My fears were not in vain; for after the elephants had stared upon
me some time, one of the largest of them put his trunk round the
foot of the tree, and pulled so strong, that he plucked it up, and
threw it on the ground; I fell with the tree, and the elephant
taking me up with his trunk, laid me on his back, where I sat more
like one dead than alive, with my quiver on my shoulder: he put
himself at the head of the rest, who followed him in troops, and
carried me to a place where he laid me down on the ground, and
retired with all his companions. Conceive, if you can, the condition
I was in: I thought myself to be in a dream; at last, after having
lain some time, and seeing the elephants gone, I got up, and found I
was upon a long and broad hill, covered all over with the bones and
teeth of elephants. I confess to you that this object furnished me
with abundance of reflections. I admired the instinct of those
animals; I doubted not but that was their burying-place, and that
they carried me thither on purpose to tell me that I should forbear
to persecute them, since I did it only for their teeth. I did not
stay on the hill, but turned towards the city, and, after having
travelled a day and a night, I came to my patron; I met no elephant
in my way, which made me think they had retired farther into the
forest, to leave me at liberty to come back to the hill without any
obstacle.
As soon as my patron saw me; Ah, poor Sindbad, said he, I was in
great trouble to know what had become of you. I have been at the
forest, where I found a tree newly pulled up, and a bow and arrows
on the ground, and after having sought for you in vain, I despaired
of ever seeing you more. Pray, tell me what befell you, and by what
good hap thou art still alive. I satisfied his curiosity, and going
both of us next morning to the hill, he found to his great joy that
what I had told him was true. We loaded the elephant upon which we
came with as many teeth as he could carry; and when we were
returned, Brother, said my patron, for I will treat you no more as
my slave, after having made such a discovery as will enrich me, God
bless you with all happiness and prosperity. I declare before him
that I give you your liberty. I concealed from you what I am now
going to tell you.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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