Sindbad the Sailor

“ 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. ”

“ Is it not just that I should live in enjoyment and ease?"
"O my lord," cried Hindbad, bowing before Sindbad, and kissing his hand, "great have been thy labors and perils, and truly dost thou deserve thy riches. My troubles are as nothing compared to thine. Long mayest thou live and prosper!"
Sindbad was well pleased with this answer, and he ordered that Hindbad should dine every day at his table, and receive his golden pieces, so that all his life he might have reason to remember the adventures of 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As I was one day at the port of the city, a ship arrived, and as soon as they began to unload her, and the merchants on board ordered their goods to be carried into the magazine, I cast my eye upon some bales, and perceived them to be the same I had embarked at Balsora. I knew the captain, but being persuaded that he believed me to be drowned, I asked him whose bales they were? He replied that they belonged to a merchant in Bagdad, called Sindbad, who came to sea with him, who was drowned. ”

“ At length we arrived at the city of El-Basrah, whence, having transacted business there for some days, bartering and selling the jewels I had acquired, I journeyed to Baghdad. There, in the bosom of my family, and surrounded by my companions, I returned to my former habit of life. 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. ”

“ But first let me call to thy recollection how Sindbad the Sailor came to tell his story to Sindbad the Landsman, for herein lies much meaning, O King.
In the time of the Caliph Harun-er-Rashid, in the palmy days of Baghdad, there lived and slaved a poor, discontented porter, whose moments of rest and leisure were most pleasantly occupied in grumbling at his hard lot. Others lived in luxury and splendour while he bore heavy burdens for a pittance. There was no justice in the world, said he, when some were born in the lap of wealth, and others toiled a lifetime for the price of a decent burial. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ SINDBAD THE SAILOR.
In the reign of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, there lived in the city of Bagdad, a poor porter named Hindbad. One day, when the weather was hot, Hindbad was employed to carry a heavy burthen to a great distance from that part of the city where he lived. Being faint with the heat, and having still a long way to go, he entered a street where a refreshing breeze blew on his face, and the pavement was sprinkled with rosewater. Glad to find such a resting-place, he laid down his load, and seated himself beside it, near to a great house. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ The sails were rent, the masts were blown away, we sprang a leak, and slowly the vessel began to sink. We gave ourselves up for lost, and, indeed, when the waves passed over us and we sank, many perished. But, in the seething turmoil, it was my good fortune to be cast against a broad plank, which I seized and held. Others were struggling for life near by and I was able to draw some of them to me. Sore buffeted as we were by wind and wave we mounted that plank and sat astride of it. ”

“ If Hindbad had desired to become as rich as Sindbad, what should he have done, and what price would he have paid? 4. Why did Sindbad give money to his guest at the end of each story? 5. Did he do other good deeds with his money? 6. In each of these three long stories, of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad the Sailor, what do you learn about the duty of men who have by chance or by their own hard work succeeded in acquiring riches? 7. How many voyages did Sindbad make to satisfy his love of adventure? 8. Which voyage was undertaken to please someone else? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ THE SECOND VOYAGE OF SINDBAD.
I designed, after my first voyage, to spend the rest of my days at Bagdad; but ere long I grew weary of a quiet life. Accordingly I purchased rich commodities, and went to sea a second time, with some other merchants. One day we landed on an island, almost covered with trees bearing delicious fruits. Some diverted themselves with gathering flowers, others with gathering fruits, I sat down by a stream, between two large trees, which formed an agreeable shade, and fell asleep. I cannot tell how long I slept ”

“ 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. ”

“ Then, at the first city we reach, we set him on land with some valuable token of our goodwill; for so it is with us of the sea that we are not unmindful of the sufferings of others." And, when I heard this, I prayed for him and his family, that he and they might live long in health and prosperity.
Our journey from that place, where I had suffered so much, took us from island unto island towards the city of El-Basrah. As we proceeded, the places where we cast anchor grew more and more familiar to me, and, as of old, I bought and sold as merchants do. ”

“ He was greatly pleased with the letter, and, when he saw the sparkling goblet of ruby and precious stones, he was filled with delight.
"O Sindbad," he said, "this King must be exceedingly wealthy and powerful; what sayest thou?" And I told him of the wonder and magnificence of the land of Sarandib: how the King's seat of state is on a splendid throne placed upon a gigantic elephant with his courtiers and officials standing about him on a richly decorated platform; how there are around His Majesty a thousand other elephants on which sit the princes of the land ”

“ A rapid currunt carries it along with it. and we shall all of us perish in less than a quarter of an hour. Pray to God to deliver us from this danger, we cannot escape it, if he don’t take pity on us. At these words he ordered the sails to be changed.—but all the ropes broke, and the ship, without being possible to help it, was carried by the currunt to the foot of an inaccessible mountain where she ran ashore and broke to pieces, yet (illegible text) as we saved our lives, our provisions, and the boat of our goods. ”

“ 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. ”

“ You fell, said they, into the hands of the old man of the sea, and are the first that ever escaped strangling by him. He never left those he had once made himself master of till he destroyed them, and he has made this island famous by the number of men he has slain, so that the merchants and mariners who landed upon it, dared not to advance into the island but in numbers together.
One of the merchants of the ship who had taken me in friendship, obliged me to go along with him, and carried me to a place appointed for a retreat for foreign merchants. ”

“ He read the letter and taking the present, rejoiced therein with an exceeding joy and entreated me with the utmost honour. Then said he to me, ‘O Sindbad, is this king, indeed, such as he avoucheth in this letter?’ I kissed the earth and answered, saying, ‘O my lord, I myself have seen the greatness of his kingship to be manifold that which he avoucheth in his letter. ”

“ Then I blamed myself for leaving my comfortable life in Baghdad to undertake this voyage; for here there was neither strong food nor strong drink; nor rich apparel, nor gold, nor goods. As I pondered to the point of madness on these things a restless spirit came upon me, and I ran to and fro in the island, retracing my steps and crossing them ”

“ Having thought of a project for that end I communicated the same to my comrades, who improved it: “Brethren, said I. you know there is a great deal of timber floating upon the coast: if you will be advised by me, let us make several floats of it that may carry us, and when they are done, leave them there, till we think fit to make use of them. In the mean time, we will execute the design to deliver ourselves from the giant, and if it succeed, we may stay here with patience till some ships pass by, that they may carry us out of this fatal island ”