according to
the version of the
Calcutta Edition
which differs in essential form
from the preceding
tale
Know, O my brothers and friends and companions all, that when I left
voyaging and commercing, I said in myself, “Sufficeth me that hath
befallen me;” and I spent my time in solace and pleasure. One day as I
sat at home there came a knock at the door, and when the porter opened
a page entered and said, “The Caliph biddeth thee to him.” I went with
him to the King’s majesty and kissed ground and saluted him; whereupon
he welcomed me and entreated me with honour and said, “O Sindbad, I
have an occasion for thee: wilt thou do it?” So I kissed his hand and
asked him, saying, “O my lord, what occasion hath the master for the
slave?”; whereto he answered me, “I am minded that thou travel to the
King of Sarandib and carry to him our writ and our gift, for that he
hath sent to us a present and a letter.” I trembled at these words and
rejoined, “By Allah the Omnipotent, O my lord, I have taken a loathing
to wayfare, and when I hear the words ‘Voyage’ or ‘Travel,’ my limbs
tremble for what hath befallen me of hardships and horrors. Indeed I
have no desire whatever for this; more by token as I have bound myself
by oath not to quit Baghdad.” Then I informed the Caliph of all I had
passed through from first to last, and he marvelled with exceeding
marvel and said, “By the Almighty, O Sindbad, from ages of old such
mishaps as happened to thee were never known to happen to any, and thou
dost only right never even to talk of travel. For our sake, however,
thou wilt go this time and carry our present and our letter to him of
Sarandib; and Inshallah—by God’s leave!—thou shalt return quickly; and
on this wise we shall be under no obligation to the said King.” I
replied that I heard and obeyed, being unable to oppose his command, so
he gave me the gifts and the missive with money to pay my way and I
kissed hands and left the presence. Then I dropped down from Baghdad to
the Gulf, and with other merchants embarked, and our ship sailed before
a fair wind many days and nights till, by Allah’s aid, we reached the
island of Sarandib. As soon as we had made fast we landed and I took
the present and the letter; and, going in with them to the King, kissed
ground before him. When he saw me, he said, “Well come, O Sindbad! By
Allah Omnipotent we were longing to see thee, and glory be to God who
hath again shown us thy face!” Then taking me by the hand he made me
sit by his side, rejoicing, and he welcomed me with familiar kindness
again and entreated me as a friend. After this he began to converse
with me and courteously addressed me and asked, “What was the cause of
thy coming to us, O Sindbad?” So after kissing his hand and thanking
him I answered, “O my lord, I have brought thee a present from my
master, the Caliph Harun Al-Rashid;” and offered him the present and
the letter which he read and at which he rejoiced with passing joy. The
present consisted of a mare worth ten thousand ducats, bearing a golden
saddle set with jewels; a book; a sumptuous suit of clothes and an
hundred different kinds of white Cairene cloths and silks of
Suez,[FN#98] Cufa and Alexandria; Greek carpets and an hundred
maunds[FN#99] weight of linen and raw silk. Moreover there was a
wondrous rarety, a marvellous cup of crystal middlemost of which was
the figure of a lion faced by a kneeling man grasping a bow with arrow
drawn to the very head, together with the food-tray[FN#100] of Sulayman
the son of David (on whom be peace!). The missive ran as follows,
“Peace from King Al-Rashid, the aided of Allah (who hath vouchsafed to
him and his forefathers noble rank and wide-spread glory), be on the
fortunate Sultan. But after. Thy letter came to our hands and we
rejoiced thereat; and we have sent the book entitled ‘Delight of the
Intelligent and for Friends the Rare Present,’[FN#101] together with
sundry curiosities suitable for Kings; so do thou favour us by
accepting them: and peace be with thee!” Then the King lavished upon me
much wealth and entreated me with all honour; so I prayed for him and
thanked him for his munificence. Some days after I craved his leave to
depart, but could not obtain it except by great pressing, whereupon I
farewelled him and fared forth from his city, with merchants and other
companions, homewards-bound without any desire for travel or trade. We
continued voyaging and coasting along many islands; but, when we were
half-way, we were surrounded by a number of canoes, wherein were men
like devils armed with bows and arrows, swords and daggers; habited in
mail-coats and other armoury. They fell upon us and wounded and slew
all who opposed them; then, having captured the ship and her contents,
carried us to an island, where they sold us at the meanest price. Now I
was bought by a wealthy man who, taking me to his house, gave me meat
and drink and clothing and treated me in the friendliest manner; so I
was heartened and I rested a little. One day he asked me, “Dost thou
know any art or craft?” and I answered him, “O my lord, I am a merchant
and know nothing but trade and traffic.” “Dost thou know,” rejoined he,
“how to use bow and arrow?” “Yes,” replied I, “I know that much.”
Thereupon he brought me a bow and arrows and mounted me behind him upon
an elephant: then he set out as night was well nigh over and, passing
through a forest of huge growths, came to a tall and sturdy tree up
which he made me climb. Then he gave me the bow and arrows, saying,
“Sit here now, and when the elephants troop hither in early morning,
shoot at them; belike thou wilt hit one; and, if he fall, come and tell
me.” With this he left me. I hid myself in the tree being in sore
terror and trembled till the sun arose; and, when the elephants
appeared and wandered about among the trees, I shot my arrows at them
and continued till I had shot down one of them. In the evening I
reported my success to my master who was delighted in me and entreated
me with high honour; and next morning he removed the slain elephant. In
this wise I continued, every morning shooting an elephant which my
master would remove till, one day, as I was perched in hiding on the
tree there came on suddenly and unexpectedly an innumerable host of
elephants whose screaming and trumpeting were such that I imagined the
earth trembled under them. All surrounded my tree, whose circumference
was some fifty cubits,[FN#102] and one enormous monster came up to it
and winding his trunk round the bole haled it up by the roots, and
dashed it to the ground. I fell down fainting amongst the beasts when
the monster elephant wound his trunk about me and, setting me on his
back, went off with me, the others accompanying us. He carried me still
unconscious till he reached the place for which he was making, when he
rolled me off his back and presently went his ways followed by the
others. So I rested a little; and, when my terror had subsided, I
looked about me and I found myself among the bones of elephants,
whereby I concluded that this was their burial-place, and that the
monster elephant had led me thither on account of the tusks.[FN#103] So
I arose and walked a whole day and night till I arrived at the house of
my master, who saw my colour changed by stress of affright and famine.
He rejoiced in my return and said to me, “By Allah, thou hast made my
heart sore! I went when thou wast missing and found the tree torn up,
and thought that the elephants had slain thee. Tell me how it was with
thee.” I acquainted him with all that had betided me; whereat he
wondered greatly, and rejoiced and at last asked me, “Dost thou know
the place?”; whereto I answered, “Yes, O my master!” So we mounted an
elephant and fared until we came to the spot and, when my master beheld
the heaps of tusks, he rejoiced greatly; then carrying away as many as
he wanted he returned with me home. After this, he entreated me with
increased favour and said, “O my son, thou hast shown us the way to
great gain, wherefore Allah requite thee! Thou art freed for the
Almighty’s sake and before His face! The elephants used to destroy many
of us on account of our hunting them for their ivories and sorivellos;
but Allah hath preserved thee from them, and thou hast profited us by
the heaps to which thou hast led us.” “O my master,” replied I, “God
free thy neck from the fire! And do thou grant me, O my master, thy
gracious leave to return to my own country.” “Yes” quoth he, “thou
shalt have that permission. But we have a yearly fair, when merchants
come to us from various quarters to buy up these ivories. The time is
drawing near; and, when they shall have done their business, I will
send thee under their charge and will give thee wherewithal to reach
thy home.” So I blessed and thanked him and remained with him, treated
with respect and honour, for some days, when the merchants came as he
had foretold, and bought and sold and bartered; and when they had made
their preparations to return, my master came to me and said, “Rise and
get thee ready to travel with the traders en route to thy country.”
They had bought a number of tusks which they had bound together in
loads and were embarking them when my master sent me with them, paying
for my passage and settling all my debts; besides which he gave me a
large present in goods. We set out and voyaged from island to island
till we had crossed the sea and landed on the shores of the Persian
Gulf, when the merchants brought out and sold their stores: I also sold
what I had at a high profit; and I bought some of the prettiest things
in the place for presents and beautiful rarities and everything else I
wanted. I likewise bought for myself a beast and we fared forth and
crossed the deserts from country to country till I reached Baghdad.
Here I went in to the Caliph and, after saluting him and kissing hands,
informed him of all that had befallen me; whereupon he rejoiced in my
safety and thanked Almighty Allah; and he bade my story be written in
letters of gold. I then entered my house and met my family and
brethren: and such is the end of the history that happened to me during
my seven voyages. Praise be to Allah, the One, the Creator, the Maker
of all things in Heaven and Earth!—
Now when Shahrazad had ended her story of the two Sindbads, Dinarzad
exclaimed, “O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale and how tasteful! How
sweet and how grateful!” She replied, “And what is this compared with
that I could tell thee to-morrow night?” Quoth the King, “What may it
be?” And she said:—It is a tale touching