you will take care to sell them, and you shall have factorage. I
thanked him that he gave me an opportunity to employ myself, because
I hated to be idle.
The clerk of the ship took an account of all the bales, with the
names of the merchants to whom they belonged: and when he asked the
captain in whose name he should enter those he gave me the charge
of, Enter them, said the captain, in the name of Sindbad the sailor.
I could not hear myself named without some emotion; and looking
steadfastly at the captain, I knew him to be the person who, in my
second voyage, had left me in the island where I fell asleep by a
brook, and set sail without me, or sending to see for me: but I
could not remember him at first, he was so much altered since I saw
him.
And as for him, who believed me to be dead, I could not wonder at
his not knowing me. But, captain, said I, was the merchant’s name
to whom these bales belonged, Sindbad? --Yes, replied he, that was
his name; he came from Bagdad, and embarked on board my ship at
Balsora. One day, when we landed at an island to take in water and
other refreshments, I know not by what mistake, I set sail without
observing that he did not re-embark with us; neither I nor the
merchants perceived it till four hours after. We had the wind in our
stern, and so fresh a gale, that it was not then possible for us to
tack about for him. --You believe him then to be dead? said I.
--Certainly, answered he. --No, captain, said I; look upon me, and
you may know that I am Sindbad, whom you left in that desert island.
I fell asleep by a brook, and when I awaked, I found all the company
gone. At these words the captain looked steadfastly upon me. --Here
Scheherazade perceiving day, broke off her story, and next day
resumed it thus:
SEVENTY-EIGHTH NIGHT.
The captain, continued Sindbad, having considered me attentively,
knew me at last, embraced me, and said, God be praised that fortune
has supplied my defect. There are your goods, which I always took
care to preserve, and to make the best of them at every port where I
touched. I restore them to you, with the profit I have made of them.
I took them from him, and at the same time acknowledged how much I
owed to him.
From the isle of Salabat we went to another, where I furnished
myself with cloves, cinnamon, and other spices. As we sailed from
that island we saw a tortoise that was twenty cubits in length and
breadth. [23] We observed also a fish which looked like a cow, and
gave milk, [24] and its skin is so hard that they usually make
bucklers of it. I saw another which had the shape and colour of a
camel. [25] in short, after a long voyage, I arrived at Balsora, and
from thence returned to the city of Bagdad, with so much riches that
I knew not what I had. I gave a great deal to the poor, and bought
another great estate in addition to what I had already.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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