The oriental story book : $b a collection of talesHauff, Wilhelm
General
The oriental story book : $b a collection of tales
Hauff, Wilhelm
Caravans -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories, German -- Translations into English; Fairy tales
We refreshed ourselves with the meats and drink, which we found in
rich profusion, and at last ascended upon deck. But here again we
shivered at the awful sight of the bodies. We determined to free
ourselves therefrom, by throwing them overboard; but how were we
startled to find, that no one could move them from their places! So
firmly were they fastened to the floor, that to remove them one would
have had to take up the planks of the deck, for which tools were
wanting to us. The Captain, moreover, could not be loosened from the
mast, nor could we even wrest the sabre from his rigid hand. We passed
the day in sorrowful reflection on our condition; and, when night
began to draw near, I gave permission to the old Ibrahim to lie down
to sleep, while I would watch upon the deck, to look out for means of
deliverance. When, however, the moon shone forth, and by the stars I
calculated that it was about the eleventh hour, sleep so irresistibly
overpowered me that I fell back, involuntarily, behind a cask which
stood upon the deck. It was rather lethargy than sleep, for I plainly
heard the sea beat against the side of the vessel, and the sails creak
and whistle in the wind. All at once I thought I heard voices, and the
steps of men upon the deck. I wished to arise and see what it was, but
a strange power fettered my limbs, and I could not once open my eyes.
But still more distinct became the voices; it appeared to me as if a
merry crew were moving around upon the deck. In the midst of this I
thought I distinguished the powerful voice of a commander, followed by
the noise of ropes and sails. Gradually my senses left me; I fell into
a deep slumber, in which I still seemed to hear the din of weapons,
and awoke only when the sun was high in the heavens, and sent down his
burning rays upon my face. Full of wonder, I gazed about me; storm,
ship, the bodies, and all that I had heard in the night, recurred to
me as a dream; but when I looked around, I found all as it had been
the day before. Immoveable lay the bodies, immoveably was the Captain
fastened to the mast; I laughed at my dream, and proceeded in search
of my old companion.
The latter was seated in sorrowful meditation in the cabin. "O
master," he exclaimed as I entered, "rather would I lie in the deepest
bottom of the sea, than pass another night in this enchanted ship." I
asked him the reason of his grief, and thus he answered me:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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