IN the time of Harun-er-Rashid there was, in Baghdad, a rich merchant
named Sindbad the Sailor, the source of whose wealth was a mystery.
It seemed to be inexhaustible. For long seasons he kept open house,
and his entertainments were the most magnificent of all save only
those of Er-Rashid himself. All that riches could buy seemed at his
disposal, and he lavished the good things of this life upon his guests.
Pages, slaves and attendants there were in great number; his garden
was spacious and beautiful, and his house was filled with every costly
luxury.
This Sindbad the Sailor has a story to tell--the story of his life--but
he never told it to any until, one day, there came to him one Sindbad
the Landsman, a man of poor and humble birth. This man pleased him
greatly with an apt recitation dealing with the widely different lots
dispensed by God to men, and, being pleased, he was struck with the
happy conceit that, now Sindbad the Sailor was at last confronted with
Sindbad the Landsman, it would be no bad thing were he to narrate the
story of his life so that all might know his strange adventures and
conjecture no longer as to the source of his fabulous wealth.
Accordingly Sindbad the Sailor held seven receptions on seven different
days, and, although on each occasion a multitude of guests was
assembled to listen, he failed not to address his words from first to
last to his simple listener, Sindbad the Landsman. Following is his
narration of the strange and wonderful adventures he experienced in his
seven voyages:--