The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01Anonymous
General
The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01
Anonymous
Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Folklore -- Arab countries
From the isle of Salabat we went to another, where I furnished
myself with cloves, cinnamon, and other spices. As we sailed from
the island, we saw a tortoise that was twenty cubits in length
and breadth. We observed also a fish which looked like a crow,
and gave milk, 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. In short, after a long voyage, I arrived at Balsora, and
from thence returned to this city of Bagdad, with so great
riches, that I knew not what I had. I gave a great deal to the
poor, and added another great estate to those I had already.
Thus Sindbad finished the history of his third voyage; gave
another hundred sequins to Hindbad, and invited him to dinner
next day, to hear the history of his fourth voyage. Hindbad and
the company retired: and next day when they returned, Sindbad,
after dinner, continued the relation of his adventures.
The Fourth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor.
The pleasure, says he, and the divertisements I took after my
third voyage, had not charms enough to divert me from another. I
was again prevailed upon by my passion for traffic, and curiosity
to see new things. I therefore put my affairs in order, and
having provided a stock of goods fit for the places I designed to
trade, I set out on my journey. I took the way of Persia, of
which I travelled several provinces, and then arrived at a port,
where I embarked. We set sail, and having touched at several
ports of Terra Firma, and some of the eastern islands, we put out
to sea, and were seized by such a sudden gust of wind, as obliged
the captain to furl his sails, and to take all other necessary
precautions, to prevent the danger that threatened us; but all
was in vain; our endeavours took no effect; the sails were torn
in a thousand pieces, and the ship was stranded, so that a great
many of the merchants and seamen were drowned, and the cargo
lost. I had the good fortune, with several of the merchants and
mariners, to get a plank, and we were carried by the current to
an island which lay before us. There we found fruit and fountain
water, which preserved our lives. We staid all night near the
place where the sea cast us ashore, without consulting what we
should do, our misfortune having dispirited us so much.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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