The Seventh And Last Voyage Of Sinbad The Sailor [Fairy Tales From The Arabian Nights]
Being returned from my sixth voyage, I absolutely laid aside all thoughts of travelling any farther; for, besides that my years now required rest, I was resolved no more to expose myself to such risk as I had run; so that I thought of nothing but to pass the rest of my days in quiet. One day, as I was treating some of my friends, one of my servants came and told me that an officer of the caliph asked for me. I rose from the table, and went to him. 'The caliph,' said he, 'has sent me to tell you that he must speak with you.' I followed the officer to the palace, where, being presented to the caliph, I saluted him by prostrating myself at his feet. 'Sinbad,' said he to me, 'I stand in need of you; you must do me the service to carry my answer and present to the King of Serendib. It is but just I should return his civility.'
This
command of the caliph to me was like a clap of thunder. 'Commander of the Faithful,'
replied I, 'I am ready to do whatever your majesty shall think fit to command
me; but I beseech you most humbly to consider what I have undergone. I have
also made a vow never to go out of Bagdad.' Here I took occasion to give him a
large and particular account of all my adventures, which he had the patience to
hear out.
As
soon as I had finished, 'I confess,' said he, 'that the things you tell me are
very extraordinary, yet you must for my sake undertake this voyage which I
propose to you.
You have nothing to do but to go to the Isle of Serendib, and deliver the
commission which I give you. After that you are at liberty to return. But you
must go; for you know it would be indecent, and not suitable to my dignity, to
be indebted to the king of that island.' Perceiving that the caliph insisted
upon it, I submitted, and told him that I was willing to obey. He was very well
pleased at it, and ordered me a thousand sequins for the expense of my journey.
I
prepared for my departure in a few days, and as soon as the caliph's letter and
present were delivered to me, I went to Balsora, where I embarked, and had a
very happy voyage. I arrived at the Isle of Serendib, where I acquainted the
king's ministers with my commission, and prayed them to get me speedy audience.
They did so, and I was conducted to the palace in an honourable manner, where I
saluted the king by prostration, according to custom. That prince knew me
immediately, and testified very great joy to see me. 'O Sinbad,' said he, 'you
are welcome; I swear to you I have many times thought of you since you went
hence; I bless the day upon which we see one another once more.' I made my
compliment to him, and after having thanked him for his kindness to me, I
delivered the caliph's letter and present, which he received with all
imaginable satisfaction.
The
caliph's present was a complete set of cloth of gold, valued at one thousand
sequins; fifty robes of rich stuff, a hundred others of white cloth, the finest
of Cairo, Suez, Cusa, and Alexandria; a royal crimson bed, and a second of
another fashion; a vessel of agate broader than deep, an inch thick, and half a
foot wide, the bottom of which represented in bas-relief a man with one knee on
the ground, who held a bow and an arrow, ready to let fly at a lion. He sent
him also a rich table, which, according to tradition, belonged to the great
Solomon. The caliph's letter was as follows:
'Greeting
in the name of the Sovereign Guide of the Right Way, to the potent and happy
Sultan, from Abdallah Haroun Alraschid, whom God hath set in the place of
honour, after his ancestors of happy memory:
'We
received your letter with joy, and send you this from the council of our port,
the garden of superior wits. We hope, when you look upon it, you will find our
good intention, and be pleased with it. Farewell.'
The
King of Serendib was highly pleased that the caliph returned his friendship. A
little time after this audience, I solicited leave to depart, and had much difficulty to obtain
it. I obtained it, however, at last, and the king, when he dismissed me, made
me a very considerable present. I embarked immediately to return to Bagdad, but
had not the good fortune to arrive there as I hoped. God ordered it otherwise.
Three
or four days after my departure, we were attacked by pirates, who easily seized
upon our ship. Some of the crew offered resistance, which cost them their
lives. But as for me and the rest, who were not so imprudent, the pirates saved
us on purpose to make slaves of us.
We
were all stripped, and instead of our own clothes they gave us sorry rags, and
carried us into a remote island, where they sold us.
I
fell into the hands of a rich merchant, who, as soon as he bought me, carried
me to his house, treated me well, and clad me handsomely for a slave. Some days
after, not knowing who I was, he asked me if I understood any trade. I answered
that I was no mechanic, but a merchant, and that the pirates who sold me had
robbed me of all I had.
'But
tell me,' replied he, 'can you shoot with a bow?'
I
answered that the bow was one of my exercises in my youth, and I had not yet
forgotten it. Then he gave me a bow and arrows, and, taking me behind him upon
an elephant, carried me to a vast forest some leagues from the town. We went a
great way into the forest, and where he thought fit to stop he bade me alight;
then showing me a great tree, 'Climb up that tree,' said he, 'and shoot at the
elephants as you see them pass by, for there is a prodigious number of them in
this forest, and, if any of them fall, come and give me notice of it.' Having
spoken thus, he left me victuals, and returned to the town, and I continued
upon the tree all night.
I
saw no elephant during that time, but next morning, as soon as the sun was up,
I saw a great number: I shot several arrows among them, and at last one of the
elephants fell; the rest retired immediately, and left me at liberty to go and
acquaint my patron with my booty. When I had told him the news, he gave me a
good meal, commended my dexterity, and caressed me highly. We afterwards went
together to the forest, where we dug a hole for the elephant; my patron
intending to return when it was rotten, and to take the teeth, etc., to trade
with.
I
continued this game for two months, and killed an elephant every day, getting sometimes upon one
tree, and sometimes upon another. One morning, as I looked for the elephants, I
perceived with an extreme amazement that, instead of passing by me across the
forest as usual, they stopped, and came to me with a horrible noise, in such a
number that the earth was covered with them, and shook under them. They
encompassed the tree where I was with their trunks extended and their eyes all
fixed upon me. At this frightful spectacle I remained immoveable, and was so
much frightened that my bow and arrows fell out of my hand.
My
fears were not in vain; for after the elephants had stared upon me for some
time, one of the largest of them put his trunk round the root of the tree, and
pulled so strong that he plucked it up and threw it on the ground; I fell with
the tree, and the elephant taking me up with his trunk, laid me on his back,
where I sat more like one dead than alive, with my quiver on my shoulder: then
he put himself at the head of the rest, who followed him in troops, and carried
me to a place where he laid me down on the ground, and retired with all his
companions. Conceive, if you can, the condition I was in: I thought myself to
be in a dream; at last, after having lain some time, and seeing the elephants
gone, I got up, and found I was upon a long and broad hill, covered all over
with the bones and teeth of elephants. I confess to you that this furnished me
with abundance of reflections. I admired the instinct of those animals; I
doubted not but that this was their burying place, and that they carried me
thither on purpose to tell me that I should forbear to persecute them, since I
did it only for their teeth. I did not stay on the hill, but turned towards the
city, and, after having travelled a day and a night, I came to my patron; I met
no elephant on my way, which made me think they had retired farther into the
forest, to leave me at liberty to come back to the hill without any hindrance.
As
soon as my patron saw me: 'Ah, poor Sinbad,' said he, I was in great trouble to
know what had become of you. I have been at the forest, where I found a tree
newly pulled up, and a bow and arrows on the ground, and after having sought
for you in vain I despaired of ever seeing you more. Pray tell me what befell
you, and by what good hap you are still alive.'
I
satisfied his curiosity, and going both of us next morning to the hill, he
found to his great joy that what I had told him was true. We loaded the
elephant upon which we came with as many teeth as he could carry; and when we
had returned, 'Brother,' said my patron— 'for I will treat you no more as my
slave—after having made such a discovery as will enrich me, God bless you with
all happiness and
prosperity. I declare before Him that I give you your liberty. I concealed from
you what I am now going to tell you.
'The
elephants of our forest have every year killed a great many slaves, whom we
sent to seek ivory. Notwithstanding all the cautions we could give them, those
crafty animals killed them one time or other. God has delivered you from their
fury, and has bestowed that favour upon you only. It is a sign that He loves
you, and has use for your service in the world. You have procured me incredible
gain. We could not have ivory formerly but by exposing the lives of our slaves,
and now our whole city is enriched by your means. Do not think I pretend to
have rewarded you by giving you your liberty; I will also give you considerable
riches. I could engage all our city to contribute towards making your fortune,
but I will have the glory of doing it myself.'
To
this obliging discourse I replied, 'Patron, God preserve you. Your giving me my
liberty is enough to discharge what you owe me, and I desire no other reward
for the service I had the good fortune to do to you and your city, than leave
to return to my own country.'
'Very
well,' said he, 'the monsoon will in a little time bring ships for ivory. I
will send you home then, and give you wherewith to pay your expenses.' I
thanked him again for my liberty, and his good intentions towards me. I stayed
with him until the monsoon; and during that time we made so many journeys to
the hill that we filled all our warehouses with ivory. The other merchants who
traded in it did the same thing, for it could not be long concealed from them.
The
ships arrived at last, and my patron himself having made choice of the ship
wherein I was to embark, he loaded half of it with ivory on my account, laid in
provisions in abundance for my passage, and obliged me besides to accept as a
present, curiosities of the country of great value. After I had returned him a
thousand thanks for all his favours, I went on board. We set sail, and as the
adventure which procured me this liberty was very extraordinary, I had it
continually in my thoughts.
We
stopped at some islands to take in fresh provisions. Our vessel being come to a
port on the main land in the Indies, we touched there, and not being willing to
venture by sea to Balsora, I landed my proportion of the ivory, resolving to
proceed on my journey by land. I made vast sums by my ivory, I bought several
rarities, which I intended for presents, and when my equipage was ready, I set out in the company
of a large caravan of merchants. I was a long time on the way, and suffered
very much, but endured all with patience, when I considered that I had nothing
to fear from the seas, from pirates, from serpents, nor from the other perils I
had undergone.
All
these fatigues ended at last, and I came safe to Bagdad. I went immediately to
wait upon the caliph, and gave him an account of my embassy. That prince told
me he had been uneasy, by reason that I was so long in returning, but that he
always hoped God would preserve me. When I told him the adventure of the
elephants, he seemed to be much surprised at it, and would never have given any
credit to it had he not known my sincerity. He reckoned this story, and the
other narratives I had given him, to be so curious that he ordered one of his
secretaries to write them in characters of gold, and lay them up in his
treasury. I retired very well satisfied with the honours I received and the
presents which he gave me; and after that I gave myself up wholly to my,
family, kindred and friends.
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