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[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[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 affright 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.
Now 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 forswear 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 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 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 crying it for sale.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now 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.”[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 for us a noble marriage-feast[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 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
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 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[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 Tasbíh—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[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.
[Illustration]
Now 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 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 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.”[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 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![97]
_THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN_
(_According to the version of the Calcutta Edition_).