Sinbad the Sailor

“ As I made my court very exactly to the king, he says to me one day, “Sinbad I love thee, and all my subjects who know thee treat thee according to my example. I have one thing to demand of thee which thou must grant, and that immediately.' "Sir,” answered I “there is nothing but what I will do, as a mark of my obedience to your majesty, whose power over me is absolute.” “I have a mind that thou shouldst marry," replies he, "that so thou mayest stay in my dominions, and think no more of thy own country.” ”

“ Marks had given a rough sketch of the building where he was afterwards to study, and which is labelled, "Academy." There was also "John Gilpin on his ride to Edmonton," and a very fanciful idea of Sinbad the Sailor. The sea is shown, with Sinbad's vessel above, floating on the water; while down below two or three men are walking about engaged in pushing a tremendously big whale five times the size of the vessel above. "Jim Crow's Palace" is a very neat little drawing. ”

“ As I was one day at the port after my return, a ship arrived, and as soon as she cast anchor, they began to unload her, and the merchants on board ordered their goods to be carried into the warehouse. As I cast my eye upon some bales, and looked at the name, I found my own, and perceived the bales to be the same that I had embarked at Balsora. I also knew the captain; but being persuaded that he believed me to be drowned, I went and asked him whose bales they were. He replied: 'They belonged to a merchant of Bagdad, called Sinbad, who came to sea with us ”

“ To this story I was myself disposed to accord about the same degree of credit as to the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor; but it was easy to perceive that our crew, far from being so sceptical, were firm and unhesitating believers in Angatan, its man-eating giants, its treasures of pearl, and the whole catalogue of marvels current respecting it. ”

“ Sinbad the Sailor is your baptismal appellation, and yet the first day you set foot in Paris you instinctively display the greatest virtue, or rather the chief defect, of us eccentric Parisians,—that is, you assume the vices you have not, and conceal the virtues you possess.” ”

“ Well, it is the same with hashish; only eat for a week, and nothing in the world will seem to you to equal the delicacy of its flavor, which now appears to you flat and distasteful. Let us now go into the adjoining chamber, which is your apartment, and Ali will bring us coffee and pipes." They both arose, and while he who called himself Sinbad — and whom we have occasionally named so, that we might, like his guest, have some title by which to distinguish him — gave some orders to the servant, Franz entered still another apartment. ”

“ Will it be considered childish for me to aver, moreover, that I thoroughly relish the allegory of Sinbad the Sailor’s adventures in the valley of Diamonds, and his account of the merchants’ stratagem to obtain the jewels.
In Mr. Lane’s very interesting notes to his translation of Sinbad’s story in the Arabian Nights, “El-Kazweenee” relates that—“To the place in which the diamond is found, no one can gain access. It is a valley in the land of India, the bottom of which the sight reacheth not; and in it are venomous serpents, which no one seeth but he dieth ”

“ We marched altogether, till we came to the city of Serendib, for it was in that island where I landed. The blacks presented me to their king, I approached his throne, and saluted him as I used to do the kings of the Indies; that is to say, I prostrated myself at his feet and kissed the earth. The prince ordered me to rise up, received me with an obliging air and made me come up and sit down near him He first asked me my name, and I answered Sindbad the Sailor, because of the many voyages I had undertaken, and that I was a citizen of Bagdad. ”

“ He offered me these goods to sell upon the island so that, when an account had been rendered to the owner’s family in Baghdad, there would be a recompense for my trouble and service. I thanked him gladly for this, and he ordered the goods to be brought up and landed on the island. And lo! when I saw the bales, I knew them, and showed how they were marked with the name of Sindbad the Sailor. Then, seeing that they were perplexed, I shouted in my excitement, “Do you not hear me? I am Sindbad the Sailor, and these are my goods!” ”

“ But, O Sindbad the Landsman! the chances of long voyages upon the sea are such as thou know’st not of. We had not been many days on our course when, as we were passing near an island, a fleet of boats put off from the shore and surrounded us. They were manned by a host of men clad in suits of mail. They looked more like demons than men and were armed with swords and daggers. They drew in on us and attacked us, slaying those who offered resistance, and taking the rest prisoners. They towed the ship to the island and took all the merchandise in the hold. ”

“ The inhabitants are so barbarous that they still eat human flesh. After we had finished our traffic in that island, we put to sea again, and touched at several other ports; at last I arrived happily at Bagdad with infinite riches. Out of gratitude to God for His mercies, I contributed liberally toward the support of several mosques, and the subsistence of the poor, and gave myself up to the society of my kindred and friends, enjoying myself with them in festivities and amusements."
Here Sinbad finished the relation of his fourth voyage. ”

“ I prayed the king to allow me to return to my country, which he granted in the most obliging and and most honourable manner. He would needs force a rich present upon me; and when I went to take my leave of him, he gave me one much more considerable, and at the same time charged me with a letter for Caliph Haroun Alrachid.
The ship set sail, and after a long and very successful voyage we landed at Balsora, from whence I went to Bagdad, where the first thing I did was to acquit myself of my commission. ”

“ And he replied, "His name was Sindbad the Sailor, and he was drowned on our way hither."
When I heard this I regarded him more closely and recognised him. Then I cried out, "O my master, I am he; and they are my goods that are in thy hold." But he neither recognised me nor believed my words; whereupon I narrated to him the history of my supposed death; but he shook his head and called upon Allah to witness that there was neither faith nor conscience in any. "Look you!" he said. "Thou heardst me say the owner was dead, and therefore thou desirest the goods for thyself free of price. ”

“ As he said these words, Hindbad kissed his hand, and said, "Sir, my afflictions are not to be compared with yours. You not only deserve a quiet life, but are worthy of all the riches you possess, since you make so good a use of them. May you live happily for a long time." Sindbad ordered him to be paid another hundred sequins, and told him to give up carrying burdens as a porter, and to eat henceforth at his table, for he wished that he should all his life have reason to remember that he henceforth had a friend in Sindbad the Sailor. ”

“ When Sindbad the Sailor had made an end of his story, he bade his servant give the porter an hundred mithcals of gold and said to him, “How now, my brother! Hast ever in the world heard of one whom such calamities have betided as have betided me and hath any suffered that which I have suffered of afflictions or undergone that which I have undergone of hardships? ”

“ Now when it was the Five Hundred and Forty-eighth Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Sindbad the Seaman thus continued:—Most part of us were slain by the rock-throwing and only three of us remained on board the boat 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. ”

“ For many days we sailed outwards, buying and selling among the islands; until, one day, while we were in the midst of the ocean, a storm descended upon us and blew the ship out of its course. The wind continued from one quarter with great violence, and for a day and night we were hurled before it. When morning came it abated, and the master of the ship looked forth on every hand to ascertain where we were. Suddenly he uttered a loud cry and plucked his beard. "God preserve us!" he said. "The gale hath driven us to an evil fate. See! yonder is the Mountain of Apes! ”

“ THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR LED by the desire to associate with other races, and to buy and sell for gain,—for the soul is prone to evil,—I departed from Baghdad with many precious bales, and set sail from El-Basrah in a large ship on which a company of other merchants embarked in like fashion. ”

“ Poor Hindbad, who had often heard of the wonderful riches of Sindbad the Sailor, and whose condition he thought was as happy as his own was deplorable, turned away sorrowfully, and sitting down, cried aloud, "Alas! what a difference between this fortunate man and mo! I am every day exposed to the greatest fatigues, and all the wretchedness of extreme poverty, while happy Sindbad profusely expends immense riches, and leads a life of continual caso and pleasure. Oh, heavens! what has ho done to obtain a lot so fortunate? ”

“ For a long time—it seemed ages to those poor sailors—the dog struggled on and on towards them. And now he is alongside.
“‘Good dog!’ they cry, and a sailor is lowered to catch the morsel of wood. He does so, and tries hard to catch the dog as well. But Sindbad has now done his duty, and prepares to swim back.
“Poor faithful, foolish fellow! if he had but allowed the sea to carry him towards the distant beach. But no; he must battle against it with the firelight as his beacon. ”

“ On this island Sindbad encountered and killed the Old Man of the Sea.
Sixth Voyage. Sindbad visited the island of Serendib (or Ceylon) , and climbed to the top of the mountain “where Adam was placed on his expulsion from paradise.”
Seventh Voyage. He was attacked by corsairs, sold to slavery, and employed in shooting elephants from a tree. He discovered a tract of hill country completely covered with elephants’ tusks, communicated his discovery to his master, obtained his liberty, and returned home.—Arabian Nights (“Sindbad the Sailor”) .
Sindbad, Ulysses, and the Cyclops. ”

“ Now Sinbad flashed out of the Queen at the opening of her port in the early morning and was brought back, protesting with both voice and claws, at the end of the day by that member of the juvenile population whose turn it was to collect the standing reward for his forceful delivery. Within three days it had become an accepted business transaction which satisfied everyone but Sinbad.
The scrape of metal boot soles on ladder rungs warned of the arrival of their officers. Ali and Dane withdrew down the corridor, leaving the entrance open for Jellico and Van Rycke. ”

“ The most interesting voyage is the second, of which Sinbad gives the account as follows:
I designed, after my first voyage, to spend the rest of my days at Bagdad, but it was not long ere I grew weary of an indolent life, and I put to sea a second time, with merchants of known probity. We embarked on board a good ship, and, after recommending ourselves to God, set sail. We traded from island to island, and exchanged commodities with great profit. One day we landed on an island covered with several sorts of fruit trees, but we could see neither man nor animal. ”

“ These, then, were the experiences of my fourth voyage; and, O my brother, Sindbad the Landsman! if thou wilt honour me by thy presence to-morrow, I will relate to thee still stranger things that befel me in my fifth voyage.
THE FIFTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR LOOKING back from the position of safety and comfort to which I had returned I came in time to make light of the perils I had encountered and the sufferings I had endured. The advantages that had come to me through these perils and sufferings now stood in the foreground of my thoughts and I said within myself, “It is the life for a man ”

“ We all remember Sinbad's Old Man of the Sea, and the grip of that merciless rider tightening closer and closer the longer he was carried by his disgusted victim. There is more truth in the fable than most of us would like to allow. If you once permit yourself to set up an "Old Man of the Sea," farewell to free agency, happiness, even tolerable comfort, from that time forth! ”

“ I took the advice of such as I thought most capable to give it me; and, resolving to improve what money I had, I went to Balsora, a port on the Persian Gulph, and embarked with several merchants, who joined with me to fit out a ship on purpose.
In our voyage we touched at several islands, where we sold or exchanged our goods. One day, whilst under sail, we were becalmed near a little island, even almost with the surface of the water which resembled a green meadow. The captain ordered his sails to be furled, and suffered such persons as had a mind to land upon the Island, among whom I was one. ”

“ The tempest continued several days, and brouhgt us before the port of an island where the captain was very unwilling to enter, but we were obliged to cast anchor there. When we had furled out sails, the captain told us, that his and some other neighbouring islands, were inhabited by hairy savages who would speedily attack us and, though they were but dwarfs, yet our misfortune was such, that we must make no resistance, for they were more in number than the locusts; and if we happened to kill one of them, they would all fall upon us and destroy us. ”

“ We beheld all this with a mortal fear, without daring to offer at defending ourselves, or to speak one word to divert them from their mischievous design. In short they took down our sails, cut the cable, and hauling to the shore, made us all get out, and afterwards carried the ship into another island, from whence they came. All travellers carefully avoided that island, where they left us, it being very dangerous to stay there, for a reason you shall hear anon, but we were forced to bear our affliction with patience. ”