The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01Anonymous
General
The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01
Anonymous
Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Folklore -- Arab countries
was carried, (for every merchant had his own,) to take as many
for his share as he pleased: He contented himself with one, and
that too the least of them; and when I pressed him to take more
without fear of doing me any injury, No, says he, I am very well
satisfied with this, which is valuable enough to save me the
trouble of making any more voyages, and to raise as great a
fortune as I desire.
I spent the night with these merchants, to whom I told my story a
second time, for the satisfaction of those who had not heard it.
I could not moderate my joy, when I found myself delivered from
the danger I have mentioned; I thought myself to be in a dream,
and could scarcely believe myself to be out of danger. The
merchants had thrown their pieces of meat into the valley for
several days; and each of them being satisfied with the diamonds
that had fallen to his lot, we left the place next morning all
together, and travelled near high mountains, where there were
serpents of a prodigious length, which we had the good fortune to
escape. We took the first port, and came to the isle of Ropha,
where trees grow that yield camphire. This tree is so large, and
its branches so thick, that a hundred men may easily sit under
its shade. The juice, of which the camphire is made, runs out
from a hole bored in the upper part of the tree, is received in a
vessel, where it grows to a consistency, and becomes what we call
camphire; and the juice being thus drawn out, the tree withers
and dies. There is here also the rhinoceros, a creature less than
the elephant, but greater than the buffalo: it has a horn upon
its nose about a cubit long; which is solid, and cleft in the
middle from one end to the other, and there are upon it white
draughts, representing the figure of a man. The rhinoceros fights
with the elephant, runs his horn into his belly, and carries him
off upon his head; but the blood and the fat of the elephant
running into his eyes, and making him blind, he falls to the
ground; and, what is astonishing, the roc comes and carries them
both away in her claws, to be meat for her young ones.
I pass over many other things peculiar to this island, lest I
should be troublesome to you. Here I exchanged some of my
diamonds for good merchandise. From thence we went to other
isles; and at last, having traded at several trading towns off
the firm land, we lauded at Balsora, from whence I went to
Bagdad. There I immediately gave great alms to the poor, and
lived honourably upon the vast riches I had brought, and gained
with so much fatigue. Thus Sindbad ended the story of his second
voyage, gave Hindbad another hundred sequins, and invited him to
come next day to hear the story of the third. The rest of the
guests returned to their homes, and came again the next day
at--the same hour; and certainly the porter did not fail, having
almost forgotten his former poverty. When dinner was over,
Sindbad demanded attention, and gave them the following account
of his third voyage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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