THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
ON THE ELEVENTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
“…Our death would be a martyrdom and would count on the Day of Retribution!" Then all the merchants cried out: “By Allah! This is an excellent idea and a reasonable action!"
Immediately we went to the shore and we built the raft in question, on which we took care to put some provisions, such as fruits and herbs good to eat; then we returned to the palace to await, trembling, the arrival of the black man.
He came with a clap of thunder, and we thought we saw some huge mad dog come in. We had to resolve again to see, without murmuring, skewer and roast one of our companions who was chosen for his fatness and his plumpness, after palpation and handling. But when the terrible brute fell asleep and began to snore thunderously, we thought of taking advantage of his sleep to render him harmless forever.
For this, we took two of the huge iron spits, and we heated them on the fire until they were white-red; then we seized them firmly with our hands by the cold end, and, as they were very heavy, we got together to carry each of them. We then approached slowly, and all together we drove the two pins at once into the two eyes of the horrible sleeping black man, and we weighed on it with all our strength, so that he was definitely blinded.
He must have felt extreme pain probably, for the cry he let out was so horrifying that suddenly we rolled on the ground at a notorious distance. And he jumped up blindly, and stretching out his hands, he tried, screaming and running around, to grab hold of some of us. But we had time to avoid him and throw ourselves on our stomachs from right to left so that he only encountered emptiness each time. So, seeing that he could not succeed, he finally groped his way to the door and went out making terrible cries.
Then we, convinced that the blind giant would end up dying of his ordeal, began to calm down and, with a slow step, we headed towards the sea. We arranged the raft a little better, we embarked on it, we untied it from the shore and already we were about to row away, when we saw ourselves running over the horrible blind giant, guided by a female giant even more horrible and more disgusting than him. Arrived on the shore, they uttered frightful cries when they saw us move away; then they each grabbed pieces of rock and began to stone us, throwing them on the raft. They succeeded in this way in reaching us and drowning all my companions, except two. As for the three of us, we were finally able to move away out of reach of the thrown rocks.
We soon arrived in the middle of the sea where we were seized by the wind and pushed towards an island which was distant two days from that where we had nearly perished on skewers and roasted. We were able to find fruits there which prevented us from succumbing; then, as the night was already advanced, we climbed a large tree to spend the night there.
When in the morning we awoke, the first object that presented itself before our terrified eyes was a terrible serpent, as big as the tree on which we were, and which darted flaming eyes at us, opening its jaws as wide as an oven. And suddenly he relaxed, and his head was on us, at the top of the tree. He grabbed one of my two companions in his mouth and swallowed it up to his shoulders, then with a second swallowing motion he swallowed it whole. And immediately we heard the bones of the unfortunate man crack in the belly of the serpent which descended from the tree and left us crushed with terror and pain. And we thought: “By Allah! Each new kind of death is more detestable than the first. The joy of having escaped the black man's spit is now turning into a presentiment worse than anything we have experienced! There is no recourse but to Allah!"
We still had the strength to come down from the tree and pick some fruit, which we ate, and quench our thirst with water from the streams. After which, we wandered about the island in search of some safer shelter than that of the previous night, and at last we found a tree of prodigious height, which seemed to us to be able to protect us effectively. We climbed it at nightfall and, having made ourselves there as best we could, we were beginning to doze off when a hissing sound and the sound of breaking branches woke us, and before we had time to make a movement to escape, the snake had seized my companion, who was perched lower than me, and swallowed him three-quarters down. I then saw him wrap himself around the tree and crack the bones of my last companion that he finished swallowing. Then, leaving me terrified, he withdrew.
I continued to remain motionless on the tree until morning, and only then did I decide to come down. My first impulse was to go and throw myself into the sea to put an end to a miserable life full of fears, each more terrible than the last; but I stopped on the way, for my soul would not consent to it, since the soul is a precious thing; and she even suggested an idea to which I owed my salvation.
I began by looking for wood and, having soon found it, I stretched out on the ground and took a large plank which I fastened firmly along its entire length on the soles of my feet; I then took a second which I tied on my left side, another on my right side, a fourth on my stomach, and a fifth, wider and longer than the preceding ones, which I fixed on my head. I found myself thus surrounded by a wall of planks which, in every direction, opposed an obstacle to the mouth of the serpent. This done, I remained stretched out on the ground, and I waited there for what fate had in store for me.
As night fell, the snake did not fail to come. As soon as he saw me, he was on top of me and wanted to swallow me in his belly; but he was prevented from doing so by the planks. He then began to crawl and turn around me to try to grab me by a more accessible side, but he could not succeed despite all his efforts although he pulled me in all directions. He spent the whole night in this way making me suffer, and I already thought I was dead and I felt his stinking breath on my face. He finally left me there, at daybreak, and walked away full of fury against me and at the extreme limit of rage and anger.
When I was sure that he had truly moved away...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night - Sixth Night - Seventh Night
Eighth Night - Ninth Night - Tenth Night