Sindbad the Sailor
As Sindbad the Sailor was sitting in the mansion which he had built in the city of Bagdad, he heard a poor porter say: “Men are not rewarded according to their merit. I have worked harder than Sindbad, and yet he lives in splendor and I live in misery.”
Sindbad was moved by the porter’s complaint and invited him to come in and listen to the story of his adventures.
“Perhaps when you have learned by what sufferings I won my wealth,” said Sindbad, “you will be more contented with your own lot in life.
“Look at my white hair and worn facet I seem an old man. But how young and strong I was when I sailed away to make my fortune by trading in strange countries! Soon after we departed, our ship was becalmed near a small island, but when we landed to look at the place, we found that what we had taken for land was only the green back of a great beast, a sort of ocean cow, called a whale.
“No sooner had we landed than it began to sway to and fro, and then it plunged beneath the waves and left us struggling in the sea. Clinging to a large piece of wood, I was washed ashore on a desert island.
“Here I thought I should have starved. But on wandering about I found a clump of fruit trees and hidden among them a great white ball about fifty feet in size. By this time I was very weary, and so when I had eaten some of the fruit I crept beneath the ball and lay down to sleep. Just as I was closing my eyes I looked up and saw that the sky was darkened by the wings of a gigantic bird.
“‘Good heavens!’ I exclaimed. ‘This great white ball is the egg of the monstrous bird that sailors call a roc.’
“And so it was. The roc settled on the egg under which I was lying, and one of its claws, which was as big as the trunk of a tree, caught my dress.
“At daybreak the roc flew up into the air and carried me to such a height that I could not see the earth. Then it descended with such speed that I nearly lost my senses. As it alighted I freed my dress and found myself in a deep valley cut off from the world by a circle of high, steep mountains.
“It was the Valley of Diamonds! The grouQd was covered with precious stones. Full of joy, I began to fill my pockets with them, but my joy was soon turned to terror. The valley was haunted by great serpents, and I could find no means of escape.
“I crept into a cave and blocked up the opening with a large stone, but all night I was kept awake by the hissing of the serpents. At daybreak they retired, as they were afraid of the roc that used then to visit the valley in search of food. Then I stole out of the cave, only .to be knocked over by something that came tumbling down the mountainside. It was a great piece of fresh meat. As it rolled along, the diamonds on the ground stuck to it. Looking up, I saw on the mountains a band of men, who were preparing to roll another piece of meat into the valley.
“‘I have heard of this means of getting diamonds,’ I said to myself. ‘It strikes me that it is also a good means of getting away.’
“So I tied myself to the piece of meat and hid beneath it, and presently an eagle swooped down and seized the meat and carried it to its nest on the top of the mountains. The band of men drove the eagle away, and turned the meat over to pick off the diamonds that had stuck to it, and found me tied to it.
“When they had all the diamonds they needed, we sailed for home. But on passing the desert island my companions landed with an ax and broke open the great white ball. A terrible scream rang through the sky. The roc had seen them. They rushed back to the ship, and we quickly sailed away; but the roc followed us, bearing in its claws a great piece of granite. This it dropped on our ship, and down we all went into the sea. Holding on to a fragment of wreckage with one hand, and swimming with the other, as the sea was calm, I managed to reach another island.
“It was a delicious spot! Sparkling streams ran between vineyards full of grapes and orchards full of fruit.
There I met a strange old man, who made signs to me to carry him over one of the streams. As soon as I hoisted him on my back, the old man threw his legs over my neck and squeezed my throat so that I fainted. When I came to, he was still fixed on my shoulders. And there he remained.
“He made me his slave. When, in order to keep up my strength, I made some wine out of the grapes, he took it from me and drank it all up. Happily, it was too strong for him, and releasing his hold of my neck, he fell to the ground, and I killed him.
“By the shore I met some sailors, with whom I returned to Bagdad.
“‘That was the Old Man of the Sea’, they said to me. ‘You are the first person that has escaped from being at last strangled by him.’
“Now don’t you think,” said Sindbad to the porter, “that I have earned all the riches that I brought away from the Valley of Diamonds?” The porter agreed that he had.
