Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Arab countries; Folklore -- Arab countries; Tales -- Arab countries
"I got up and looked around me, but could not see one of the merchants
who landed with me. I perceived the ship under sail, but at such a
distance, that I lost sight of her in a short time.
"In this sad condition, I was ready to die with grief. I cried out in
agony, and threw myself upon the ground, where I lay some time in
despair. I upbraided myself a hundred times for not being content with
the produce of my first voyage, that might have sufficed me all my life.
But all this was in vain, and my repentance came too late.
"At last I resigned myself to the will of God. Not knowing what to do, I
climbed up to the top of a lofty tree, from whence I looked about on all
sides, to see if I could discover anything that could give me hopes.
When I gazed toward the sea I could see nothing but sky and water; but
looking over the land I beheld something white; and coming down, I took
what provision I had left, and went toward it, the distance being so
great that I could not distinguish what it was.
"As I approached, I thought it to be a white dome, of a prodigious
height and extent; and when I came up to it, I touched it, and found it
to be very smooth. I went round to see if it was open on any side, but
saw that it was not, and that there was no climbing up to the top, as it
was so smooth. It was at least fifty paces round.
"By this time the sun was about to set, and all of a sudden the sky
became as dark as if it had been covered with a thick cloud. I was much
astonished at this sudden darkness, but much more when I found it
occasioned by a bird of a monstrous size, that came flying toward me. I
remembered that I had often heard mariners speak of a miraculous bird
called the roc, and conceived that the great dome which I so much
admired must be its egg. As I perceived the roc coming, I crept close to
the egg, so that I had before me one of the bird's legs, which was as
big as the trunk of a tree. I tied myself strongly to it with my turban,
in hopes that next morning she would carry me with her out of this
desert island. After having passed the night in this condition, the bird
flew away as soon as it was daylight, and carried me so high, that I
could not discern the earth; she afterward descended with so much
rapidity that I lost my senses. But when I found myself on the ground, I
speedily untied the knot, and had scarcely done so, when the roc, having
taken up a serpent of a monstrous length in her bill, flew away.
"The spot where she left me was encompassed on all sides by mountains,
that seemed to reach above the clouds, and so steep that there was no
possibility of getting out of the valley. This was a new perplexity: so
that when I compared this place with the desert island from which the
roc had brought me I found that I had gained nothing by the change.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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