table. He soon grew to love me, and for thirty-nine days we spent as pleasant an
existence as could be expected underground.
The morning of the fortieth dawned, and the young man when he woke gave
thanks in an outburst of joy that the danger was passed. "My father may be here
at any moment," said he, "so make me, I pray you, a bath of hot water, that I may
bathe, and change my clothes, and be ready to receive him."
So I fetched the water as he asked, and washed and rubbed him, after which he
lay down again and slept a little. When he opened his eyes for the second time,
he begged me to bring him a melon and some sugar, that he might eat and
refresh himself.
I soon chose a fine melon out of those which remained, but could find no knife to
cut it with. "Look in the cornice over my head," said he, "and I think you will see
one." It was so high above me, that I had some difficulty in reaching it, and
catching my foot in the covering of the bed, I slipped, and fell right upon the
young man, the knife going straight into his heart.
At this awful sight I shrieked aloud in my grief and pain. I threw myself on the
ground and rent my clothes and tore my hair with sorrow. Then, fearing to be
punished as his murderer by the unhappy father, I raised the great stone which
blocked the staircase, and quitting the underground chamber, made everything
fast as before.
Scarcely had I finished when, looking out to sea, I saw the vessel heading for the
island, and, feeling that it would be useless for me to protest my innocence, I
again concealed myself among the branches of a tree that grew near by.
The old man and his slaves pushed off in a boat directly the ship touched land,
and walked quickly towards the entrance to the underground chamber; but when
they were near enough to see that the earth had been disturbed, they paused
and changed colour. In silence they all went down and called to the youth by
name; then for a moment I heard no more. Suddenly a fearful scream rent the
air, and the next instant the slaves came up the steps, carrying with them the
body of the old man, who had fainted from sorrow! Laying him down at the foot of
the tree in which I had taken shelter, they did their best to recover him, but it took
a long while. When at last he revived, they left him to dig a grave, and then laying
the young man's body in it, they threw in the earth.
This ended, the slaves brought up all the furniture that remained below, and put it
on the vessel, and breaking some boughs to weave a litter, they laid the old man
on it, and carried him to the ship, which spread its sails and stood out to sea.
So once more I was quite alone, and for a whole month I walked daily over the
island, seeking for some chance of escape. At length one day it struck me that
my prison had grown much larger, and that the mainland seemed to be nearer.
My heart beat at this thought, which was almost too good to be true. I watched a
little longer: there was no doubt about it, and soon there was only a tiny stream
for me to cross.
Even when I was safe on the other side I had a long distance to go on the mud
and sand before I reached dry ground, and very tired I was, when far in front of
me I caught sight of a castle of red copper, which, at first sight, I took to be a fire.
I made all the haste I could, and after some miles of hard walking stood before it,
and gazed at it in astonishment, for it seemed to me the most wonderful building I
had ever beheld. While I was still staring at it, there came towards me a tall old
man, accompanied by ten young men, all handsome, and all blind of the right
eye.
Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men walking together, all blind of the right
eye, is as uncommon as that of a copper castle, and I was turning over in my
mind what could be the meaning of this strange fact, when they greeted me
warmly, and inquired what had brought me there. I replied that my story was
somewhat long, but that if they would take the trouble to sit down, I should be
happy to tell it them. When I had finished, the young men begged that I would go
with them to the castle, and I joyfully accepted their offer. We passed through
what seemed to me an endless number of rooms, and came at length into a large
hall, furnished with ten small blue sofas for the ten young men, which served as
beds as well as chairs, and with another sofa in the middle for the old man. As
none of the sofas could hold more than one person, they bade me place myself
on the carpet, and to ask no questions about anything I should see.
After a little while the old man rose and brought in supper, which I ate heartily, for
I was very hungry. Then one of the young men begged me to repeat my story,
which had struck them all with astonishment, and when I had ended, the old man
was bidden to "do his duty," as it was late, and they wished to go to bed. At these
words he rose, and went to a closet, from which he brought out ten basins, all
covered with blue stuff. He set one before each of the young men, together with
a lighted taper.
When the covers were taken off the basins, I saw they were filled with ashes,
coal-dust, and lamp-black. The young men mixed these all together, and
smeared the whole over their heads and faces. They then wept and beat their
breasts, crying, "This is the fruit of idleness, and of our wicked lives."
This ceremony lasted nearly the whole night, and when it stopped they washed
themselves carefully, and put on fresh clothes, and lay down to sleep.
All this while I had refrained from questions, though my curiosity almost seemed
to burn a hole in me, but the following day, when we went out to walk, I said to
them, "Gentlemen, I must disobey your wishes, for I can keep silence no more.
You do not appear to lack wit, yet you do such actions as none but madmen
could be capable of. Whatever befalls me I cannot forbear asking, `Why you
daub your faces with black, and how it is you are all blind of one eye?'" But they
only answered that such questions were none of my business, and that I should
do well to hold my peace.
During that day we spoke of other things, but when night came, and the same
ceremony was repeated, I implored them most earnestly to let me know the
meaning of it all.
"It is for your own sake," replied one of the young men, "that we have not granted
your request, and to preserve you from our unfortunate fate. If, however, you
wish to share our destiny we will delay no longer."
I answered that whatever might be the consequence I wished to have my
curiosity satisfied, and that I would take the result on my own head. He then
assured me that, even when I had lost my eye, I should be unable to remain with
them, as their number was complete, and could not be added to. But to this I
replied that, though I should be grieved to part company with such honest
gentlemen, I would not be turned from my resolution on that account.
On hearing my determination my ten hosts then took a sheep and killed it, and
handed me a knife, which they said I should by-and-by find useful. "We must sew
you into this sheep-skin," said they, "and then leave you. A fowl of monstrous
size, called a roc, will appear in the air, taking you to be a sheep. He will snatch
you up and carry you into the sky, but be not alarmed, for he will bring you safely
down and lay you on the top of a mountain. When you are on the ground cut the
skin with the knife and throw it off. As soon as the roc sees you he will fly away
from fear, but you must walk on till you come to a castle covered with plates of
gold, studded with jewels. Enter boldly at the gate, which always stands open,
but do not ask us to tell you what we saw or what befel us there, for that you will
learn for yourself. This only we may say, that it cost us each our right eye, and
has imposed upon us our nightly penance."
After the young gentlemen had been at the trouble of sewing the sheep-skin on
me they left me, and retired to the hall. In a few minutes the roc appeared, and
bore me off to the top of the mountain in his huge claws as lightly as if I had been
a feather, for this great white bird is so strong that he has been known to carry
even an elephant to his nest in the hills.
The moment my feet touched the ground I took out my knife and cut the threads
that bound me, and the sight of me in my proper clothes so alarmed the roc that
he spread his wings and flew away. Then I set out to seek the castle.
I found it after wandering about for half a day, and never could I have imagined
anything so glorious. The gate led into a square court, into which opened a
hundred doors, ninety-nine of them being of rare woods and one of gold.
Through each of these doors I caught glimpses of splendid gardens or of rich
storehouses.
Entering one of the doors which was standing open I found myself in a vast hall
where forty young ladies, magnificently dressed, and of perfect beauty, were
reclining. As soon as they saw me they rose and uttered words of welcome, and
even forced me to take possession of a seat that was higher than their own,
though my proper place was at their feet. Not content with this, one brought me
splendid garments, while another filled a basin with scented water and poured it
over my hands, and the rest busied themselves with preparing refreshments.
After I had eaten and drunk of the most delicate food and rarest wines, the ladies
crowded round me and begged me to tell them all my adventures.
By the time I had finished night had fallen, and the ladies lighted up the castle
with such a prodigious quantity of tapers that even day could hardly have been
brighter. We then sat down to a supper of dried fruits and sweetmeats, after
which some sang and others danced. I was so well amused that I did not notice
how the time was passing, but at length one of the ladies approached and
informed me it was midnight, and that, as I must be tired, she would conduct me
to the room that had been prepared for me. Then, bidding me good-night, I was
left to sleep.
I spent the next thirty-nine days in much the same way as the first, but at the
close of that time the ladies appeared (as was their custom) in my room one
morning to inquire how I had slept, and instead of looking cheerful and smiling
they were in floods of tears. "Prince," said they, "we must leave you, and never
was it so hard to part from any of our friends. Most likely we shall never see you
again, but if you have sufficient self-command perhaps we may yet look forward
to a meeting."
"Ladies," I replied, "what is the meaning of these strange words-- I pray you to tell
me?"
"Know then," answered one of them, "that we are all princesses-- each a king's
daughter. We live in this castle together, in the way that you have seen, but at
the end of every year secret duties call us away for the space of forty days. The
time has now come; but before we depart, we will leave you our keys, so that you
may not lack entertainment during our absence. But one thing we would ask of
you. The Golden Door, alone, forbear to open, as you value your own peace, and
the happiness of your life. That door once unlocked, we must bid you farewell for
ever."
Weeping, I assured them of my prudence, and after embracing me tenderly, they
went their ways.
Every day I opened two or three fresh doors, each of which contained behind it
so many curious things that I had no chance of feeling dull, much as I regretted
the absence of the ladies. Sometimes it was an orchard, whose fruit far
exceeded in bigness any that grew in my father's garden. Sometimes it was a
court planted with roses, jessamine, dafeodils, hyacinths and anemones, and a
thousand other flowers of which I did not know the names. Or again, it would be
an aviary, fitted with all kinds of singing birds, or a treasury heaped up with
precious stones; but whatever I might see, all was perfect of its own sort.
Thirty-nine days passed away more rapidly than I could have conceived possible,
and the following morning the princesses were to return to the castle. But alas! I
had explored every corner, save only the room that was shut in by the Golden
Door, and I had no longer anything to amuse myself with. I stood before the
forbidden place for some time, gazing at its beauty; then a happy inspiration
struck me, that because I unlocked the door it was not necessary that I should
enter the chamber. It would be enough for me to stand outside and view
whatever hidden wonders might be therein.
Thus arguing against my own conscience, I turned the key, when a smell rushed
out that, pleasant though it was, overcame me completely, and I fell fainting
across the threshold. Instead of being warned by this accident, directly I came to
myself I went for a few moments into the air to shake of the effects of the
perfume, and then entered boldly. I found myself in a large, vaulted room, lighted
by tapers, scented with aloes and ambergris, standing in golden candle-sticks,
whilst gold and silver lamps hung from the ceiling.
Though objects of rare workmanship lay heaped around me, I paid them scant
attention, so much was I struck by a great black horse which stood in one corner,
the handsomest and best-shaped animal I had ever seen. His saddle and bridle
were of massive gold, curiously wrought; one side of his trough was filled with
clean barley and sesame, and the other with rose water. I led the animal into the
open air, and then jumped on his back, shaking the reins as I did so, but as he
never stirred, I touched him lightly with a switch I had picked up in his stable. No
sooner did he feel the stroke, than he spread his wings (which I had not
perceived before), and flew up with me straight into the sky. When he had
reached a prodigious height, he next darted back to earth, and alighted on the
terrace belonging to a castle, shaking me violently out of the saddle as he did so,
and giving me such a blow with his tail, that he knocked out my right eye.
Half-stunned as I was with all that had happened to me, I rose to my feet,
thinking as I did so of what had befallen the ten young men, and watching the
horse which was soaring into the clouds. I left the terrace and wandered on till I
came to a hall, which I knew to have been the one from which the roc had taken
me, by the ten blue sofas against the wall.
The ten young men were not present when I first entered, but came in soon after,
accompanied by the old man. They greeted me kindly, and bewailed my
misfortune, though, indeed, they had expected nothing less. "All that has
happened to you," they said, "we also have undergone, and we should be
enjoying the same happiness still, had we not opened the Golden Door while the
princesses were absent. You have been no wiser than we, and have suffered the
same punishment. We would gladly receive you among us, to perform such
penance as we do, but we have already told you that this is impossible. Depart,
therefore, from hence and go to the Court of Bagdad, where you shall meet with
him that can decide your destiny." They told me the way I was to travel, and I left
them.
On the road I caused my beard and eyebrows to be shaved, and put on a
Calender's habit. I have had a long journey, but arrived this evening in the city,
where I met my brother Calenders at the gate, being strangers like myself. We
wondered much at one another, to see we were all blind of the same eye, but we
had no leisure to discourse at length of our common calamities. We had only so
much time as to come hither to implore those favours which you have been
generously pleased to grant us.
He finished, and it was Zobeida's turn to speak: "Go wherever you please," she
said, addressing all three. "I pardon you all, but you must depart immediately out
of this house."
The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the
Sailor
IN the times of the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid there lived in Bagdad a poor porter
named Hindbad, who on a very hot day was sent to carry a heavy load from one
end of the city to the other. Before he had accomplished half the distance he was
so tired that, finding himself in a quiet street where the pavement was sprinkled
with rose water, and a cool breeze was blowing, he set his burden upon the
ground, and sat down to rest in the shade of a grand house. Very soon he
decided that he could not have chosen a pleasanter place; a delicious perfume of
aloes wood and pastilles came from the open windows and mingled with the
scent of the rose water which steamed up from the hot pavement. Within the
palace he heard some music, as of many instruments cunningly played, and the
melodious warble of nightingales and other birds, and by this, and the appetising
smell of many dainty dishes of which he presently became aware, he judged that
feasting and merry making were going on. He wondered who lived in this
magnificent house which he had never seen before, the street in which it stood
being one which he seldom had occasion to pass. To satisfy his curiosity he went
up to some splendidly dressed servants who stood at the door, and asked one of
them the name of the master of the mansion.
"What," replied he, "do you live in Bagdad, and not know that here lives the noble
Sindbad the Sailor, that famous traveller who sailed over every sea upon which
the sun shines?"
The porter, who had often heard people speak of the immense wealth of
Sindbad, could not help feeling envious of one whose lot seemed to be as happy
as his own was miserable. Casting his eyes up to the sky he exclaimed aloud,
"Consider, Mighty Creator of all things, the differences between Sindbad's life
and mine. Every day I suffer a thousand hardships and misfortunes, and have
hard work to get even enough bad barley bread to keep myself and my family
alive, while the lucky Sindbad spends money right and left and lives upon the fat
of the land! What has he done that you should give him this pleasant life-- what
have I done to deserve so hard a fate?"
So saying he stamped upon the ground like one beside himself with misery and
despair. Just at this moment a servant came out of the palace, and taking him by
the arm said, "Come with me, the noble Sindbad, my master, wishes to speak to
you."
Hindbad was not a little surprised at this summons, and feared that his
unguarded words might have drawn upon him the displeasure of Sindbad, so he
tried to excuse himself upon the pretext that he could not leave the burden which
had been entrusted to him in the street. However the lackey promised him that it
should be taken care of, and urged him to obey the call so pressingly that at last
the porter was obliged to yield.
He followed the servant into a vast room, where a great company was seated
round a table covered with all sorts of delicacies. In the place of honour sat a tall,
grave man whose long white beard gave him a venerable air. Behind his chair
stood a crowd of attendants eager to minister to his wants. This was the famous
Sindbad himself. The porter, more than ever alarmed at the sight of so much
magnificence, tremblingly saluted the noble company. Sindbad, making a sign to
him to approach, caused him to be seated at his right hand, and himself heaped
choice morsels upon his plate, and poured out for him a draught of excellent
wine, and presently, when the banquet drew to a close, spoke to him familiarly,
asking his name and occupation.
"My lord," replied the porter, "I am called Hindbad."
"I am glad to see you here," continued Sindbad. "And I will answer for the rest of
the company that they are equally pleased, but I wish you to tell me what it was
that you said just now in the street." For Sindbad, passing by the open window
before the feast began, had heard his complaint and therefore had sent for him.
At this question Hindbad was covered with confusion, and hanging down his
head, replied, "My lord, I confess that, overcome by weariness and ill-humour, I
uttered indiscreet words, which I pray you to pardon me."
"Oh!" replied Sindbad, "do not imagine that I am so unjust as to blame you. On
the contrary, I understand your situation and can pity you. Only you appear to be
mistaken about me, and I wish to set you right. You doubtless imagine that I have
acquired all the wealth and luxury that you see me enjoy without difficulty or
danger, but this is far indeed from being the case. I have only reached this happy
state after having for years suffered every possible kind of toil and danger.
"Yes, my noble friends," he continued, addressing the company, "l assure you
that my adventures have been strange enough to deter even the most avaricious
men from seeking wealth by traversing the seas. Since you have, perhaps, heard
but confused accounts of my seven voyages, and the dangers and wonders that I
have met with by sea and land, I will now give you a full and true account of
them, which I think you will be well pleased to hear."
As Sindbad was relating his adventures chiefly on account of the porter, he
ordered, before beginning his tale, that the burden which had been left in the
street should be carried by some of his own servants to the place for which
Hindbad had set out at first, while he remained to listen to the story.
First Voyage
I had inherited considerable wealth from my parents, and being young and
foolish I at first squandered it recklessly upon every kind of pleasure, but
presently, finding that riches speedily take to themselves wings if managed as
badly as I was managing mine, and remembering also that to be old and poor is
misery indeed, I began to bethink me of how I could make the best of what still
remained to me. I sold all my household goods by public auction, and joined a
company of merchants who traded by sea, embarking with them at Balsora in a
ship which we had fitted out between us.
We set sail and took our course towards the East Indies by the Persian Gulf,
having the coast of Persia upon our left hand and upon our right the shores of
Arabia Felix. I was at first much troubled by the uneasy motion of the vessel, but
speedily recovered my health, and since that hour have been no more plagued
by sea-sickness.
From time to time we landed at various islands, where we sold or exchanged our
merchandise, and one day, when the wind dropped suddenly, we found
ourselves becalmed close to a small island like a green meadow, which only rose
slightly above the surface of the water. Our sails were furled, and the captain
gave permission to all who wished to land for a while and amuse themselves. I
was among the number, but when after strolling about for some time we lighted a
fire and sat down to enjoy the repast which we had brought with us, we were
startled by a sudden and violent trembling of the island, while at the same
moment those left upon the ship set up an outcry bidding us come on board for
our lives, since what we had taken for an island was nothing but the back of a
sleeping whale. Those who were nearest to the boat threw themselves into it,
others sprang into the sea, but before I could save myself the whale plunged
suddenly into the depths of the ocean, leaving me clinging to a piece of the wood
which we had brought to make our fire. Meanwhile a breeze had sprung up, and
in the confusion that ensued on board our vessel in hoisting the sails and taking
up those who were in the boat and clinging to its