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Stories Of Es-SindibadSixth Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea
Sixth Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea
Know, O my brothers and my friends and my companions, that when I
returned from that fifth voyage, and forgot what I had suffered, by reason of
sport and merriment and enjoyment and gayety, and was in a state of the utmost
joy and happiness, I continued thus until I was sitting one day in exceeding
delight and happiness and gayety; and while I sat, lo, a party of merchants
came to me, bearing the marks of travel. And upon this I remembered the days
of my return from travel, and my joy at meeting my family and companions and
friends, and at entering my country; and my soul longed again for travel and
commerce. So I determined to set forth. I bought for myself precious,
sumptuous goods, suitable for the sea, packed up my bales, and went from the
city of Baghdad to the city of El-Basrah, where I beheld a large vessel, in
which were merchants and great men, and with them were precious goods. In
therefore embarked my bales them in this ship, and we departed in safety from
the city of El-Basrah. We continued our voyage from place to place and from
city to city, selling and buying, and diverting ourselves with viewing
different countries. Fortune and the voyage were pleasant to us, and we gained
our subsistence, until we were proceeding one day, and, lo, the master of the
ship vociferated and called out, threw down his turban, slapped his face,
plucked his beard, and fell down in the hold of the ship by reason of the
violence of his grief and rage. So all the merchants and other passengers came
together to him and said to him, O master, what is the matter? And he answered
them, Know, O company, that we have wandered from our course, having passed
forth from the sea in which we were, and entered a sea of which we know not
the routes; and if God appoint not for us some means of effecting our escape
from this sea, we all perish: therefore pray to God (whose name be exalted!)
that He may save us from this case. Then the master arose and ascended the
mast, and desired to loose the sails; but the wind became violent upon the
ship, and drove her back, and her rudder broke near a lofty mountain;
whereupon the master descended from the mast, and said, There is no strength
nor power but in God, the High, the Great! No one is able to prevent what is
predestined! By Allah, we have fallen into a great peril, and there remaineth
to us no way of safety or escape from it! - So all the passengers wept for
themselves: they bade one another farewell, because of the expiration of their
lives, and their hope was cut off. The vessel drove upon that mountain, and
went to pieces; its planks were scattered, and all that was in it was
submerged; the merchants fell into the sea, and some of them were drowned, and
some caught hold upon that mountain, and landed upon it.
I was of the number of those who landed upon the mountain; and, lo,
within it was a large island. By it were many vessels broken in pieces, and
upon it were numerous goods, on the shore of the sea, of the things thrown up
by the sea from the ships that had been wrecked, and the passengers of which
had been drowned. Upon it was an abundance, that confounded the reason and the
mind, of commodities and wealth that the sea cast upon its shores. I ascended
to the upper part of the island, and walked about it, and I beheld in the
midst of it a stream of sweet water, flowing forth from beneath the nearest
part of the mountain, and entering at the furthest part of it, on the opposite
side [of the valley]. Then all the other passengers went over that mountain to
[the interior of] the island, and dispersed themselves about it, and their
reason was confounded at that which they beheld. They became like madmen in
consequence of what they saw upon the island, of commodities and wealth lying
on the shore of the sea. I beheld also in the midst of the above-mentioned
stream an abundance of various kinds of jewels and minerals, with jacinths and
large pearls, suitable to Kings. They were like gravel in the channels of the
water which flowed through the fields; and all the bed of that stream
glittered by reason of the great number of minerals and other things that it
contained. We likewise saw on that island an abundance of the best kind of
Sanfi aloEs-wood, and Kamari aloEs-wood. And in that island is a gushing
spring of crude ambergris, which floweth like wax over the side of that spring
through the violence of the heat of the sun, and spreadeth upon the sea -
shore, and the monsters of the deep come up from the sea and swallow it, and
descend with it into the sea; but it becometh hot in their stomachs, therefore
they eject it from their mouths into the sea, and it congealeth on the surface
of the water. Upon this, its colour and its qualities become changed, and the
waves cast it up on the shore of the sea: so the travellers and merchants who
know it take it and smell it. But as to the crude ambergris that is not
swallowed, it floweth over the side of that mountain, and congealeth upon the
ground; and when the sun shineth upon it, it melteth, and from it the odour of
the whole of that valley becometh like the odour of musk. Then, when the sun
withdraweth from it, it congealeth again. The place wherein is this crude
ambergris no one can enter: no one can gain access to it: for the mountain
surroundeth that island.
We continued to wander about the island, diverting ourselves with the
view of the good things which God (whose name be exalted!) had created upon
it, and perplexed at our case, and at the things that we beheld, and affected
with violent fear. We had collected upon the shore of the sea a small quantity
of provisions, and we used it sparingly, eating of it every day, or two days,
only one meal, dreading the exhaustion of our stock, and our dying in sorrow,
from the violence of hunger and fear. Each one of us that died we washed, and
shrouded in some of the clothes and linen which the sea cast upon the shore of
the island; and thus we did until a great number of us had died, and there
remained of us but a small party, who were weakened by a colic occasioned by
the sea. After this, we remained a short period, and all my associates and
companion died, one after another, and each of them who died we buried. Then I
was alone on that island, and there remained with me but little of the
provisions, after there had been much. So I wept for myself, and said, Would
that I had died before my companions, and that they had washed me and buried
me! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! - And I
remained a short time longer; after which I arose and dug for myself a deep
grave on the shore of the island, and said within myself, When I fall sick,
and know that death hath come to me, I will lie down in this grave, and die in
it, and the wind will blow the sand upon me, and cover me; so I shall become
buried in it. I blamed myself for my little sense, and my going forth from my
country and my city, and my voyaging to foreign countries, after what I had
suffered in the first instance, and the second and the third and the fourth
and the fifth; and when I had not performed one of my voyages without
suffering in it horrors and distresses more troublesome and more difficult
than the horrors preceding. I believed not that I could escape and save
myself, and repented of undertaking sea-voyages, and of my returning to this
life when I was not in want of wealth, but had abundance, so that I could not
consume what I had, nor spend half of it during the rest of my life; having
enough for me, and more than enough.
Then I meditated in my mind, and said, This river must have a beginning
and an end, and it must have a place of egress into an inhabited coundry. The
right plan in my opinion will be for me to construct for myself a small raft,
of sufficient size for me to sit upon it, and I will go down and cast it upon
this river, and depart on it. If I find safety, I am safe, and escape, by
permission of God (whose name be exalted!); and if I find no way of saving
myself, it will be better for me to die in this river than in this place. -
And I sighed for myself. Then I arose and went and collected pieces of wood
that were upon that island, of Sanfi and Kamari aloEs-wood, and bound them
upon the shore of the sea with some of the ropes of the ships that had been
wrecked; and I brought some straight planks, of the planks of the ships, and
placed them upon those pieces of wood. I made the raft to suit the width of
the river, less wide than the latter, and bound it well and firmly; and having
taken with me some of those minerals and jewels and goods, and of the large
pearls that were like gravel, as well as other things that were upon the
island, and some of the crude, pure, excellent ambergris, I put them upon that
raft, with all that I had collected upon the island, and took with me what
remained of the provisions. I then launched the raft upon the river, made for
it two pieces of wood like oars, and acted in accordance with the following
saying of one of the poets: -
Depart from a place wherein is oppression, and leave the house to tell its
builder`s fate;
For thou wilt find, for the land that thou quittest, another; but no soul
wilt thou find to replace thine own.
Grieve not on account of nocturnal calamities; since every affliction will
have its end;
And he whose death is decreed to take place in one land will not die in any
land but that.
Send not thy messenger on an errand of importance; for the soul hath no
faithful minister save itself.
I departed upon the raft along the river, meditating upon what might be the
result of my case, and proceeded to the place where the river entered beneath
the mountain. I propelled the raft into that place, and became in intense
darkness within it, and the raft continued to carry me in with the current to
a narrow place beneath the mountain, where the sides of the raft rubbed
against the sides of the channel of the river, and my head rubbed against the
roof of the channel. I was unable to return thence, and I blamed myself for
that which I had done, and said, If this place become narrower to the raft, it
will scarcely pass through it, and it cannot return: so I shall perish in this
place in sorrow, inevitably! I threw myself upon my face on the raft, on
account of the narrowness of the channel of the river, and ceased not to
proceed, without knowing night from day, by reason of the darkness in which I
was involved beneath that mountain, together with my terror and fear for
myself lest I should perish. In this state I continued my course along the
river, which sometimes widened and at other times contracted; but the
intensity of the darkness wearied me excessively, and slumber overcame me in
consequence of the violence of my distress. So I lay upon my face on the raft,
which ceased not to bear me along while I slept, and knew not whether the time
was long or short.
At length I awoke, and found myself in the light; and, opening my eyes, I
beheld an extensive tract, and the raft tied to the shore of an island, and
around me a company of Indians, and [people like] Abyssinians. When they saw
that I had risen, they rose and came to me, and spoke to me in their language;
but I knew not what they said, and imagined that it was a dream, and that this
occurred in sleep, by reason of the violence of my distress and vexation. And
when they spoke to me and I understood not their speech, and returned them not
an answer, a man among them advanced to me, and said to me, in the Arabic
language, Peace be on thee, O our brother! What art thou, and whence hast thou
come, and what is the cause of thy coming to this place? We are people of the
sown lands and the fields, and we came to irrigate our fields and our sown
lands, and found thee asleep on the raft: so we laid hold upon it, and tied it
here by us, waiting for thee to rise at thy leisure. Tell us then what is the
cause of thy coming to this place. - I replied, I conjure thee by Allah, O my
master, that thou bring me some food; for I am hungry; and after that, ask of
me concerning what thou wilt. And thereupon he hastened, and brought me food,
and I ate until I was satiated and was at ease, and my fear subsided, my
satiety was abundant, and my soul returned to me. I therefore praised God
(whose name be exalted!) for all that had occurred, rejoiced at my having
passed forth from that river, and having come to these people; and I told them
of all that had happened to me from beginning to end, and of what I had
experienced upon that river, and of its narrowness. They then talked together,
and said, We must take him with us and present him to our King, that he may
acquaint him with what hath happened to him. Accordingly they took me with
them, and conveyed with me the raft, together with all that was upon it, of
riches and goods, and jewels and minerals, and ornaments of gold, and they
took me in to their King, who was the King of Sarandib,^6 and acquainted him
with what had happened; whereupon he saluted me and welcomed me, and asked me
respecting my state, and respecting the events that had happened to me. I
therefore acquainted him with all my story, and what I had experienced, from
the first to last; and the King wondered at this narrative extremely, and
congratulated me on my safety. Then I arose and took forth from the raft a
quantity of the minerals and jewels, and aloEs-wood and crude ambergris, and
gave it to the King; and he accepted it from me, and treated me with exceeding
honour, lodging me in a place in his abode. I associated with the best and the
greatest of the people, who paid me great respect, and I quitted not the abode
of the King.
[Footnote 6: Ceylon.]
The island of Sarandib is under the equinoctial line; its night being
always twelve hours, and its day also twelve hours. Its length is eighty
leagues; and its breadth, thirty; and it extendeth largely between a lofty
mountain and a deep valley. This mountain is seen from a distance of three
days, and it containeth varieties of jacinths, and different kinds of
minerals, and trees of all sorts of spices, and its surface is covered with
emery, wherewith jewels are cut into shape: in its rivers also are diamonds,
and pearls are in its valleys. I ascended to the summit of the mountain, and
diverted myself with a view of its wonders, which are not to be described; and
afterwards I went back to the King, and begged him to give me permission to
return to my country. He gave me permission after great pressing, and bestowed
upon me an abundant present from his treasuries; and he gave me a present and
a sealed letter, saying to me, Convey these to the Khalifeh Harun Er-Rashid,
and give him many salutations from us. So I replied, I hear and obey. The
wrote for me a letter on skin of the khawi, which is finer than parchment, of
yellowish colour; and the writing was in ultramarine. And the form of what he
wrote to the Khalifeh was this: - Peace be on thee, from the King of India,
before whom are a thousand elephants, and on the battlements of whose palace
are a thousand jewels. To proceed: we have sent to thee a trifling present:
accept it then from us. Thou art to us a brother and sincere friend, and the
affection for you that is in our hearts is great: therefore favour us by a
reply. The present is not suited to thy dignity; but we beg of thee, O
brother, to accept it graciously. And peace be on thee! - And the present was
a cup of ruby, a span high, the inside of which was embellished with precious
pearls; and a bed covered with the skin of the serpent that swalloweth the
elephant, which skin hath spots, each like a piece of gold, and whosoever
sitteth upon it never becometh diseased, and a hundred thousand mithkals of
Indian aloEs-wood; and a slave-girl like the shining full moon. Then he
bade me farewell, and gave a charge respecting me to the merchants and the
master of the ship.
So I departed thence, and we continued our voyage from island to island
and from country to country until we arrived at Baghdad, whereupon I entered
my house, and met my family and my brethren; after which I took the present,
with a token of service from myself for the Khalifeh. On entering his
presence, I kissed his hand, and placed before him the whole, giving him the
letter; and he read it, and took the present, with which he was greatly
rejoiced, and he treated me with the utmost honour. He then said to me, O
Sindibad, is that true which this King hath stated in his letter? And I kissed
the ground, and answered, O my lord, I witnessed in his kingdom much more than
he hath mentioned in his letter. On the day of his public appearance, a throne
is set for him upon a huge elephant, eleven cubits high, and he sitteth upon
it, having with him his chief officers and pages and guests, standing in two
ranks, on his right and on his left. At his head standeth a man having in his
hand a golden javelin, and behind him a man in whose hand is a great mace of
gold, at the top of which is an emerald a span in length, and of the thickness
of a thumb. And when he mounteth, there mount at the same time with him a
thousand horsemen clad in gold and silk; and as the King proceedeth, a man
before him proclaimeth, saying, This is the King of great dignity, of high
authority! And he proceedeth to repeat his praises in terms that I remember
not, at the end of his panegyric saying, This is the King the owner of the
crown the like of which neither Suleyman nor the Mihraj possessed! Then he is
silent; and one behind him proclaimeth, saying, He will die! Again I say, He
will die! Again I say, He will die! - And the other saith, Extolled be the
perfection of the Living who dieth not! - Moreover, by reason of his justice
and good government and intelligence, there is no Kadi in his city; and all
the people of his country distinguish the truth from falsity. - And the
Khalifeh wondered at my words, and said, How great is this King! His letter
hath shewn me this; and as to the greatness of his dominion, thou hast told us
what thou hast witnessed. By Allah, he hath been endowed with wisdom and
dominion! - Then the Khalifeh conferred favours upon me, and commanded me to
depart to my abode. So I came to my house, and gave the legal and other alms,
and continued to live in the same pleasant circumstances as at present. I
forgot the arduous troubles that I had experienced, discarded from my heart
the anxieties of travel, rejected from my mind distress, and betook myself to
eating and drinking, and pleasures and joy.
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