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
At last, on the morning of the sixth day, we espied land at a short
distance, and thanked Allah and his Prophet for our wonderful
deliverance. This day and the following night we sailed along the
coast, and on the seventh morning thought we discovered a city at no
great distance: with a good deal of trouble we cast an anchor into the
sea, which soon reached the bottom; then launching a boat which stood
upon the deck, we rowed with all our might towards the city. After
half an hour we ran into a river that emptied into the sea, and
stepped ashore. At the gate we inquired what the place was called, and
learned that it was an Indian city, not far from the region to which
at first I had intended to sail. We repaired to a Caravansery, and
refreshed ourselves after our adventurous sail. I there inquired for a
wise and intelligent man, at the same time giving the landlord to
understand that I would like to have one tolerably conversant with
magic. He conducted me to an unsightly house in a remote street,
knocked thereat, and one let me in with the injunction that I should
ask only for Muley.
In the house, came to me a little old man with grizzled beard and a
long nose, to demand my business. I told him I was in search of the
wise Muley; he answered me that he was the man. I then asked his
advice as to what I should do to the dead bodies, and how I must
handle them in order to remove them from the ship.
He answered me that the people of the ship were probably enchanted on
account of a crime somewhere upon the sea: he thought the spell would
be dissolved by bringing them to land, but this could be done only by
taking up the planks on which they lay. In the sight of God and
justice, he said that the ship, together with all the goods, belonged
to me, since I had, as it were, found it; and, if I would keep it very
secret, and make him a small present out of my abundance, he would
assist me with his slaves to remove the bodies. I promised to reward
him richly, and we set out on our expedition with five slaves, who
were supplied with saws and hatchets. On the way, the magician Muley
could not sufficiently praise our happy expedient of binding the
sails around with the sentences from the Koran. He said this was the
only means, by which we could have saved ourselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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