Sindbad, pursuing the story, said to the company, When the captain
heard me speak thus, O heaven! said he, whom can we ever trust
now-a-days? There is no faith left among men. I saw Sindbad perish
with my own eyes, and the passengers on board saw it as well as I;
and yet you tell me you are that Sindbad. What impudence is this! To
look on you, one would take you to be a man of probity; and yet you
tell a horrible falsehood, in order to possess yourself of what does
not belong to you. Have patience, captain, replied I; do me the
favour to hear what I have to say. Very well, said he, speak; I am
ready to hear you. Then I told him how I escaped, and by what
adventure I met with the grooms of king Mihrage, who brought me to
his court.
He began to abate of his confidence upon my discourse, and was soon
persuaded that I was no cheat; for there came people from his ship
who knew me, paid me great compliments, and expressed much joy to
see me alive. At last he knew me himself, and, embracing me, Heaven
be praised, said he, for your happy escape; I cannot enough express
my joy for it. There are your goods; take and do with them what you
will. I thanked him, acknowledged his probity, and, in requital,
offered him part of my goods as a present, which he generously
refused.
I took out what was most valuable in my bales, and presented it to
king Mihrage, who, knowing my misfortune, asked me how I came by
such rarities? I acquainted him with the whole story. He was
mightily pleased at my good luck, accepted my present, and gave me
one much more considerable in return. Upon this, I took leave of
him, and went aboard the same ship, after I had exchanged my goods
for the commodities of that country. I carried with me wood of
aloes, sandal, camphire, nutmegs, cloves, pepper, and ginger. We
passed by several islands, and at last arrived at Balsora, from
whence I came to this city, with the value of 100,000 sequins. [13]
My family and I received one another with all the transports of
sincere friendship. I bought slaves of both sexes, fine lands, and
built me a great house; and thus I settled myself, resolving to
forget the miseries I had suffered, and to enjoy the pleasures of
life.
Sindbad stopped here, and ordered the musicians to go on with their
concerts, which his story had interrupted. The company continued to
eat and drink till the evening, when it was time to retire; when
Sindbad sent for a purse of one hundred sequins, and giving it to
the porter, said, Take this, Hindbad; return to your home, and come
back to-morrow to hear some more of my adventures. The porter went
home, astonished at the honour done him, and the present made him.
The relation of it was very agreeable to his wife and children, who
did not fail to return thanks to God for what providence had sent
him by the hand of Sindbad.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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