Being returned from my sixth voyage, I absolutely laid aside all
thoughts of travelling any farther; for, besides that my years now
required rest, I was resolved no more to expose myself to such risk
as I had run; so that I thought of nothing but to pass the rest of
my days in quiet. One day, as I was treating some of my friends,
one of my servants came and told me that an officer of the caliph
asked for me. I rose from the table, and went to him. 'The caliph,'
said he, 'has sent me to tell you that he must speak with you.' I
followed the officer to the palace, where, being presented to the
caliph, I saluted him by prostrating myself at his feet. 'Sinbad,'
said he to me, 'I stand in need of you; you must do me the service
to carry my answer and present to the King of Serendib. It is but
just I should return his civility.'
This command of the caliph to me was like a clap of thunder.
'Commander of the Faithful,' replied I, 'I am ready to do whatever
your majesty shall think fit to command me; but I beseech you most
humbly to consider what I have undergone. I have also made a vow
never to go out of Bagdad.' Here I took occasion to give him a
large and particular account of all my adventures, which he had the
patience to hear out.
As soon as I had finished, 'I confess,' said he, 'that the things
you tell me are very extraordinary, yet you must for my sake
undertake this voyage which I propose to you. You have nothing to
do but to go to the Isle of Serendib, and deliver the commission
which I give you. After that you are at liberty to return. But you
must go; for you know it would be indecent, and not suitable to my
dignity, to be indebted to the king of that island.' Perceiving
that the caliph insisted upon it, I submitted, and told him that I
was willing to obey. He was very well pleased at it, and ordered me
a thousand sequins for the expense of my journey.
I prepared for my departure in a few days, and as soon as the
caliph's letter and present were delivered to me, I went to
Balsora, where I embarked, and had a very happy voyage. I arrived
at the Isle of Serendib, where I acquainted the king's ministers
with my commission, and prayed them to get me speedy audience. They
did so, and I was conducted to the palace in an honourable manner,
where I saluted the king by prostration, according to custom. That
prince knew me immediately, and testified very great joy to see me.
'O Sinbad,' said he, 'you are welcome; I swear to you I have many
times thought of you since you went hence; I bless the day upon
which we see one another once more.' I made my compliment to him,
and after having thanked him for his kindness to me, I delivered
the caliph's letter and present, which he received with all
imaginable satisfaction.
The caliph's present was a complete set of cloth of gold, valued at
one thousand sequins; fifty robes of rich stuff, a hundred others
of white cloth, the finest of Cairo, Suez, Cusa, and Alexandria; a
royal crimson bed, and a second of another fashion; a vessel of
agate broader than deep, an inch thick, and half a foot wide, the
bottom of which represented in bas-relief a man with one knee on
the ground, who held a bow and an arrow, ready to let fly at a
lion. He sent him also a rich table, which, according to tradition,
belonged to the great Solomon. The caliph's letter was as follows:
'Greeting in the name of the Sovereign Guide of the Right Way, to
the potent and happy Sultan, from Abdallah Haroun Alraschid, whom
God hath set in the place of honour, after his ancestors of happy
memory:
'We received your letter with joy, and send you this from the
council of our port, the garden of superior wits. We hope, when you
look upon it, you will find our good intention, and be pleased with
it. Farewell.'
The King of Serendib was highly pleased that the caliph returned
his friendship. A little time after this audience, I solicited
leave to depart, and had much difficulty to obtain it. I obtained
it, however, at last, and the king, when he dismissed me, made me a
very considerable present. I embarked immediately to return to
Bagdad, but had not the good fortune to arrive there as I hoped.
God ordered it otherwise.
Three or four days after my departure, we were attacked by pirates,
who easily seized upon our ship. Some of the crew offered
resistance, which cost them their lives. But as for me and the
rest, who were not so imprudent, the pirates saved us on purpose to
make slaves of us.
We were all stripped, and instead of our own clothes they gave us
sorry rags, and carried us into a remote island, where they sold
us.
I fell into the hands of a rich merchant, who, as soon as he bought
me, carried me to his house, treated me well, and clad me
handsomely for a slave. Some days after, not knowing who I was, he
asked me if I understood any trade. I answered that I was no
mechanic, but a merchant, and that the pirates who sold me had
robbed me of all I had.
'But tell me,' replied he, 'can you shoot with a bow?'
I answered that the bow was one of my exercises in my youth, and I
had not yet forgotten it. Then he gave me a bow and arrows, and,
taking me behind him upon an elephant, carried me to a vast forest
some leagues from the town. We went a great way into the forest,
and where he thought fit to stop he bade me alight; then showing me
a great tree, 'Climb up that tree,' said he, 'and shoot at the
elephants as you see them pass by, for there is a prodigious number
of them in this forest, and, if any of them fall, come and give me
notice of it.' Having spoken thus, he left me victuals, and
returned to the town, and I continued upon the tree all night.
I saw no elephant during that time, but next morning, as soon as
the sun was up, I saw a great number: I shot several arrows among
them, and at last one of the elephants fell; the rest retired
immediately, and left me at liberty to go and acquaint my patron
with my booty. When I had told him the news, he gave me a good
meal, commended my dexterity, and caressed me highly. We afterwards
went together to the forest, where we dug a hole for the elephant;
my patron intending to return when it was rotten, and to take the
teeth, etc., to trade with.
I continued this game for two months, and killed an elephant every
day, getting sometimes upon one tree, and sometimes upon another.
One morning, as I looked for the elephants, I perceived with an
extreme amazement that, instead of passing by me across the forest
as usual, they stopped, and came to me with a horrible noise, in
such a number that the earth was covered with them, and shook under
them. They encompassed the tree where I was with their trunks
extended and their eyes all fixed upon me. At this frightful
spectacle I remained immoveable, and was so much frightened that my
bow and arrows fell out of my hand.
My fears were not in vain; for after the elephants had stared upon
me for some time, one of the largest of them put his trunk round
the root of the tree, and pulled so strong that he plucked it up
and threw it on the ground; I fell with the tree, and the elephant
taking me up with his trunk, laid me on his back, where I sat more
like one dead than alive, with my quiver on my shoulder: then he
put himself at the head of the rest, who followed him in troops,
and carried me to a place where he laid me down on the ground, and
retired with all his companions. Conceive, if you can, the
condition I was in: I thought myself to be in a dream; at last,
after having lain some time, and seeing the elephants gone, I got
up, and found I was upon a long and broad hill, covered all over
with the bones and teeth of elephants. I confess to you that this
furnished me with abundance of reflections. I admired the instinct
of those animals; I doubted not but that this was their burying
place, and that they carried me thither on purpose to tell me that
I should forbear to persecute them, since I did it only for their
teeth. I did not stay on the hill, but turned towards the city,
and, after having travelled a day and a night, I came to my patron;
I met no elephant on my way, which made me think they had retired
farther into the forest, to leave me at liberty to come back to the
hill without any hindrance.
As soon as my patron saw me: 'Ah, poor Sinbad,' said he, I was in
great trouble to know what had become of you. I have been at the
forest, where I found a tree newly pulled up, and a bow and arrows
on the ground, and after having sought for you in vain I despaired
of ever seeing you more. Pray tell me what befell you, and by what
good hap you are still alive.'
I satisfied his curiosity, and going both of us next morning to the
hill, he found to his great joy that what I had told him was true.
We loaded the elephant upon which we came with as many teeth as he
could carry; and when we had returned, 'Brother,' said my patron--
'for I will treat you no more as my slave--after having made such a
discovery as will enrich me, God bless you with all happiness and
prosperity. I declare before Him that I give you your liberty. I
concealed from you what I am now going to tell you.
'The elephants of our forest have every year killed a great many
slaves, whom we sent to seek ivory. Notwithstanding all the
cautions we could give them, those crafty animals killed them one
time or other. God has delivered you from their fury, and has
bestowed that favour upon you only. It is a sign that He loves you,
and has use for your service in the world. You have procured me
incredible gain. We could not have ivory formerly but by exposing
the lives of our slaves, and now our whole city is enriched by your
means. Do not think I pretend to have rewarded you by giving you
your liberty; I will also give you considerable riches. I could
engage all our city to contribute towards making your fortune, but
I will have the glory of doing it myself.'
To this obliging discourse I replied, 'Patron, God preserve you.
Your giving me my liberty is enough to discharge what you owe me,
and I desire no other reward for the service I had the good fortune
to do to you and your city, than leave to return to my own
country.'
'Very well,' said he, 'the monsoon will in a little time bring
ships for ivory. I will send you home then, and give you wherewith
to pay your expenses.' I thanked him again for my liberty, and his
good intentions towards me. I stayed with him until the monsoon;
and during that time we made so many journeys to the hill that we
filled all our warehouses with ivory. The other merchants who
traded in it did the same thing, for it could not be long concealed
from them.
The ships arrived at last, and my patron himself having made choice
of the ship wherein I was to embark, he loaded half of it with ivory
on my account, laid in provisions in abundance for my passage, and
obliged me besides to accept as a present, curiosities of the
country of great value. After I had returned him a thousand thanks
for all his favours, I went on board. We set sail, and as the
adventure which procured me this liberty was very extraordinary, I
had it continually in my thoughts.
We stopped at some islands to take in fresh provisions. Our vessel
being come to a port on the main land in the Indies, we touched
there, and not being willing to venture by sea to Balsora, I landed
my proportion of the ivory, resolving to proceed on my journey by
land. I made vast sums by my ivory, I bought several rarities,
which I intended for presents, and when my equipage was ready, I
set out in the company of a large caravan of merchants. I was a
long time on the way, and suffered very much, but endured all with
patience, when I considered that I had nothing to fear from the
seas, from pirates, from serpents, nor from the other perils I had
undergone.
All these fatigues ended at last, and I came safe to Bagdad. I went
immediately to wait upon the caliph, and gave him an account of my
embassy. That prince told me he had been uneasy, by reason that I
was so long in returning, but that he always hoped God would
preserve me. When I told him the adventure of the elephants, he
seemed to be much surprised at it, and would never have given any
credit to it had he not known my sincerity. He reckoned this story,
and the other narratives I had given him, to be so curious that he
ordered one of his secretaries to write them in characters of gold,
and lay them up in his treasury. I retired very well satisfied with
the honours I received and the presents which he gave me; and after
that I gave myself up wholly to my, family, kindred and friends.