned
his salute and received him with an open breast and cheerful favor and
made him sit with him till the rest of the company arrived, when he
caused set on food and they ate and drank and made merry. Then Sindbad
the Seaman bespake them and related to them the narrative of

        THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN


KNOW, O my brethren, that after my return from my third voyage and
forgathering with my friends, and forgetting all my perils and
hardships in the enjoyment of ease and comfort and repose, I was
visited one day by a company of merchants who sat down with me and
talked of foreign travel and traffic till the old bad man within me
yearned to go with them and enjoy the sight of strange countries,
and I longed for the society of the various races of mankind and for
traffic and profit. So I resolved to travel with them and, buying
the necessaries for a long voyage and great store of costly goods,
more than ever before, transported them from Baghdad to Bassorah,
where I took ship with the merchants in question, who were of the
chief of the town. We set out, trusting in the blessing of Almighty
Allah, and with a favoring breeze and the best conditions we salled
from island to island and sea to sea till one day there arose
against us a contrary wind and the captain cast out his anchors and
brought the ship to a standstill, fearing lest she should founder in
midocean.

Then we all fell to prayer and humbling ourselves before the Most
High, but as we were thus engaged there smote us a furious squall
which tore the sails to rags and tatters. The anchor cable parted and,
the ship foundering, we were cast into the sea, goods and all. I
kept myself afloat by swimming half the day till, when I had given
myself up for lost, the Almighty threw in my way one of the planks
of the ship, whereon I and some others of the merchants scrambled and,
mounting it as we would a horse, paddled with our feet in the sea.
We abode thus a day and a night, the wind and waves helping us on, and
on the second day shortly before the midtime between sunrise and
noon the breeze freshened and the sea wrought and the rising waves
cast us upon an island, well-nigh dead bodies for weariness and want
of sleep, cold and hunger and fear and thirst. We walked about the
shore and found abundance of herbs, whereof we ate enough to keep
breath in body and to stay our failing spirits, then lay down and
slept till morning hard by the sea. And when morning came with its
sheen and shone, we arose and walked about the island to the right and
left till we came in sight of an inhabited house afar off. So we
made toward it, and ceased not walking till we reached the door
thereof when lo! a number of naked men issued from it, and without
saluting us or a word said, laid hold of us masterfully and carried us
to their King, who signed us to sit. So we sat down and they set
food before us such as we knew not and whose like we had never seen in
all our lives. My companions ate of it, for stress of hunger, but my
stomach revolted from it and I would not eat, and my refraining from
it was, by Allah's favor, the cause of my being alive till now. For no
sooner had my comrades tasted of it than their reason fled and their
condition changed and they began to devour it like madmen possessed of
an evil spirit. Then the savages give them to drink of coconut oil and
anointed them therewith, and straightway after drinking thereof
their eyes turned into their heads and they fell to eating greedily,
against their wont.

When I saw this, I was confounded, and concerned for them, nor was I
less anxious about myself, for fear of the naked folk. So I watched
them narrowly, and it was not long before I discovered them to be a
tribe of Magian cannibals whose King was a Ghul. All who came to their
country or whoso they caught in their valleys or on their roads they
brought to this King and fed them upon that food and anointed them
with that oil, whereupon their stomachs dilated that they might eat
largely, wilst their reason fled and they lost the power of thought
and became idiots. Then they stuffed them with coconut oil and the
aforesaid food till they became fat and gross, when they slaughtered
them by cutting their throats and roasted them for the King's
eating, but as for the savages themselves, they ate human flesh raw.
When I saw this, I was sore dismayed for myself and my comrades, who
were now become so stupefied that they knew not what was done with
them. And the naked folk committed them to one who used every day to
lead them out and pasture them on the island like cattle. And they
wandered amongst the trees and rested at will, thus waxing very fat.

As for me, I wasted away and became sickly for fear and hunger and
my flesh shriveled on my bones, which when the savages saw, they
left me alone and took no thought of me and so far forgot me that
one day I gave them the slip and walking out of their place, made
for the beach, which was distant, and there espied a very old man
seated on a high place girt by the waters. I looked at him and knew
him for the herdsman who had charge of pasturing my fellows, and
with him were many others in like case. As soon as he saw me, he
knew me to be in possession of my reason and not afflicted like the
rest whom he was pasturing, so signed to me from afar, as who should
say, "Turn back and take the right-hand road, for that will lead
thee into the King's highway." So I turned back, as he bade me, and
followed the right-hand road, now running for fear and then walking
leisurely to rest me, till I was out of the old man's sight. By this
time the sun had gone down and the darkness set in, so I sat down to
rest and would have slept, but sleep came not to me that night for
stress of fear and famine and fatigue.

When the night was half spent, I rose and walked on till the day
broke in all its beauty and the sun rose over the heads of the lofty
hills and athwart the low gravelly plains. Now I was weary and
hungry and thirsty, so I ate my fill of herbs and grasses that grew in
the island and kept life in body and stayed my stomach, after which
I set out again and fared on all that day and the next night,
staying my greed with roots and herbs. Nor did I cease walking for
seven days and their nights, till the morn of the eighth day, when I
caught sight of a faint object in the distance. So I made toward it,
though my heart quaked for all I had suffered first and last, and,
behold, it was a company of men gathering pepper grains. As soon as
they saw me, they hastened up to me and surrounding me on all sides,
said to me, "Who art thou, and whence come?" I replied, "Know, O folk,
that I am a poor stranger," and acquainted them with my case and all
the hardships and perils I had suffered, whereat they marveled and
gave me joy of my safety, saying: "By Allah, this is wonderful! But
how didst thou escape from these blacks who swarm in the island and
devour all who fall in with them, nor is any safe from them, nor can
any get out of their clutches?"

And after I had told them the fate of my companions, they made me
sit by them till they got quit of their work, and fetched me
somewhat of good food, which I ate, for I was hungry, and rested
awhile. After which they took ship with me and carrying me to their
island home, brought me before their King, who returned my salute
and received me honorably and questioned me of my case. I told him all
that had befallen me from the day of my leaving Baghdad city,
whereupon he wondered with great wonder at my adventures, he and his
courtiers, and bade me sit by him. Then he called for food and I ate
with him what sufficed me and washed my hands and returned thanks to
Almighty Allah for all His favors, praising Him and glorifying Him.
Then I left the King and walked for solace about the city, which I
found wealthy and populous, abounding in market streets well stocked
with food and merchandise and full of buyers and sellers. So I
rejoiced
at having reached so pleasant a place and took my ease there after
my fatigues, and I made friends with the townsfolk, nor was it long
before I became more in honor and favor with them and their King
than any of the chief men of the realm.

Now I saw that all the citizens, great and small, rode fine
horses, high-priced and thoroughbred, without saddles or housings,
whereat I wondered and said to the King: "Wherefore, O my lord, dost
thou not ride with a saddle? Therein is ease for the rider and
increase of power." "What is a saddle?" asked he. "I never saw nor
used such a thing in all my life." And I answered, "With thy
permission I will make thee a saddle, that thou mayst ride on it and
see the comfort thereof." And quoth he, "Do so." So quoth I to him,
"Furnish me with some woods." which being brought, I sought me a
clever carpenter and sitting by him, showed him how to make the
saddletree, portraying for him the fashion thereof in ink on the wood.
Then I took wool and teased it and made felt of it, and, covering
the saddletree with leather, stuffed it, and polished it, and attached
the girth and stirrup leathers. After which I fetched a blacksmith and
described to him the fashion of the stirrups and bridle bit. So he
forged a fine pair of stirrups and a bit, and filed them smooth and
tinned them. Moreover, I made fast to them fringes of silk and
fitted bridle leathers to the bit. Then I fetched one of the best of
the royal horses and saddling and bridling him, hung the stirrups to
the saddle and led him to the King. The thing took his fancy and he
thanked me, then he mounted and rejoiced greatly in the saddle and
rewarded me handsomely for my work.

When the King's Wazir saw the saddle, he asked of me one like it,
and I made it for him. Furthermore, all the grandees and officers of
state came for saddles to me, so I fell to making saddles (having
taught the craft to the carpenter and blacksmith) and selling them
to all who sought, till I amassed great wealth and became in high
honor and great favor with the King and his household and grandees.
I abode thus till one day, as I was sitting with the King in all
respect and contentment, he said to me: "Know thou, O such a one, thou
art become one of us, dear as a brother, and we hold thee in such
regard and affection that we cannot part with thee nor suffer thee
to leave our city. Wherefore I desire of thee obedience in a certain
matter, and I will not have thee gainsay me." Answered I: "O King,
what is it thou desirest of me? Far be it from me to gainsay thee in
aught, for I am indebted to thee for many favors and bounties and much
kindness, and (praised be Allah!) I am become one of thy servants."
Quoth he: "I have a mind to marry thee to a fair, clever, and
agreeable wife who is wealthy as she is beautiful, so thou mayest be
naturalized and domiciled with us. I will lodge thee with me in my
palace, wherefore oppose me not neither cross me in this." When I
heard these words I was ashamed and held my peace nor could make him
any answer, by reason of my much bashfulness before him. Asked he,
"Why dost thou not reply to me, O my son?" and I answered, saying,
"O my master, it is thine to command, O King of the Age!" So he
summoned the kazi and the witnesses and married me straightway to a
lady of a noble tree and high pedigree, wealthy in moneys and means,
the flower of an ancient race, of surpassing beauty and grace, and the
owner of farms and estates and many a dwelling place.

Now after the King my master had married me to this choice wife,
he also gave me a great and goodly house standing alone, together with
slaves and officers, and assigned me pay and allowances. So I became
in all ease and contentment and delight and forgot everything which
had befallen me of weariness and trouble and hardship. For I loved
my wife with fondest love and she loved me no less, and we were as
one, and abode in the utmost comfort of life and in its happiness. And
I said in myself, "When I return to my native land, I will carry her
with me." But whatso is predestined to a man, that needs must be,
and none knoweth what shall befall him. We lived thus a great while,
till Almighty Allah bereft one of my neighbors of his wife. Now he was
a gossip of mine, so hearing the cry of the keeners, I went in to
condole him on his loss and found him in very ill plight, full of
trouble and weary of soul and mind. I condoled with him and
comforted him, saying: "Mourn not for thy wife, who hath now found the
mercy of Allah. The Lord will surely give thee a better in her
stead, and thy name shall be great and thy life shall be long in the
land, Inshallah!"

But he wept bitter tears and replied: "O my friend, how can I
marry another wife, and how shall Allah replace her to me with a
better than she, whenas I have but one day left to live?" "O my
brother," said I, "return to thy senses and announce not glad
tidings of thine own death, for thou art well, sound, and in good
case." "By thy life, O my friend," rejoined he, "tomorrow thou wilt
lose me, and wilt never see me again till the Day of Resurrection."
I asked, "How so?" and he answered: "This very day they bury my
wife, and they bury me with her in one tomb. For it is the custom with
us, if the wife die first, to bury the husband alive with her, and
in like manner the wife if the husband die first, so that neither
may enjoy life after losing his or her mate." "By Allah," cried I,
"this is a most vile, lewd custom, and not to be endured of any!"
Meanwhile, behold, the most part of the townsfolk came in and fell
to condoling with my gossip for his wife and for himself.

Presently they laid the dead woman out, as was their wont, and
setting her on a bier, carried her and her husband without the city
till they came to a place in the side of a mountain at the end of
the island by the sea. And here they raised a great rock and
discovered the mouth of a stone-riveted pit or well, leading down into
a vast underground cavern that ran beneath the mountain. Into this pit
they threw the corpse, then, tying a rope of palm fibers under the
husband's armpits, they let him down into the cavern, and with him a
great pitcher of fresh water and seven scones by way of viaticum. When
he came to the bottom, he loosed himself from the rope and they drew
it up, and stopping the mouth of the pit with the great stone, they
returned to the city, leaving my friend in the cavern with his dead
wife. When I saw this, I said to myself, "By Allah, this fashion of
death is more grievous than the first!" And I went in to the King
and said to him, "O my lord, why do ye bury the quick with the
dead?" Quoth he: "It hath been the custom, thou must know, of our
forebears and our olden kings from time immemorial, if the husband die
first, to bury his wife with him, and the like with the wife, so we
may not sever them, alive or dead." I asked, "O King of the Age, if
the wife of a foreigner like myself die among you, deal ye with him as
with yonder man?" and he answered, "Assuredly we do with him even as
thou hast seen." When I heard this, my gall bladder was like to burst,
for the violence of my dismay and concern for myself. My wit became
dazed, I felt as if in a vile dungeon, and hated their society, for
I went about in fear lest my wife should die before me and they bury
me alive with her. However, after a while I comforted myself,
saying, "Haply I shall predecease her, or shall have returned to my
own land before she die, for none knoweth which shall go first and
which shall go last."

Then I applied myself to diverting my mind from this thought with
various occupations, but it was not long before my wife sickened and
complained and took to her pillow and fared after a few days to the
mercy of Allah. And the King and the rest of the folk came, as was
their wont, to condole with me and her family and to console us for
her loss, and not less to condole with me for myself. Then the women
washed her, and arraying her in her richest raiment and golden
ornaments, necklaces, and jewelry, laid her on the bier and bore her
to the mountain aforesaid, where they lifted the cover of the pit
and cast her in. After which all my intimates and acquaintances and my
wife's kith and kin came round me, to farewell me in my lifetime and
console me for my own death, whilst I cried out among them, saying:
"Almighty Allah never made it lawful to bury the quick with the
dead! I am a stranger, not one of your kind, and I cannot abear your
custom, and had I known it I never would have wedded among you!"
They heard me not and paid no heed to my words, but laying hold of me,
bound me by force and let me down. into the cavern, with a large
gugglet of sweet water and seven cakes of bread, according to their
custom. When I came to the bottom, they called out to me to cast
myself loose from the cords, but I refused to do so, so they threw
them down on me and, closing the mouth of the pit with the stones
aforesaid, went their ways.

I looked about me and found myself in a vast cave full of dead
bodies that exhaled a fulsome and loathsome smell, and the air was
heavy with the groans of the dying. Thereupon I fell to blaming myself
for what I had done, saying: "By Allah, I deserve all that hath
befallen me and all that shall befall me! What curse was upon me to
take a wife in this city? There is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! As often as I say I have
escaped from one calamity, I fall into a worse. By Allah, this is an
abominable death to die! Would Heaven I had died a decent death and
been washed and shrouded like a man and a Moslem. Would I had been
drowned at sea, or perished in the mountains! It were better than to
die this miserable death!" And on such wise I kept blaming my own
folly and greed of gain in that black hole, knowing not night from
day, and I ceased not to ban the Foul Fiend and to bless the
Almighty Friend. Then I threw myself down on the bones of the dead and
lay there, imploring Allah's help, and in the violence of my despair
invoking death, which came not to me, till the fire of hunger burned
my stomach and thirst set my throat aflame, when I sat up and
feeling for the bread, ate a morsel and upon it swallowed a mouthful
of water.

After this, the worst night I ever knew, I arose, and exploring the,
cavern, found that it extended a long way with hollows in its sides,
and its floor was strewn with dead bodies and rotten bones that had
lain there from olden time. So I made myself a place in a cavity of
the cavern, afar from the corpses lately thrown down, and there slept.
I abode thus a long while, till my provision was like to give out, and
yet I ate not save once every day or second day, nor did I drink
more than an occasional draught, for fear my victual should fail me
before my death. And I said to myself: "Eat little and drink little.
Belike the Lord shall vouchsafe deliverance to thee!" One day as I sat
thus, pondering my case and bethinking me how I should do when my
bread and water should be exhausted, behold, the stone that covered
the opening was suddenly rolled away and the light streamed down
upon me. Quoth I: "I wonder what is the matter. Haply they have
brought another corpse." Then I espied folk standing about the mouth
of the pit, who presently let down a dead man and a live woman,
weeping and bemoaning herself, and with her an ampler supply of
bread and water than usual. I saw her and she was a beautiful woman,
but she saw me not. And they closed up the opening and went away. Then
I took the leg bone of a dead man and, going up to the woman, smote
her on the crown of the head, and she cried one cry and fell down in a
swoon. I smote her a second and a third time, till she was dead,
when I laid hands on her bread and water and found on her great plenty
of ornaments and rich apparel, necklaces, jewels and gold trinkets,
for it was their custom to bury women in all their finery. I carried
the vivers to my sleeping place in the cavern side and ate and drank
of them sparingly, no more than sufficed to keep the life in me,
lest the provaunt come speedily to an end and I perish of hunger and
thirst.

Yet did I never wholly lose hope in Almighty Allah. I abode thus a
great while, killing all the live folk they let down into the cavern
and taking their provisions of meat and drink, till one day, as I
slept, I was awakened by something scratching and burrowing among
the bodies in a corner of the cave and said, "What can this be?"
fearing wolves or hyenas. So I sprang up, and seizing the leg bone
aforesaid, made for the noise. As soon as the thing was ware of me, it
fled from me into the inward of the cavern, and lo! it was a wild
beast. However, I followed it to the further end, till I saw afar
off a point of light not bigger than a star, now appearing and then
disappearing. So I made for it, and as I drew near, it grew larger and
brighter, till I was certified that it was a crevice in the rock,
leading to the open country, and I said to myself: "There must be some
reason for this opening. Either it is the mouth of a second pit such
as that by which they let me down, or else it is a natural fissure
in the stonery." So I bethought me awhile, and nearing the light,
found that it came from a breach in the back side of the mountain,
which the wild beasts had enlarged by burrowing, that they might enter
and devour the dead and freely go to and from. When I saw this, my
spirits revived and hope came back to me and I made sure of life,
after having died a death. So I went on, as in a dream, and making
shift to scramble through the breach, found myself on the slope of a
high mountain overlooking the salt sea and cutting off all access
thereto from the island, so that none could come at that part of the
beach from the city. I praised my Lord and thanked Him, rejoicing
greatly and heartening myself with the prospect of deliverance.

Then I returned through the crack to the cavern and brought out
all the food and water I had saved up, and donned some of the dead
folk's clothes over my own. After which I gathered together all the
collars and necklaces of pearls and jewels and trinkets of gold and
silver set with precious stones and other ornaments and valuables I
could find upon the corpses, and making them into bundles with the
graveclothes and raiment of the dead, carried them out to the back
of the mountain facing the seashore, where I established myself,
purposing to wait there till it should please Almighty Allah to send
me relief by means of some passing ship. I visited the cavern daily,
and as often as I found folk buried alive there, I killed them all
indifferently, men and women, and took their victual and valuables and
transported them to my seat on the seashore.

Thus I abode a long while till one day I caught sight of a ship
passing in the midst of the clashing sea swollen with dashing billows.
So I took a piece of a white shroud I had with me, and tying it to a
staff, ran along the seashore making signals therewith and calling
to the people in the ship, till they espied me, and hearing my shouts,
sent a boat to fetch me off. When it drew near, the crew called out to
me, saying, "Who art thou, and how camest thou to be on this mountain,
whereon never saw we any in our born days?" I answered: "I am a
gentleman and a merchant who hath been wrecked and saved myself on one
of the planks of the ship, with some of my goods. And by the
blessing of the Almighty and the decrees of Destiny and my own
strength and skill, after much toil and moil I have landed with my
gear in this place, where I awaited some passing ship to take me off."
So they took me in their boat, together with the bundles I had made of
the jewels and valuables from the cavern, tied up in clothes and
shrouds, and rowed back with me to the ship, where the captain said to
me: "How camest thou, O man, to yonder place on yonder mountain behind
which lieth a great city? All my life I have sailed these seas and
passed to and fro hard by these heights, yet never saw I here any
living thing save wild beasts and birds." I repeated to him the
story I had told the sailors, but acquainted him with nothing of
that which had befallen me in the city and the cavern, lest there
should be any of the islandry in the ship.

Then I took out some of the best pearls I had with me and offered
them to the captain, saying: "O my lord, thou hast been the means of
saving me off this mountain. I have no ready money, but take this from
me in requital of thy kindness and good offices.-But he refused to
accept it of me, saying: "When we find a shipwrecked man on the
seashore or on an island, we take him up and give him meat and
drink, and if he be naked we clothe him, nor take we aught from
him- nay, when we reach a port of safety, we set him ashore with a
present of our own money and entreat him kindly and charitably, for
the love of Allah the Most High." So I prayed that his life be long in
the land and rejoiced in my escape, trusting to be delivered from my
stress and to forget my past mishaps, for every time I remembered
being let down into the cave with my dead wife I shuddered in horror.

Then we pursued our voyage and sailed from island to island and
sea to sea till we arrived at the Island of the Bell which
containeth a city two days' journey in extent, whence after a six
days' ran we reached the Island Kala, hard by the land of Hind. This
place is govemed by a potent and puissant King, and it produceth
excellent camphor and an abundance of the Indian rattan. Here also
is a lead mine. At last by the decree of Allah we arrived in safety at
Bassorah town, where I tarried a few days, then went on to Baghdad
city, and finding my quarter, entered my house with lively pleasure.
There I forgathered with my family and friends, who rejoiced in my
happy return and give me joy of my safety. I laid up in my storehouses
all the goods I had brought with me, and gave alms and largess to
fakirs and beggars and clothed the widow and the orphan. Then I gave
myself up to pleasure and enjoyment, returning to my old merry mode of
rife.

Such, then, be the most marvelous adventures of my fourth voyage,
but tomorrow, if you will kindly come to me, I will tell you that
which befell me in my fifth voyage, which was yet rarer and more
marvelous than those which forewent it. And thou, O my brother Sindbad
the Landsman, shalt sup with me as thou art wont. (Saith he who
telleth the tale): When Sindbad the Seaman had made an end of his
story, he called for supper, so they spread the table and the guests
ate the evening meal, after which he gave the porter a hundred
dinars as usual, and he and the rest of the company went their ways,
glad at heart and marveling at the tales they had heard, for that each
story was more extraordinary than that which forewent it. The porter
Sindbad passed the night in his own house, in all joy and cheer and
wonderment, and as soon as morning came with its sheen and shone, he
prayed the dawn prayer and repaired to the house of Sindbad the
Seaman, who welcomed him and bade him sit with him till the rest of
the company arrived, when they ate and drank and made merry and the
talk went round amongst them. Presently, their host began the
narrative of

         THE FIFTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN


KNOW, O my brothers, that when I had been awhile on shore after my
fourth voyage, and when, in my comfort and pleasures and
merrymakings and in my rejoicing over my large gains and profits, I
had forgotten all I had endured of perils and sufferings, the carnal
man was again seized with the longing to travel and to see foreign
countries and islands. Accordingly I bought costly merchandise
suited to my purpose and, making it up into bales, repaired to
Bassorah, where I walked about the river quay till I found a fine tall
ship, newly builded, with gear unused and fitted ready for sea. She
pleased me, so I bought her and, embarking my goods in her, hired a
master and crew, over whom I set certain of my slaves and servants
as inspectors. A number of merchants also brought their outfits and
paid me freight and passage money. Then, after reciting the fatihah,
we set sail over Allah's pool in all joy and cheer, promising
ourselves a prosperous voyage and much profit.

We sailed from city to city and from island to island and from sea
to sea viewing the cities and countries by which we passed, and
selling and buying in not a few, till one day we came to a great
uninhabited island, deserted and desolate, whereon was a white dome of
biggest bulk half buried in the sands. The merchants landed to examine
this dome, leaving me in the ship, and when they drew near, behold, it
was a huge roc's egg. They fell a-beating it with stones, knowing
not what it was, and presently broke it open, whereupon much water ran
out of it and the young roc appeared within. So they pulled it forth
of the shell and cut its throat and took of it great store of meat.
Now I was in the ship and knew not what they did, but presently one of
the passengers came up to me and said, "O my lord, come and look at
the egg that we thought to be a dome." So I looked, and seeing the
merchants beating it with stones, called out to them: "Stop, stop!
Do not meddle with that egg, or the bird roc will come out and break
our ship and destroy us." But they paid no heed to me and gave not
over smiting upon the egg, when behold, the day grew dark and dun
and the sun was hidden from us, as if some great cloud had passed over
the firmament. So we raised our eyes and saw that what we took for a
cloud was the roc poised between us and the sun, and it was his
wings that darkened the day. When he came and saw his egg broken, he
cried a loud cry, whereupon his mate came flying up and they both
began circling about the ship, crying out at us with voices louder
than thunder. I called to the rais and crew, "Put out to sea and
seek safety in flight, before we be all destroyed!" So the merchants
came on board and we cast off and made haste from the island to gain
the open sea.

When the rocs saw this, they flew off, and we crowded all sail on
the ship, thinking to get out of their country, but presently the
two reappeared and flew after us and stood over us, each carrying in
its claws a huge boulder which it had brought from the mountains. As
soon as the he-roc came up with us, he let fall upon us the rock he
held in his pounces, but the master put about ship, so that the rock
missed her by some small matter and plunged into the waves with such
violence that the ship pitched high and then sank into the trough of
the sea, and the bottom the ocean appeared to us. Then the she-roc let
fall her rock, which was bigger than that of her mate, and as
Destiny had decreed, it fell on the poop of the ship and crushed it,
the rudder flying into twenty pieces. Whereupon the vessel foundered
and all and everything on board were cast into the main. As for me,
I struggled for sweet life till Almighty Allah threw in my way one
of the planks of the ship, to which I clung and bestriding it, fell
a-paddling with my feet.

Now the ship had gone down hard by an island in the midst of the
main, and the winds and waves bore me on till, by permission of the
Most High, they cast me up on the shore of the island, at the last
gasp for toil and distress and half-dead with hunger and thirst. So
I landed more like a corpse than a live man, and throwing myself
down on the beach, lay there awhile till I began to revive and recover
spirits, when I walked about the island, and found it as it were one
of the garths and gardens of Paradise. Its trees, in abundance
dight, bore ripe-yellow fruit for freight, its streams ran clear and
bright, its flowers were fair to scent and to sight, and its birds
warbled with delight the praises of Him to whom belong Permanence
and All-might. So I ate my fill of the fruits and slaked my thirst
with the water of the streams till I could no more, and I returned
thanks to the Most High and glorified Him, after which I sat till
nightfall hearing no voice and seeing none inhabitant. Then I lay
down, well-nigh dead for travail and trouble and terror, and slept
without surcease till morning, when I arose and walked about under the
trees till I came to the channel of a draw well fed by a spring of
running water, by which well sat an old man of venerable aspect,
girt about with a waistcloth made of the fiber of palm fronds. Quoth I
to myself. "Haply this Sheikh is of those who were wrecked in the ship
and hath made his way to this island."

So I drew near to him and saluted him, and he returned my salaam
by signs, but spoke not, and I said to him, "O nuncle mine, what
causeth thee to sit here?" He shook his head and moaned and signed
to me with his hand as who should say, "Take me on thy shoulders and
carry me to the other side of the well channel." And quoth I in my
mind: "I will deal kindly with him and do what he desireth. It may
be I shall win me a reward in Heaven, for he may be a paralytic." So I
took him on my back, and carrying him to the place whereat he pointed,
said to him, "Dismount at thy leisure." But he would not get off my
back, and wound his legs about my neck. I looked at them, and seeing
that they were like a buffalo's hide for blackness and roughness,
was affrighted and would have cast him off, but he clung to me and
gripped my neck with his legs till I was well-nigh choked, the world
grew black in my sight and I fell senseless to the ground like one
dead.

But he still kept his seat and raising his legs, drummed with his
heels and beat harder than palm rods my back and shoulders, till he
forced me to rise for excess of pain. Then he signed to me with his
hand to carry him hither and thither among the trees which bore the
best fruits, and if ever I refused to do his bidding or loitered or
took my leisure, he beat me with his feet more grievously than if I
had been beaten with whips. He ceased not to signal with his hand
wherever he was minded to go, so I carried him about the island,
like a captive slave, and he dismounted not night or day. And whenas
he wished to sleep, he wound his legs about my neck and leaned back
and slept awhile, then arose and beat me, whereupon I sprang up in
haste, unable to gainsay him because of the pain he inflicted on me.
And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken
compassion on him, and continued in this condition, suffering
fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself: "I wrought him a
weal and he requited me with my ill. By Allah, never more will I do
any man a service so long as I live!" And again and again I besought
the Most High that I might die, for stress of weariness and misery.

And thus I abode a long while till one day I came with him to a
place wherein was abundance of gourds, many of them dry. So I took a
great dry gourd and cutting open the head, scooped out the inside
and cleaned it, after which I gathered grapes from a vine which grew
hard by and squeezed them into the gourd till it was full of the
juice. Then I stopped up the mouth and set it in the sun, where I left
it for some days until it became strong wine, and every day I used
to drink of it, to comfort and sustain me under my fatigues with
that froward and obstinate fiend. And as often as I drank myself
drunk, I forgot my troubles and took new heart. One day he saw me
and signed to me with his hand, as who should say, "What is that?"
Quoth I, "It is an excellent cordial, which cheereth the heart and
reviveth the spirits." Then, being heated with wine, I ran and
danced with him among the trees, clapping my hands and singing and
making merry, and I staggered under him by design.

When he saw this, he signed to me to give him the gourd that he
might drink, and I feared him and gave it him. So he took it, and
draining it to the dregs, cast it on the ground, whereupon he grew
frolicsome and began to clap hands and jig to and fro on my shoulders,
and he made water upon me so copiously that all my dress was drenched.
But presently, the fumes of the wine rising to his head, he became
helplessly drunk and his side muscles and limbs relaxed and he
swayed to and fro on my back. When I saw that he had lost his senses
for drunkenness, I put my hand to his legs and, loosing them from my
neck, stooped down well-nigh to the ground and threw him at full
length. Then I took up a great stone from among the trees and coming
up to him, smote him therewith on the head with all my might and
crushed in his skull as he lay dead-drunk. Thereupon his flesh and fat
and blood being in a pulp, he died and went to his deserts, The
Fire, no mercy of Allah be upon him!

I then returned, with a heart at ease, to my former station on the
seashore, and abode in that island many days, eating of its fruits and
drinking of its waters and keeping a lookout for passing ships, till
one day, as I sat on the beach recalling all that had befallen me
and saying, "I wonder if Allah will save me alive and restore me to my
home and family and friends!" behold, a ship was making for the island
through the dashing sea and clashing waves. Presently it cast anchor
and the passengers landed, so I made for them, and when they saw me
all hastened up to me and gathering round me, questioned me of my case
and how I came thither. I told them all that had betided me, whereat
they marveled with exceeding marvel and said: "He who rode on thy
shoulder is called the Sheikh-al-Bahr or Old Man of the Sea, and
none ever felt his legs on neck and came off alive but thou, and those
who die under him he eateth. So praised be Allah for thy safety!" Then
they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave
me somewhat of clothes, wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my
nakedness. After which they took me up into the ship and we sailed
days and nights till Fate brought us to a place called the City of
Apes, builded with lofty houses, all of which gave upon the sea, and
it had a single gate studded and strengthened with iron nails.

Now every night as soon as it is dusk the dwellers in this city used
to come forth of the gates and, putting out to sea in boats and ships,
pass the night upon the waters in their fear lest the apes should come
down on them from the mountains. Hearing this, I was sore troubled,
remembering what I had before suffered from the ape kind. Presently
I landed to solace myself in the city, but meanwhile the ship set sail
without me, and I repented of having gone ashore, and calling to
mind my companions and what had befallen me with the apes, first and
after, sat down and fell aweeping and lamenting. Presently one of
the townsfolk accosted me and said to me, "O my lord, meseemeth thou
art a stranger to these parts?" "Yes," answered I, "I am indeed a
stranger and a poor one, who came hither in a ship which cast anchor
here, and I landed to visit the town. But when I would have gone on
board again, I found they had sailed without me." Quoth he, "Come
and embark with us, for if thou lie the night in the city, the apes
will destroy thee." "Hearkening and obedience," replied I, and rising,
straightway embarked with him in one of the boats, whereupon they
pushed off from shore, and anchoring a mile or so from the land, there
passed the night. At daybreak they rowed back to the city, and
landing, went each about his business. Thus they did every night,
for if any tarried in the town by night the apes came down on him
and slew him. As soon as it was day, the apes left the place and ate
of the fruits of the gardens, then went back to the mountains and
slept there till nightfall, when they again came down upon the city.

Now this place was in the farthest part of the country of the
blacks, and one of the strangest things that befell me during my
sojourn in the city was on this wise. One of the company with whom I
passed the night in the boat asked me: "O my lord, thou art apparently
a stranger in these parts. Hast thou any craft whereat thou canst
work?" and I answered: "By Allah, O my brother, I have no trade nor
know I any handicraft, for I was a merchant and a man of money and
substance and had a ship of my own, laden with great store of goods
and merchandise. But it foundered at sea and all were drowned
excepting me, who saved myself on a piece of plank which Allah
vouchsafed to me of His favor."

Upon this he brought me a cotton bag and giving it to me, said:
"Take this bag and fill it with pebbles from the beach and go forth
with a company of the townsfolk to whom I will give a charge
respecting thee. Do as they do and belike thou shalt gain what may
further thy return voyage to thy native land." Then he carried me to
the beach, where I filled my bag with pebbles large and small, and
presently we saw a company of folk issue from the town, each bearing a
bag like mine, filled with pebbles. To these he committed me,
commending me to their care, and saying: "This man is a stranger, so
take him with you and teach him how to gather, that he may get his
daily bread, and you will earn your reward and recompense in
Heaven." "On our head and eyes be it!" answered they, and bidding me
welcome, fared on with me till we came to a spacious wady, full of
lofty trees with trunks so smooth that none might climb them.

Now sleeping under these trees were many apes, which when they saw
us rose and fled from us and swarmed up among the branches,
whereupon my companions began to pelt them with what they had in their
bags, and the apes fell to plucking of the fruit of the trees and
casting them at the folk. I looked at the fruits they cast at us and
found them to be Indian or coconuts, so I chose out a great tree
full of apes, and going up to it, began to pelt them with stones,
and they in return pelted me with nuts, which I collected, as did
the rest. So that even before I had made an end of my bagful of
pebbles, I had gotten great plenty of nuts. And as soon as my
companions had in like manner gotten as many nuts as they could carry,
we returned to the city, where we arrived at the fag end of day.
Then I went in to the kindly man who had brought me in company with
the nut-gatherers and gave him all I had gotten, thanking him for
his kindness, but he would not accept them, saying, "Sell them and
make profit by the price," and presently he added (giving me the key
of a closet in his house): "Store thy nuts in this safe place and go
thou forth every morning and gather them as thou hast done today,
and choose out the worst for sale and supplying thyself; but lay up
the rest here, so haply thou mayst collect enough to serve thee for
thy return home." "Allah requite thee!" answered I, and did as he
advised me, going out daily with the coconut gatherers, who
commended me to one another and showed me the best-stocked trees. Thus
did I for some time, till I had laid up great store of excellent nuts,
besides a large sum of money, the price of those I had sold. I
became thus at my ease and bought all I saw and had a mind to, and
passed my time pleasantly, greatly enjoying my stay in the city,
till as I stood on the beach one day a great ship steering through the
heart of the sea presently cast anchor by the shore and landed a
company of merchants, who proceeded to sell and buy and barter their
goods for coconuts and other commodities.

Then I went to my friend and told him of the coming of the ship
and how I had a mind to return to my own country, and he said, "
'Tis for thee to decide." So I thanked him for his bounties and took
leave of him. Then, going to the captain of the ship, I agreed with
him for my passage and embarked my coconuts and what else I possessed.
We weighed anchor the same day and sailed from island to island and
sea to sea, and whenever we stopped, I sold and traded with my
coconuts, and the Lord requited me more than I erst had and lost.

Amongst other places, we came to an island abounding in cloves and
cinnamon and pepper, and the country people told me that by the side
of each pepper bunch groweth a great leaf which shadeth it from the
sun and casteth the water off it in the wet season; but when the
rain ceaseth, the leaf turneth over and droopeth down by the side of
the bunch. Here I took in great store of pepper and cloves and
cinnamon, in exchange for coconuts, and we passed thence to the Island
of Al-Usirat, whence cometh the Comorin aloes wood, and thence to
another island, five days' journey in length, where grows the
Chinese lign aloes, which is better than the Comorin. But the people
of this island are fouler of condition and religion than those of
the other, for that they love fornication and wine bibbing, and know
not prayer nor call to prayer.

Thence we came to the pearl fisheries, and I gave the divers some of
my coconuts and said to them, "Dive for my luck and lot!" They did
so and brought up from the deep bright great store of large and
priceless pearls, and they said to me, "By Allah, O my master, thy
luck is a lucky!" Then we sailed on, with the blessing of Allah (Whose
name be exalted!), and ceased not sailing till we arrived safely at
Bassorah. There I abode a little and then went on to Baghdad, where
I entered my quarter and found my house and forgathered with my family
and saluted my friends, who gave me joy of my safe return, and I
laid up all my goods and valuables in my storehouses. Then I
distributed alms and largess and clothed the widow and the orphan
and made presents to my relations and comrades, for the Lord had
requited me fourfold that I had lost. After which I returned to my old
merry way of life and forgot all I had suffered in the great profit
and gain I had made.

Such, then, is the history of my fifth voyage and its wonderments,
and now to supper, and tomorrow, come again and I will tell you what
befell me in my sixth voyage, for it was still more wonderful than
this. (Saith he who telleth the tale): Then he called for food, and
the servants spread the table, and when they had eaten the evening
meal, he bade give Sindbad the Porter a hundred golden dinars and
the landsman returned home and lay him down to sleep, much marveling
at all he had heard. Next morning, as soon as it was light, he
prayed the dawn prayer, and, after blessing Mohammed the Cream of
all creatures, betook himself to the house of Sindbad the Seaman and
wished him a good day. The merchant bade him sit, and talked with
him till the rest of the company arrived. Then the servants spread the
table, and when they had well eaten and drunken and were mirthful
and merry, Sindbad the Seaman began in these words the narrative of

          THE SIXTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN


KNOW, O my brothers and friends and companions all, that I abode
some time, after my return from my fifth voyage, in great solace and
satisfaction and mirth and merriment, joyance and enjoyment, and I
forgot what I had suffered, seeing the great gain and profit I had
made, till one day as I sat making merry and enjoying myself with my
friends, there came in to me a company of merchants whose case told
tales of travel, and talked with me of voyage and adventure and
greatness of pelf and lucre. Hereupon I remembered the days of my
return abroad, and my joy at once more seeing my native land and
forgathering with my family and friends, and my soul yearned for
travel and traffic. So, compelled by Fate and Fortune, I resolved to
undertake another voyage, and, buying me fine and costly merchandise
meet for foreign trade, made it up into bales, with which I
journeyed from Baghdad to Bassorah.

Here I found a great ship ready for sea and full of merchants and
notables, who had with them goods of price, so I embarked my bales
therein. And we left Bassorah in safety and good spirits under the
safeguard of the King, the Preserver, and continued our voyage from
place to place and from city to city, buying and selling and profiting
and diverting ourselves with the sight of countries where strange folk
dwell. And Fortune and the voyage smiled upon us till one day, as we
went along, behold, the captain suddenly cried with a great cry and
cast his turban on the deck. Then he buffeted his face like a woman
and plucked out his beard and fell down in the waist of the ship
well-nigh fainting for stress of grief and rage, and crying, "Oh,
and alas for the ruin of my house and the orphanship of my poor
children!" So all the merchants and sailors came round about him and
asked him, "O master, what is the matter?" For the light had become
night before, their sight. And he answered, saying: "Know, O folk,
that we have wandered from our course and left the sea whose ways we
wot, and come into a sea whose ways I know not, and unless Allah
vouchsafe us a means of escape, we are all dead men. Wherefore pray ye
to the Most High that He deliver us from this strait. Haply amongst
you is one righteous whose prayers the Lord will accept." Then he
arose and clomb the mast to see an there were any escape from that
strait. And he would have loosed the sails, but the wind redoubled
upon the ship and whirled her round thrice and drave her backward,
whereupon her rudder brake and she fell off toward a high mountain.

With this the captain came down from the mast, saying: "There is
no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
Great, nor can man prevent that which is foreordained of Fate! By
Allah, we are fallen on a place of sure destruction, and there is no
way of escape for us, nor can any of us be saved!" Then we all fill
a-weeping over ourselves and bidding one another farewell for that our
days were come to an end, and we had lost an hopes of life.
Presently the ship struck the mountain and broke up, and all and
everything on board of her were plunged into the sea. Some of the
merchants were drowned and others made shift to reach the shore and
save themselves upon the mountain, I amongst the number. And when we
got ashore, we found a great island, or rather peninsula, whose base
was strewn with wreckage and crafts and goods and gear cast up by
the sea from broken ships whose passengers had been drowned, and the
quantity confounded count and calculation. So I climbed the cliffs
into the inward of the isle and walked on inland till I came to a
stream of sweet water that welled up at the nearest foot of the
mountains and disappeared in the earth under the range of hills on the
opposite side. But all the other passengers went over the mountains to
the inner tracts, and, dispersing hither and thither, were
confounded at what they saw and became like madmen at the sight of the
wealth and treasures wherewith the shores were strewn.

As for me, I looked into the bed of the stream aforesaid and saw
therein great plenty of rubies, and great royal pearls and all kinds
of jewels and precious stones, which were as gravel in the bed of
the rivulets that ran through the fields, and the sands sparkled and
glittered with gems and precious ores. Moreover, we found in the
island abundance of the finest lign aloes, both Chinese and Comorin.
And there also is a spring of crude ambergris, which floweth like
wax or gum over the stream banks, for the great heat of the sun, and
runneth down to the seashore, where the monsters of the deep come up
and, swallowing it, return into the sea. But it burneth in their
bellies, so they cast it up again and it congealeth on the surface
of the water, whereby its color and quantities are changed, and at
last the waves cast it ashore, and the travelers and merchants who
know it collect it and sell it. But as to the raw ambergris which is
not swallowed, it floweth over the channel and congealeth on the
banks, and when the sun shineth on it, it melteth and scenteth the
whole valley with a musk-like fragrance. Then when the sun ceaseth
from it, it congealeth again. But none can get to this place where
is the crude ambergris, because of the mountains which enclose the
island on all sides and which foot of man cannot ascend.

We continued thus to explore the island, marveling at the
wonderful works of Allah and the riches we found there, but sore
troubled for our own case, and dismayed at our prospects. Now we had
picked up on the beach some small matter of victual from the wreck and
husbanded it carefully eating but once every day or two, in our fear
lest it should fail us and we die miserably of famine and affright.
Moreover, we were weak for colic brought on by seasickness and low
diet, and my companions deceased, one after other, till there was
but a small company of us left. Each that died we washed and
shrouded in some of the clothes and linen cast ashore by the tides,
and after a little, the rest of my fellows perished one by one, till I
had buried the last of the party and abode alone on the island, with
but a little provision left, I who was wont to have so much. And I
wept over myself, saying: "Would Heaven I had died before my
companions and they had washed me and buried me! It had been better
than I should perish and none wash me and shroud me and bury me. But
there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the glorious,
the Great!" Now after I had buried the last of my party and abode
alone on the island, I arose and dug me a deep grave on the
seashore, saying to myself: "Whenas I grow weak and know that death
cometh to me, I will cast myself into the grave and die there, so
the wind may drift the sand over me and cover me and I be buried
therein."

Then I fell to reproaching myself for my little wit in leaving my
native land and betaking me again to travel after all I had suffered
during my first five voyages, and when I had not made a single one
without suffering more horrible perils and more terrible hardships
than in its forerunners, and having no hope of escape from my
present stress. And I repented me of my folly and bemoaned myself,
especially as I had no need of money, seeing that I had enough and
could not spend what I had- no, nor a half of it in all my life.
However, after a while Allah sent me a thought, and I said to
myself: "By God, needs must this stream have an end as well as a
beginning, ergo an issue somewhere, and belike its course may lead
to some inhabited place. So my best plan is to make me a little boat
big enough to sit in, and carry it and, launching it on the river,
embark therein and drop down the stream. If I escape, I escape, by
God's leave, and if I perish, better die in the river than here."
Then, sighing for myself, I set to work collecting a number of
pieces of Chinese and Comorin aloes wood and I bound them together
with ropes from the wreckage. Then I chose out from the broken-up
ships straight planks of even size and fixed them firmly upon the
aloes wood, making me a boat raft a little narrower than the channel
of the stream, and I tied it tightly and firmly as though it were
nailed. Then I loaded it with the goods, precious ores and jewels, and
the union pearls which were like gravel, and the best of the ambergris
crude and pure, together with what I had collected on the island and
what was left me of victual and wild herbs. Lastly I lashed a piece of
wood on either side, to serve me as oars, and launched it, and
embarking, did according to the saying of the poet:

   Fly, fly with life whenas evils threat,
   Leave the house to tell of its builder's fate!
   Land after land shalt thou seek and find,
   But no other life on thy wish shall wait.
   Fret not thy soul in thy thoughts o' night,
   All woes shall end or sooner or late.
   Whoso is born in one land to die,
   There and only there shall gang his pit.
   Nor trust great things to another wight,
   Soul hath only soul for confederate.

My boat raft drifted with the stream, I pondering the issue of my
affair, and the drifting ceased not till I came to the place where
it disappeared beneath the mountain. I rowed my conveyance into the
place, which was intensely dark, and the current carried the raft with
it down the underground channel. The thin stream bore me on through
a narrow tunnel where the raft touched either side and my head
rubbed against the roof, return therefrom being impossible. Then I
blamed myself for having thus risked my life, and said, "If this
passage grow any straiter, the raft will hardly pass, and I cannot
turn back, so I shall inevitably perish miserably in this place." And
I threw myself down upon my face on the raft, by reason of the
narrowness of the channel, whilst the stream ceased not to carry me
along, knowing not night from day for the excess of the gloom which
encompassed me about and my terror and concern for myself lest I
should perish. And in such condition my course continued down the
channel, which now grew wider and then straiter. Sore a-weary by
reason of the darkness which could be felt, I feel asleep as I lay
prone on the craft, and I slept knowing not an the time were long or
short.

When I awoke at last, I found myself in the light of Heaven and
opening my eyes, I saw myself in a broad of the stream and the raft
moored to an island in the midst of a number of Indians and
Abyssinians. As soon as these blackamoors saw that I was awake, they
came up to me and bespoke me in their speech. But I understood not
what they said and thought that this was a dream and a vision which
had betided me for stress of concern and chagrin. But I was
delighted at my escape from the river. When they saw I understood them
not and made them no answer, one of them came forward and said to me
in Arabic: "Peace be with thee, O my brother! Who art thou, and whence
faredst thou hither? How camest thou into this river, and what
manner of land lies behind yonder mountains, for never knew we
anyone make his way thence to us?" Quoth I: "And upon thee be peace
and the ruth of Allah and His blessing! Who are ye, and what country
is this?" "O my brother," answered he, "we are husbandmen and
tillers of the soil, who came out to water our fields and plantations,
and finding thee asleep on this raft, laid hold of it and made it fast
by us, against thou shouldst awake at thy leisure. So tell us how thou
camest hither." I answered, "For Allah's sake, O my lord, ere I
speak give me somewhat to eat, for I am starving, and after ask me
what thou wilt."

So he hastened to fetch me food and I ate my fill, till I was
refreshed and my fear was calmed by a good bellyful and my life
returned to me. Then I rendered thanks to the Most High for mercies
great and small, glad to be out of the river and rejoicing to be
amongst them, and I told them all my adventures from first to last,
especially my troubles in the narrow channel. They consulted among
themselves and said to one another, "There is no help for it but we
carry him with us and present him to our King, that he may acquaint
him with his adventures." So they took me, together with raft boat and
its lading of moneys and merchandise, jewels, minerals, and golden
gear, and brought me to their King, who was King of Sarandib,
telling him what had happened. Whereupon he saluted me and bade me
welcome. Then he questioned me of my condition and adventures
through the man who had spoken Arabic, and I repeated to him my
story from beginning to end, whereat he marveled exceedingly and
gave me joy of my deliverance. After which I arose and fetched from
the raft great store of precious ores and jewels and ambergris and lip
aloes and presented them to the King, who accepted them and
entreated me with the utmost honor, appointing me a lodging in his own
palace. So I consorted with the chief of the islanders, and they
paid me the utmost respect. And I quitted not the royal palace.

Now the Island Sarandib lieth under the equinoctial line, its
night and day both numbering twelve hours. It measureth eighty leagues
long by a breadth of thirty and its width is bounded by a lofty
mountain and a deep valley. The mountain is conspicuous from a
distance of three days, and it containeth many kinds of, rubies and
other minerals, and spice trees of all sorts. The surface is covered
with emery, wherewith gems are cut and fashioned; diamonds are in
its rivers and pearls are in its valleys. I ascended that mountain and
solaced myself with a view of its marvels, which are indescribable,
and afterward I returned to the King. Thereupon all the travelers
and merchants who came to the place questioned me of the affairs of my
native land and of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid and his rule, and I told
them of him and of that wherefor he was renowned, and they praised him
because of this, whilst I in turn questioned them of the manners and
customs of their own countries and got the knowledge I desired.

One day the King himself asked me of the fashions and form of
government of my country, and I acquainted him with the circumstance
of the Caliph's sway in the city of Baghdad and the justice of his
rule. The King marveled at my account of his appointments and said:
"By Allah, the Caliph's ordinances are indeed wise and his fashions of
praiseworthy guise, and thou hast made me love him by what thou
tellest me. Wherefore I have a mind to make him a present and send
it by thee." Quoth I: "Hearkening and obedience, O my lord. I will
bear thy gift to him and inform him that thou art his sincere lover
and true friend." Then I abode with the King in great honor and regard
and consideration for a long while till one day, as I sat in his
palace, I heard news of a company of merchants that were fitting out
ship for Bassorah, and said to myself, "I cannot do better than voyage
with these men." So I rose without stay or delay and kissed the King's
hand and acquainted him with my longing to set out with the merchants,
for that I pined after my people and mine own land. Quoth he, "Thou
art thine own master, yet if it be thy will to abide with us, on our
head and eyes be it, for thou gladdenest us with thy company." "By
Allah, O my lord," answered I, "thou hast indeed overwhelmed me with
thy favors and well-doings, but I weary for a sight of my friends
and family and native country."

When he heard this, he summoned the merchants in question and
commended me to their care, paying my freight and passage money.
Then he bestowed on me great riches from his treasuries and charged me
with a magnificent present for the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Moreover,
he gave me a sealed letter, saying, "Carry this with thine own hand to
the Commander of the Faithful, and give him many salutations from us!"
"Hearing and obedience," I replied. The missive was written on the
skin of the khawi (which is finer than lamb parchment and of yellow
color), with ink of ultramarine, and the contents were as follows:
"Peace be with thee from the King of Al-Hind, before whom are a
thousand elephants and upon whose palace crenelles are a thousand
jewels. But after (laud to the Lord and praises to His Prophet!) we
send thee a trifling gift, which be thou pleased to accept. Thou art
to us a brother and a sincere friend, and great is the love we bear
for thee in heart. Favor us therefore with a reply. The gift besitteth
not thy dignity, but we beg of thee, O our brother, graciously to
accept it, and peace be with thee." And the present was a cup of
ruby a span high, the inside of which was adorned with precious
pearls;
and a bed covered with the skin of the serpent which swalloweth the
elephant, which skin hath spots each like a dinar and whoso sitteth
upon it never sickeneth; and a hundred thousand miskals of Indian lign
aloes and a slave girl like a shining moon.

Then I took leave of him and of all my intimates and acquaintances
in the island, and embarked with the merchants aforesaid. We sailed
with a fair wind, committing ourselves to the care of Allah (be He
extolled and exalted!), and by His permission arrived at Bassorah,
where I passed a few days and nights equipping myself and packing up
my bales. Then I went on to Baghdad city, the House of Peace, where
I sought an audience of the Caliph and laid the King's presents before
him. He asked me whence they came, and I said to him, "By Allah, O
Commander of the Faithful, I know not the name of the city nor the way
thither!" He then asked me, "O Sindbad, is this true which the King
writeth?" and I answered, after kissing the ground: "O my lord, I
saw in his kingdom much more than he hath written in his letter. For
state processions a throne is set for him upon a huge elephant
eleven cubits high, and upon this he sitteth having his great lords
and officers and guests standing in two ranks, on his right hand and
on his left. At his head is a man hending in hand a golden javelin and
behind him another with a great mace of gold whose head is an
emerald a span long and as thick as a man's thumb. And when he
mounteth horse there mount with him a thousand horsemen clad in gold
brocade and silk, and as the King proceedeth a man precedeth him,
crying, 'This is the King of great dignity, of high authority!' And he
continueth to repeat his praises in words I remember not, saying at
the end of his panegyric, 'This is the King owning the crown whose
like nor Solomon nor the Mihraj ever possessed.' Then he is silent and
one behind him proclaimeth, saying, 'He will die! Again I say he
will die!' and the other addeth, 'Extolled be the perfection of the
Living who dieth not!' Moreover, by reason of his justice and
ordinance and intelligence, there is no kazi in his city, and all
his lieges distinguish between truth and falsehood." Quoth the Caliph:
"How great is this King! His letter hath shown me this, and as for the
mightiness of his dominion thou hast told us what thou hast
eyewitnessed. By Allah, he hath been endowed with wisdom, as with wide
rule."

Then I related to the Commander of the Faithful all that had
befallen me in my last voyage, at which he wondered exceedingly and
bade his historians record my story and store it up in his treasuries,
for the edification of all who might see it. Then he conferred on me
exceeding great favors, and I repaired to my quarter and entered my
home, where I warehoused all my goods and possessions. Presently my
friends came to me and I distributed presents among my family and gave
alms and largess, after which I yielded myself to joyance and
enjoyment, mirth and merrymaking, and forgot all that I had suffered.

Such, then, O my brothers, is the history of what befell me in my
sixth voyage, and tomorrow, Inshallah! I will tell you the story of my
seventh and last voyage, which is still more wondrous and marvelous
than that of the first six. (Saith he who telleth the tale): Then be
bade lay the table, and the company supped with him, after which he
gave the porter a hundred dinars, as of wont, and they all went
their ways, marveling beyond measure at that which they had heard.
Sindbad the Landsman went home and slept as of wont. Next day he
rose and prayed the dawn prayer and repaired to his namesake's
house, where, after the company was all assembled, the host began to
relate

        THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN


KNOW, O company, that after my return from my sixth voyage, which
brought me abundant profit, I resumed my former life in all possible
joyance and enjoyment and mirth and making merry day and night. And
I tarried sometime in this solace and satisfaction, till my soul began
once more to long to sail the seas and see foreign countries and
company with merchants and hear new things. So, having made up my
mind, I packed up in bales a quantity of precious stuffs suited for
sea trade and repaired with them from Baghdad city to Bassorah town,
where I found a ship ready for sea, and in her a company of
considerable merchants. I shipped with them and, becoming friends,
we set forth on our venture in health and safety, and sailed with a
wind till we came to a city called Madinat-al-Sin.

But after we had left it, as we fared on in all cheer and
confidence, devising of traffic and travel, behold, there sprang up
a violent head wind and a tempest of rain fell on us and drenched us
and our goods. So we covered the bales with our cloaks and garments
and drugget and canvas, lest they be spoiled by the rain, and betook
ourselves to prayer and supplication to Almighty Allah, and humbled
ourselves before Him for deliverance from the peril that was upon
us. But the captain arose and, tightening his girdle, tucked up his
skirts, and after taking refuge with Allah from Satan the Stoned,
clomb to the masthead, whence he looked out right and left, and gazing
at the passengers and crew, fell to buffeting his face and plucking
out his beard. So we cried to him, "O Rais, what is the matter?" and
he replied, saying: "Seek ye deliverance of the Most High from the
strait into which we have fallen, and bemoan yourselves and take leave
of one another. For know that the wind hath gotten the mastery of
us, and hath driven us into the uttermost of the seas world." Then
he came down from the masthead and opening his sea chest, pulled but a
bag of blue cotton, from which he took a powder like ashes. This he
set in a saucer wetted with a little water, and after waiting a
short time, smelt and tasted it. And then he took out of the chest a
booklet, wherein he read awhile, and said, weeping:

"Know, O ye passengers, that in this book is a marvelous matter,
denoting that whoso cometh hither shall surely die, without hope of
escape. For that this ocean is called the Sea of the Clime of the
King, wherein is the sepulcher of our lord Solomon, son of David (on
both be peace!), and therein are serpents of vast bulk and fearsome
aspect. And what ship soever cometh to these climes, there riseth to
her a great fish out of the sea and swalloweth her up with all and
everything on board her." Hearing these words from the captain,
great was our wonder, but hardly had he made an end of speaking when
the ship was lifted out of the water and let fall again, and we
applied to praying the death prayer and committing our souls to Allah.

Presently we heard a terrible great cry like the loud-pealing
thunder whereat we were terror-struck and became as dead men, giving
ourselves up for lost. Then, behold, there came up to us a huge
fish, as big as a tall mountain, at whose sight we became wild for
affright and, weeping sore, made ready for death, marveling at its
vast size and gruesome semblance. When lo! a second fish made its
appearance, than which we had seen naught more monstrous. So we
bemoaned ourselves of our lives and farewelled one another. But
suddenly up came a third fish bigger than the two first, whereupon
we lost the power of thought and reason and were stupefied for the
excess of our fear and horror. Then the three fish began circling
round about the ship and the third and biggest opened his mouth to
swallow it, and we looked into its mouth and, behold, it was wider
than the gate of a city and its throat was like a long valley. So we
besought the Almighty and called for succor upon His Apostle (on
whom be blessing and peace!), when suddenly a violent squall of wind
arose and smote the ship, which rose out of the water and settled upon
a great reef, the haunt of sea monsters, where it broke up and fell
asunder into planks, and all and everything on board were plunged into
the sea.

As for me, I tore off all my clothes but my gown, and swam a
little way, till I happened upon one of the ship's planks, whereto I
clung and bestrode it like a horse, whilst the winds and the waters
sported with me and the waves carried me up and cast me down. And I
was in most piteous plight for fear and distress and hunger and
thirst. Then I reproached myself for what I had done and my soul was
weary after a life of ease and comfort, and I said to myself: "O
Sindbad, O Seaman, thou repentest not and yet thou art ever
suffering hardships and travails, yet wilt thou not renounce sea
travel, or an thou say, 'I renounce,' thou liest in thy
renouncement. Endure then with patience that which thou sufferest, for
verily thou deservest all that betideth thee!" And I ceased not to
humble myself before Almighty Allah and weep and bewail myself,
recalling my former estate of solace and satisfaction and mirth and
merriment and joyance. And thus I abode two days, at the end of
which time I came to a great island abounding in trees and streams.
There I landed and ate of the fruits of the island and drank of its
waters, till I was refreshed and my life returned to me and my
strength and spirits were restored and I recited:

   "Oft when thy case shows knotty and tangled skein,
   Fate downs from Heaven and straightens every ply.
   In patience keep thy soul till clear thy lot,
   For He who ties the knot can eke untie."

Then I walked about till I found on the further side a great river
of sweet water, running with a strong current, whereupon I called to
mind the boat raft I had made aforetime and said to myself: "Needs
must I make another. Haply I may free me from this strait. If I
escape, I have my desire and I vow to Allah Almighty to foreswear
travel. And if I perish, I shall be at peace and shall rest from
toil and moil." So I rose up and gathered together great store of
pieces of wood from the trees (which were all of the finest
sandalwood, whose like is not albe' I knew it not), and made shift
to twist creepers and tree twigs into a kind of rope, with which I
bound the billets together and so contrived a raft. Then saying, "An I
be saved, 'tis of God's grace," I embarked thereon and committed
myself to the current, and it bore me on for the first day and the
second and the third after leaving the island whilst I lay in the
raft, eating not and drinking, when I was athirst, of the water of the
river, till I was weak and giddy as a chicken for stress of fatigue
and famine and fear.

At the end of this time I came to a high mountain, whereunder ran
the river, which when I saw, I feared for my life by reason of the
straitness I had suffered in my former journey, and I would fain
have stayed the raft and landed on the mountainside. But the current
overpowered me and drew it into the subterranean passage like an
archway, whereupon I gave myself up for lost and said, "There is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
However, after a little the raft glided into open air and I saw before
me a wide valley, whereinto the river fell with a noise like the
rolling of thunder and a swiftness as the rushing of the wind. I
held onto the raft, for fear of falling off it, whilst the waves
tossed me right and left, and the craft continued to descend with
the current, nor could I avail to stop it nor turn it shoreward till
it stopped me at a great and goodly city, grandly edified and
containing much people. And when the townsfolk saw me on the raft,
dropping down with the current, they threw me out ropes, which I had
not strength enough to hold. Then they tossed a net over the craft and
drew it ashore with me, whereupon I fell to the ground amidst them, as
I were a dead man, for stress of fear and hunger and lack of sleep.

After a while, there came up to me out of the crowd an old man of
reverend aspect, well stricken in years, who welcomed me and threw
over me abundance of handsome clothes, wherewith I covered my
nakedness. Then he carried me to the hammam bath and brought me
cordial sherbets and delicious perfumes. Moreover, when I came out, he
bore me to his house, where his people made much of me and, seating me
in a pleasant place, set rich food before me, whereof I ate my fill
and returned thanks to God the Most High for my deliverance. Thereupon
his pages fetched me hot water, and I washed my hands, and his
handmaids brought me silken napkins, with which I dried them and wiped
my mouth. Also the Sheikh set apart for me an apartment in a part of
his house, and charged his pages and slave girls to wait upon me and
do my will and supply my wants. They were assiduous in my service, and
I abode with him in the guest chamber three days, taking my ease of
good eating and good drinking and good scents till life returned to me
and my terrors subsided and my heart was calmed and my mind was eased.

On the fourth day the Sheikh, my host, came in to me and said: "Thou
cheerest us with thy company, O my son, and praised be Allah for thy
safety! Say, wilt thou now come down with me to the beach and the
bazaar and sell thy goods and take their price? Belike thou mayest buy
thee wherewithal to traffic. I have ordered my servants to remove
thy stock in trade from the sea, and they have piled it on the shore."
I was silent awhile and said to myself, "What mean these words, and
what goods have I?" Then said he: "O my son, be not troubled nor
careful, but come with me to the market, and if any offer for thy
goods what price contenteth thee, take it. But an thou be not
satisfied, I lay em up for thee in my warehouse, against a fitting
occasion for sale." So I bethought me of my case and said to myself,
"Do his bidding and see what are these goods!" and I said to him: "O
my nuncle the Sheikh I hear and obey. I may not gainsay thee in aught,
for Allah's blessing is on all thou dost."

Accordingly he guided me to the market street, where I found that he
had taken in pieces the raft which carried me and which was of
sandalwood, and I heard the broker crying it for sale. Then the
merchants came and opened the gate of bidding for the wood and bid
against one another till its price reached a thousand dinars, when
they left bidding and my host said to me: "Hear, O my son, this is the
current price of thy goods in hard times like these. Wilt thou sell
them for this, or shall I lay them up for thee in my storehouses
till such time as prices rise?" "O my lord," answered I, "the business
is in thy hands. Do as thou wilt." Then asked he: "Wilt thou sell
the wood to me, O my son, for a hundred gold pieces over and above
what the merchants have bidden for it?" and I answered, "Yes, I have
sold it to thee for monies received." So he bade his servants
transport the wood to his storehouses, and, carrying me back to his
house, seated me, and counted out to me the purchase money. After
which he laid it in bags and, setting them in a privy place, locked
them up with an iron padlock and gave me its key.

Some days after this the Sheikh said to me, "O my son, I have
somewhat to propose to thee, wherein I trust thou wilt do my bidding."
Quoth I, "What is it?" Quoth he: "I am a very old man, and have no
son, but I have a daughter who is young in years and fair of favor and
endowed with abounding wealth and beauty. Now I have a mind to marry
her to thee, that thou mayest abide with her in this our country.
And I will make, thee master of all I have in hand, for I am an old
man and thou shalt stand in my stead." I was silent for shame and made
him no answer, whereupon he continued: "Do my desire in this, O my
son, for I wish but thy weal. And if thou wilt but as I say, thou
shalt have her at once and be as my son, and all that is under my hand
or that cometh to me shall be thine. If thou have a mind to traffic
and travel to thy native land, none shall hinder thee, and thy
property will be at thy sole disposal. So do as thou wilt." "By Allah,
O my uncle," replied I, "thou art become to me even as my father,
and I am a stranger and have undergone many hardships, while for
stress of that which I have suffered naught of judgment or knowledge
is left to me. It is for thee, therefore, to decide what I shall do."

Hereupon he sent his servants for the kazi and the witnesses and
married me to his daughter, making for us a noble marriage feast and
high festival. When I went in to her, I found her perfect in beauty
and loveliness and symmetry and grace, clad in rich raiment and
covered with a profusion of ornaments and necklaces and other trinkets
of gold and silver and precious stones, worth a mint of money, a price
none could pay. She pleased me, and we loved each other, and I abode
with her in all solace and delight of life till her father was taken
to the mercy of Allah Almighty. So we shrouded him and buried him, and
I laid hands on the whole of his property and all his servants and
slaves became mine. Moreover, the merchants installed me in his
office, for he was their sheikh and their chief, and none of them
purchased aught but with his knowledge and by his leave. And now his
rank passed on to me.

When I became acquainted with the townsfolk, I found that at the
beginning of each month they were transformed, in that their faces
changed and they became like unto birds and they put forth wings
wherewith they flew unto the upper regions of the firmament; and
none remained in the city save the women and children. And I said in
my mind, "When the first of the month cometh, I will ask one of them
to carry me with them, whither they go." So when the time came and
their complexion changed and their forms altered, I went in to one
of the townsfolk and said to him: "Allah upon thee! Carry me with
thee, that I might divert myself with the rest and return with you."
"This may not be," answered he. But I ceased not to solicit him, and I
importuned him till he consented. Then I went out in his company,
without telling any of my family or servants or friends, and he took
me on his back and flew up with me so high in air that I heard the
angels glorifying God in the heavenly dome, whereat I wondered and
exclaimed: "Praised be Allah! Extolled be the perfection of Allah!"

Hardly had I made an end of pronouncing the tasbih- praised be
Allah!- when there came out a fire from Heaven and all but consumed
the company. Whereupon they fied from it and descended with curses
upon me and, casting me down on a high mountain, went away exceeding
wroth with me, and left me there alone. As I found myself in this
plight, I repented of what I had done and reproached myself for having
undertaken that for which I was unable, saying: "There is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! No
sooner am I delivered from one affliction than I fall into a worse."
And I continued in this case, knowing not whither I should go, when
lo! there came up two young men, as they were moons, each using as a
staff a rod of red gold. So I approached them and saluted them; and
when they returned my salaam, I said to them: Allah upon you twain.
Who are ye, and what are ye?" Quoth they, "We are of the servants of
the Most High Allah, abiding in this mountain," and giving me a rod of
red gold they had with them, went their ways and left me.

I walked on along the mountain ridge, staying my steps with the
staff and pondering the case of the two youths, when behold, a serpent
came forth from under the mountain, with a man in her jaws whom she
had swallowed even to below his navel, and he was crying out and
saying, "Whoso delivereth me, Allah will deliver him from all
adversity!" So I went up to the the serpent and smote her on the
head with the golden staff, whereupon she cast the man forth of her
mouth. Then I smote her a second time, and she turned and fled,
whereupon he came up to me and said, "Since my deliverance from yonder
serpent hath been at thy hands I will never leave thee, and thou shalt
be my comrade on this mountain." "And welcome," answered I. So we
fared on along the mountain till we fell in with a company of folk,
and I looked and saw amongst them the very man who had carried me
and cast me down there. I went up to him and spake him fair,
excusing to him and saying, "O my comrade, it is not thus that
friend should deal with friend." Quoth he, "It was thou who
well-nigh destroyed us by thy tasbih and thy glorifying God on my
back." Quoth I, "Pardon me, for I had no knowledge of this matter, but
if thou wilt take me with thee, I swear not to say a word."

So he relented and consented to carry me with him, but he made an
express condition that so long as I abode on his back, I should
abstain from pronouncing the tasbih or otherwise glorifying God.
Then I gave the wand of gold to him whom I had delivered from the
serpent and bade him farewell, and my friend took me on his back and
flew with me as before, till he brought me to the city and set me down
in my own house. My wife came to meet me and, saluting me, gave me joy
of my safety and then said: "Beware of going forth hereafter with
yonder folk, neither consort with them, for they are brethren of the
devils, and know not how to mention the name of Allah Almighty,
neither worship they Him." "And how did thy father with them?" asked
I, and she answered: "My father was not of them, neither did he as
they. And as now he is dead, methinks thou hadst better sell all we
have and with the price buy merchandise and journey to thine own
country and people, and I with thee; for I care not to tarry in this
city, my father and my mother being dead." So I sold all the Sheikh's
property piecemeal, and looked for one who should be journeying thence
to Bassorah that I might join myself to him.

And while thus doing I heard of a company of townsfolk who had a
mind to make the voyage but could not find them a ship, so they bought
wood and built them a great ship, wherein I took passage with them,
and paid them all the hire. Then we embarked, I and my wife, with
all our movables, leaving our houses and domains and so forth, and set
sail, and ceased not sailing from island to island and from sea to
sea, with a fair wind and a favoring, till we arrived at Bassorah safe
and sound. I made no stay there, but freighted another vessel and,
transferring my goods to her, set out forthright for Baghdad city,
where I arrived in safety, and entering my quarter and repairing to my
house, forgathered with my family and friends and familiars and laid
up my goods in my warehouses.

When my people, who, reckoning the period of my absence on this my
seventh voyage, had found it to be seven and twenty years and had
given up all hope of me, heard of my return, they came to welcome me
and to give me joy of my safety. And I related to them all that had
befallen me, whereat they marveled with exceeding marvel. Then I
foreswore travel and vowed to Allah the Most High I would venture no
more by land or sea, for that this seventh and last voyage had
surfeited me of travel and adventure, and I thanked the Lord (be He
praised and glorified!), and blessed Him for having restored me to
my kith and kin and country and home. "Consider, therefore, O Sindbad,
O Landsman," continued Sindbad the Seaman, "what sufferings I have
undergone and what perils and hardships I have endured before coming
to my present state." "Allah upon thee, O my Lord!" answered Sindbad
the, Landsman. "Pardon me the wrong I did thee." And they ceased not
from friendship and fellowship, abiding in all cheer and pleasures and
solace of life till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and
the Sunderer of Societies, and the Shatterer of palaces and the
Caterer for Cemeteries; to wit, the Cup of Death, and glory be to
the Living One who dieth not! And there is a tale touching