THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
ON THE SECOND NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
Sindbad the Porter thanked Allah saying: “Praise be to Him on all occasions!" After which, he washed his hands and thanked all the guests for their kindness.
Only then did the master, following the custom which allows the guest to be questioned only after he has been served food and drink, said to the porter: "Welcome here, and make yourself largely at your ease! May your day be blessed! But, O my host, can you tell me your name and profession?" The porter answered: “O my master, my name is Sindbad the Porter, and my profession consists in carrying loads on my head, for a salary." The master of the place smiled and said to him: "Know, O porter, that your name is like my name, for my name is Sindbad the Sailor!"
Then he continued: “Know also, O porter, that if I begged you to come here, it was to hear you repeat the beautiful verses you sang when you were sitting outside on the bench!"
At these words, the porter became very confused and said: “By Allah upon you! don't blame me too much for this reckless action; for pains, fatigues, and misery which leaves nothing in hand teach a man rudeness, stupidity, and insolence!" But Sindbad the Sailor said to Sindbad the Porter: "Do not be ashamed of what you have sung and be here without embarrassment, for henceforth you are my brother. Only hurry, I beg you, to sing me these stanzas which I have heard and which have greatly amazed me!" Then the porter sang the stanzas in question, which greatly delighted Sindbad the Sailor.
Also, the stanzas finished, Sindbad the Sailor turned to Sindbad the Porter and said to him: “O porter, know that I too have a story, which is astonishing and which I reserve to tell you in my turn. I will tell you all the adventures that have happened to me and all the trials that I have undergone before reaching this bliss and living in this palace. And you will then see at the cost of what terrible and strange labors, at the cost of what calamities, what evils, and what initial misfortunes I acquired these riches in the midst of which you see me living in my old age. Because you are probably unaware of the seven extraordinary journeys that I have made, and how each of these journeys is in itself such a prodigious thing that just thinking about it one remains speechless and on the verge of all amazement. But all that I am going to tell you, to you and to all my honorable guests, has, in short, only happened to me because destiny had thus fixed it in advance, and because everything written must run without we can avoid it or run away from it!
THE FIRST JOURNEY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
Know, O all of you, lords, O most illustrious, and you honorable porter who calls yourself, like me, Sindbad, that I had a merchant father who was one of the great among people and merchants. In his house there were many riches which he used constantly to distribute largesse to the poor, yet wisely, for when he died he left me an inheritance, when I was still an infant, many goods, lands, and villages.
When I had reached the age of man, I got my hands on all this, and I rejoiced in eating extraordinary foods and drinking extraordinary drinks, associating with young people and showing off in excessively expensive clothes, and cultivating friends and comrades. In this way, I ended up being convinced that it had to last forever for my greatest advantage. And I continued to live thus for a long space of time, until one day, recovering from my error and returning to my reason, I found that my riches were dissipated, my condition changed and my possessions gone. Then, completely awakened from my inaction, I saw myself in the grip of fear and the bewilderment of arriving one day at old age in destitution. Then also came to my memory these words that my late father liked to repeat, words of our master Suleiman ben-Daoud (on both of them prayer and peace!): There are three things preferable to three others: the day of death is less unfortunate than the day of birth, a living dog is better than a dead lion, and the grave is preferable to poverty.
At these thoughts I got up immediately; I collected what I had left in furniture and clothing, and I sold it, without delay, at auction with the remains of what was under my hand in goods, properties, and lands. In this way, I collected the sum of three thousand drachmas, and immediately it occurred to me to travel to the countries of men, for I remembered the words of the poet, who said:
“Sorrows make the glory acquired even more beautiful!
Human glory is the immortal daughter of many long sleepless nights!
Whoever wants to find the unparalleled treasure of pearls of the sea,*
White, gray, or pink, becomes a diver before reaching for beautiful things.
He would follow the impossible hope until his death,
He who would want the glory without the effort!"
So, without delaying any longer, I ran to the souk, where I took care to buy various goods and junk of all kinds. I immediately carried everything on board a ship where there were already other merchants ready to leave, and, my soul now accustomed to the idea of the sea, I saw the ship leave Baghdad and go down the river to Basra, on the sea.
From Basra the ship sailed out to sea and then for days and nights we sailed on reaching islands and islands and sea after sea and land after land! And at each place where we went, we sold goods to buy others and we bartered and exchanged very advantageously.
One day, when we had been sailing for several days without seeing land, we saw an island emerging from the sea which seemed to us, by its vegetation, some marvelous garden among the gardens of Eden. Also, the captain of the ship was willing to land and, once the anchor dropped and the ladder lowered, let us disembark.
We got off, all of us, the merchants, taking with us all that was necessary in terms of food and cooking utensils. Some took it upon themselves to light the fire and prepare the food and wash the laundry, while others contented themselves with walking, having fun, and resting from the fatigues of the sea. many of those who preferred to walk and enjoy the beauties of the vegetation with which these coasts were covered, while not forgetting to eat and drink.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.