paid me the
utmost respect. And I quitted not the royal palace.
Now the Island Sarandib lieth under the equinoctial line, its
night and day both numbering twelve hours. It
measureth eighty leagues
long by a
breadth of thirty and its width is bounded by a lofty
mountain and a deep
valley. The mountain is
conspicuous from a
distance of three days, and it containeth many kinds of, rubies and
other minerals, and spice trees of all sorts. The surface is covered
with emery,
wherewith gems are cut and fashioned; diamonds are in
its rivers and pearls are in its
valleys. I ascended that mountain and
solaced myself with a view of its marvels, which are indescribable,
and afterward I returned to the King. Thereupon all the travelers
and merchants who came to the place questioned me of the affairs of my
native land and of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid and his rule, and I told
them of him and of that wherefor he was
renowned, and they praised him
because of this,
whilst I in turn questioned them of the manners and
customs of their own countries and got the knowledge I desired.
One day the King himself asked me of the fashions and form of
government of my country, and I acquainted him with the circumstance
of the Caliph's sway in the city of Baghdad and the justice of his
rule. The King marveled at my
account of his appointments and said:
"By Allah, the Caliph's ordinances are indeed wise and his fashions of
praiseworthy guise, and thou hast made me love him by what thou
tellest me. Wherefore I have a mind to make him a present and send
it by thee." Quoth I: "Hearkening and
obedience, O my lord. I will
bear thy gift to him and inform him that thou art his
sincere lover
and true friend." Then I abode with the King in great honor and regard
and
consideration for a long while till one day, as I sat in his
palace, I heard news of a company of merchants that were
fitting out
ship for Bassorah, and said to myself, "I cannot do better than
voyagewith these men." So I rose without stay or delay and kissed the King's
hand and acquainted him with my
longing to set out with the merchants,
for that I pined after my people and mine own land. Quoth he, "Thou
art thine own master, yet if it be thy will to abide with us, on our
head and eyes be it, for thou gladdenest us with thy company." "By
Allah, O my lord," answered I, "thou hast indeed overwhelmed me with
thy favors and well-doings, but I weary for a sight of my friends
and family and native country."
When he heard this, he summoned the merchants in question and
commended me to their care, paying my
freight and passage money.
Then he bestowed on me great
riches from his treasuries and charged me
with a
magnificent present for the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Moreover,
he gave me a sealed letter,
saying, "Carry this with thine own hand to
the Commander of the Faithful, and give him many salutations from us!"
"Hearing and
obedience," I replied. The missive was written on the
skin of the khawi (which is finer than lamb
parchment and of yellow
color), with ink of ultramarine, and the
contents were as follows:
"Peace be with thee from the King of Al-Hind, before whom are a
thousand elephants and upon whose palace crenelles are a thousand
jewels. But after (laud to the Lord and praises to His Prophet!) we
send thee a
trifling gift, which be thou pleased to accept. Thou art
to us a brother and a
sincere friend, and great is the love we bear
for thee in heart. Favor us
therefore with a reply. The gift besitteth
not thy
dignity, but we beg of thee, O our brother,
graciously to
accept it, and peace be with thee." And the present was a cup of
ruby a span high, the inside of which was adorned with precious
pearls;
and a bed covered with the skin of the
serpent which swalloweth the
elephant, which skin hath spots each like a dinar and whoso sitteth
upon it never sickeneth; and a hundred thousand miskals of Indian lign
aloes and a slave girl like a shining moon.
Then I took leave of him and of all my intimates and acquaintances
in the island, and embarked with the merchants aforesaid. We sailed
with a fair wind, committing ourselves to the care of Allah (be He
extolled and exalted!), and by His
permission arrived at Bassorah,
where I passed a few days and nights equipping myself and packing up
my bales. Then I went on to Baghdad city, the House of Peace, where
I sought an
audience of the Caliph and laid the King's presents before
him. He asked me
whence they came, and I said to him, "By Allah, O
Commander of the Faithful, I know not the name of the city nor the way
thither!" He then asked me, "O Sindbad, is this true which the King
writeth?" and I answered, after kissing the ground: "O my lord, I
saw in his kingdom much more than he hath written in his letter. For
state processions a
throne is set for him upon a huge elephant
eleven cubits high, and upon this he sitteth having his great lords
and officers and guests
standing in two ranks, on his right hand and
on his left. At his head is a man hending in hand a golden
javelin and
behind him another with a great mace of gold whose head is an
emerald a span long and as thick as a man's thumb. And when he
mounteth horse there mount with him a thousand horsemen clad in gold
brocade and silk, and as the King proceedeth a man precedeth him,
crying, 'This is the King of great
dignity, of high authority!' And he
continueth to repeat his praises in words I remember not,
saying at
the end of his panegyric, 'This is the King owning the crown whose
like nor Solomon nor the Mihraj ever possessed.' Then he is silent and
one behind him proclaimeth,
saying, 'He will die! Again I say he
will die!' and the other addeth, 'Extolled be the
perfection of the
Living who dieth not!' Moreover, by reason of his justice and
ordinance and
intelligence, there is no kazi in his city, and all
his lieges
distinguish between truth and falsehood." Quoth the Caliph:
"How great is this King! His letter hath shown me this, and as for the
mightiness of his
dominion thou hast told us what thou hast
eyewitnessed. By Allah, he hath been endowed with
wisdom, as with wide
rule."
Then I
related to the Commander of the Faithful all that had
befallen me in my last
voyage, at which he wondered
exceedingly and
bade his historians record my story and store it up in his treasuries,
for the edification of all who might see it. Then he conferred on me
exceeding great favors, and I repaired to my quarter and entered my
home, where I warehoused all my goods and possessions. Presently my
friends came to me and I distributed presents among my family and gave
alms and largess, after which I yielded myself to joyance and
enjoyment, mirth and merrymaking, and forgot all that I had suffered.
Such, then, O my brothers, is the history of what
befell me in my
sixth
voyage, and tomorrow, Inshallah! I will tell you the story of my
seventh and last
voyage, which is still more
wondrous and marvelous
than that of the first six. (Saith he who telleth the tale): Then be
bade lay the table, and the company supped with him, after which he
gave the
porter a hundred dinars, as of wont, and they all went
their ways, marveling beyond
measure at that which they had heard.
Sindbad the Landsman went home and slept as of wont. Next day he
rose and prayed the dawn prayer and repaired to his namesake's
house, where, after the company was all assembled, the host began to
relate