FIRST VOYAGE OF SINDBAD HIGHT THE SEAMAN

MY father was a merchant, one of the notables of my native place,
a moneyed man and ample of means, who died whilst I was yet a child,

leaving me much wealth in money and lands and farmhouses. When I
grew up, I laid hands on the whole and ate of the best and drank

freely and wore rich clothes and lived lavishly, companioning and
consorting with youths of my own age, and considering that this course

of life would continue forever and ken no change. Thus did I for a
long time, but at last I awoke from my heedlessness and, returning

to my senses, I found my wealth had become unwealth and my condition
ill-conditioned, and all I once hent had left my hand. And

recovering my reason, I was stricken with dismay and confusion and
bethought me of a saying of our lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be

peace!), which I had heard aforetime from my father: things are better
than other three. The day of death is better than the day of birth,

a live dog is better than a dead lion, and the grave is better than
want." Then I got together my remains of estates and property and sold

all, even my clothes, for three thousand dirhams, with which I
resolved to travel to foreign parts, remembering the saying of the

poet:
By means of toil man shall scale the height,

Who to fame aspires mustn't sleep o' night.
Who seeketh pearl in the deep must dive,

Winning weal and wealth by his main and might.
And who seeketh Fame without toil and strife

Th' impossible seeketh and wasteth life.
So, taking heart, I bought me goods, merchandise and all needed

for a voyage, and impatient to be at sea, I embarked, with a company
of merchants, on board a ship bound for Bassorah. There we again

embarked and sailed many days and nights, and we passed from isle to
isle and sea to sea and shore to shore, buying and selling and

bartering everywhere the ship touched, and continued our course till
we came to an island as it were a garth of the gardens of Paradise.

Here the captain cast anchor and, making fast to the shore, put out
the landing planks. So all on board landed and made furnaces, and

lighting fires therein, busied themselves in various ways, some
cooking and some washing, whilst other some walked about the island

for solace, and the crew fell to eating and drinking and playing and
sporting. I was one of the walkers, but as we were thus engaged,

behold the master, who was standing on the gunwale, cried out to us at
the top of his voice, saying: "Ho there! Passengers, run for your

lives and hasten back to the ship and leave your gear and save
yourselves from destruction, Allah preserve you!. For this island

whereon ye stand is no true island, but a great fish stationary
a-middlemost of the sea, whereon the sand hath settled and trees

have sprung up of old time, so that it is become like unto an
island. But when ye lighted fires on it, it felt the heat and moved,

and in a moment it will sink with you into the sea and ye will all
be drowned. So leave your gear and seek your safety ere ye die!"

All who heard him left gear and goods, clothes washed and
unwashed, fire pots and brass cooking pots, and fled back to the

ship for their lives, and some reached it while others (amongst whom
was I) did not, for suddenly the island shook and sank into the

abysses of the deep, with all that were thereon, and the dashing sea
surged over it with clashing waves. I sank with the others down,

down into the deep, but Almighty Allah preserved me from drowning
and threw in my way a great wooden tub of those that had served the

ship's company for tubbing. I gripped it for the sweetness of life
and, bestriding it like one riding, paddled with my feet like oars,

whilst the waves tossed me as in sport right and left. Meanwhile the
captain made sail and departed with those who had reached the ship,

regardless of the drowning and the drowned. And I ceased not following
the vessel with my eyes till she was hid from sight and I made sure of

death.
Darkness closed in upon me while in this plight, and the winds and

waves bore me on all that night and the next day, till the tub brought
to with me under the lee of a lofty island with trees overhanging

the tide. I caught hold of a branch and by its aid clambered up onto
the land, after coming nigh upon death. But when I reached the

shore, I found my legs cramped and numbed and my feet bore traces of
the nibbling of fish upon their soles, withal I had felt nothing for

excess of anguish and fatigue. I threw myself down on the island
ground like a dead man, and drowned in desolation, swooned away, nor

did I return to my senses till next morning, when the sun rose and
revived me. But I found my feet swollen, so made shift to move by

shuffling on my breech and crawling on my knees, for in that island
were found store of fruits and springs of sweet water. I ate of the

fruits, which strengthened me. And thus I abode days and nights till
my life seemed to return and my spirits began to revive and I was

better able to move about. So, after due consideration, I fell to
exploring the island and diverting myself with gazing upon all

things that Allah Almighty had created there, and rested under the
trees, from one of which I cut me a staff to lean upon.

One day as I walked along the marge I caught sight of some object in
the distance and thought it a wild beast or one of the monster

creatures of the sea, but as I drew near it, looking hard the while,
saw that it was a noble mare, tethered on the beach. Presently I

went up to her, but she cried out against me with a great cry, so that
I trembled for fear and turned to go away, when there came forth man

from under the earth and followed me, crying out and saying, "Who
and whence art thou, and what caused thee to come hither?" "O my

lord," answered I, "I am in very sooth a waif, a stranger, and was
left to drown with sundry others by the ship we voyaged in. But

Allah graciously sent me a wodden tub, so I saved myself thereon and
it floated with me, till the waves cast me up on this island." When he

heard this, he took my hand and saying, "Come with me," carried me
into a great sardab, or undergroundchamber, which was spacious as a

saloon.
He made me sit down at its upper end, then he brought me somewhat of

food and, being a-hungered, I ate till I was satisfied and
refreshed. And when he had put me at mine ease, he questioned me of

myself, and I told him all that had befallen me from first to last.
And as he wondered at my adventure, I said: "By Allah, O my lord,

excuse me, I have told thee the truth of my case and the accident
which betided me, and now I desire that thou tell me who thou art

and why thou abidest here under the earth and why thou hast tethered
yonder mare on the brink of the sea." Answered he: "Know that I am one

of the several who are, stationed in different parts of this island,
and we are of the grooms of King Mihrjan, and under our hand are all

his horses. Every month about new-moon tide we bring hither our best
mares which have never been covered, and picket them on the seashore

and hide ourselves in this place under the ground, so that none may
espy us. Presently the stallions of the sea scent the mares and come

up out of the water and, seeing no one, leap the mares and do their
will of them. When they have covered them, they try to drag them

away with them, but cannot, by reason of the leg ropes. So they cry
out at them and butt at them and kick them, which we hearing, know

that the stallions have dismounted, so we run out and shout at them,
whereupon they are startled and return in fear to the sea. Then the

mares conceive by them and bear colts and fillies worth a mint of
money, nor is their like to be found on earth's face.

This is the time of the coming forth of the sea stallions, and
Inshallah! I will bear thee to King Mihrjan and show thee our country.

And know that hadst thou not happened on us, thou hadst perished
miserably and none had known of thee. But I will be the means of the

saving of thy life and of thy return to thine own land." I called down
blessings on him and thanked him for his kindness and courtesy. And

while we were yet talking, behold, the stallion came up out of the
sea, and giving a great cry, sprang upon the mare and covered her.

When he had done his will of her, he dismounted and would have carried
her away with him, but could not by reason of the tether. She kicked

and cried out at him, whereupon the groom took a sword and target