When we saw this, we made no delay, but got immediately upon our
floats, and rowed off from the shore. The giants, who perceived
this, took up great stones, and running to the shore, entered the
water up to the middle, and threw so exactly, that they sunk all the
floats but that I was upon, and all my companions, except the two
with me, were drowned. We rowed with all our might, and got out of
the reach of the giants: but when we got out to sea, we were exposed
to the mercy of the waves and winds, and tossed about, sometimes on
one side, and sometimes on another, and spent that night and the
following day under a cruel uncertainty as to our fate; but next
morning we had the good luck to be thrown upon an island, where we
landed with much joy. We found excellent fruit there, that gave us
great relief, so that we pretty well recovered our strength.
In the evening we fell asleep on the bank of the sea, but were
awaked by the noise of a serpent as long as a palm tree, whose
scales made a rustling as he crept along. He swallowed up one of my
comrades, notwithstanding his loud cries, and the efforts he made to
rid himself of the serpent; which, shaking him several times against
the ground, crushed him; and we could hear him gnaw and tear the
poor wretch’s bones, when we had fled a great distance from him.
Next day we saw the serpent again, to our great terror; when I cried
out, O Heaven, to what dangers are we exposed! We rejoiced yesterday
at our having escaped from the cruelty of a giant and the rage of
the waves, and now are we fallen into another danger altogether as
terrible.
As we walked about we saw a large tall tree, upon which we designed
to pass the following night, for our security; and having satisfied
our hunger, we mounted it accordingly. A little while after the
serpent came hissing to the root of the tree, raised itself up
against the trunk of it, and meeting with my comrade, who sat lower
than I, swallowed him at once, and went off.
I staid upon the tree till it was day, and then came down, more like
a dead man than one alive, expecting the same fate with my two
companions. This filled me with horror, so that I was going to throw
myself into the sea; but nature prompting us to a desire to live as
long as we can, I withstood this temptation to despair, and
submitted myself to the will of God, who disposes of our lives at
his pleasure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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