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 some time 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 fair wind, till we came to a
city called Madínat-al-Sín; 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
mast-head, 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
of the world." Then he came down from the mast-head and opening
his sea-chest, pulled out 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 marvellous 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 sepulchre
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
[FN#90] 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
[FN#91] 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 affight and, weeping sore, made ready for
death, marvelling 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 succour 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 Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Sindbad the
Seaman continued:--But when I had bestridden the plank, quoth I
to myself, "Thou deservest all that betideth thee. All this is
decreed to me of Allah (whose name be exalted!), to turn me from
my greed of gain, whence ariseth all that I endure, for I have
wealth galore." Then I returned to my senses and said, "In very
sooth, this time I repent to the Most High, with a sincere
repentance, of my lust for gain and venture; and never will I
again name travel with tongue nor in thought." 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 sanders-wood, 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 mountain-
side; 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 on to 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 shorewards, till
it stopped with 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 awhile, 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 Shaykh 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 Shaykh, 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 bazar and sell thy goods and take their price? Belike thou
mayst 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 will lay them 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 Shaykh, I
hear and I 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 sandal-wood and I heard the
broker calling it for sale.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Sindbad the
Seaman thus resumed his tale:--I found that the Shaykh had taken
to pieces my raft which lay on the beach and the broker was
crying the sandal-wood 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 an
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."
[FN#92] 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
Shaykh 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 favour and endowed
with abounding wealth and beauty. Now I have a mind to marry her
to thee, that thou mayst 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 do
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 us for a noble marriage-feast
[FN#93] 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 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 Shaykh
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 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
[FN#94]
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 fled 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
salam, 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
[FN#95] 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 serpent and smote her on the
head with the golden staff, whereupon she cast the man forth of
her mouth.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Sindbad the
Seaman thus continued:--When I smote the serpent on the head with
my golden staff 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 myself 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
Shaykh'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 moveables, 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 favouring,
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, foregathered
with my family and friends and familiars who 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
marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then I forswore 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."
[FN#96] And they ceased not from friendship and fellowship,
abiding in all cheer and pleasures and solace of life till there
came to them the Destoyer 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!"
[FN#97]
