THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
ON THE THIRTEENTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
... The next day, Sindbad the Porter returned to listen to what, the meal finished, told Sindbad the Sailor.
And Sindbad the Sailor said:
THE FOURTH JOURNEY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
“Neither the delights nor the pleasures of life in Baghdad, my friends, could make me forget travel. On the other hand, I hardly remembered the fatigues endured and the dangers encountered. And the perfidious soul that inhabited me did not fail to show me the advantages that there would be in traversing the lands of men again. So I could hardly resist these temptations, and one day, leaving home and wealth, I took with me a large quantity of valuable goods, much more than I had carried on my last journeys, and from Baghdad, I left for Basra, where I embarked on a large ship in the company of several notable merchants who were well known in the place.
Our sea voyage, thanks to the blessing, was at first excellent. We went from island to island and from land to land, selling and buying and realizing very appreciable profits, until one day, in the open sea, the captain called us to anchor, shouting: " We are lost without recourse!" And suddenly a terrible gust of wind raised the whole sea, which rushed on the ship, smashed it in all directions, and swept away the passengers, including the captain, the sailors, and myself. And first, everyone drowned, and me too.
But I was able, thanks to mercy, to find in the abyss a plank of the ship to which I clung hands and feet, and on which I was tossed about for half a day, me and some other merchants who could cling to it with me.
So, by dint of rowing with our feet and our hands, we ended up, helped by the wind and the current, being thrown like wrecks, already half dead from cold and terror, on the shore of an island.
We remained a whole night annihilated, motionless, on the shore of this island. But the next day we were able to get up and walk inside, where we saw a dwelling towards which we headed.
On our arrival, we saw coming out of the door of this dwelling a troop of people completely naked and black who, without saying a single word to us, seized us and led us into a large room where, on a high seat, sat a king.
The king ordered us to sit down, and we sat down. So in front of us were brought trays filled with food that in our entire life we had not seen elsewhere. The sight of them hardly excited my appetite, unlike my companions who ate them greedily to appease the hunger that had held them since our shipwreck. As for me, my abstention was the cause which was to preserve my life until today.
Indeed, from the first bites, a huge craving took hold of my companions, who began to swallow for hours and hours everything that was presented to them, with crazy gestures and extraordinary sniffles.
While they were in this state, the naked men brought a vase filled with a kind of ointment with which they coated their whole body, and whose effect on their bellies was extraordinary. Indeed, I saw the bellies of my companions expand little by little, in all directions, until they became bigger than a swollen skin; and their appetite increased in proportion, so that they continued to eat without stopping, while I looked at them, startled to see that their bellies were not filling.
Now, seeing this effect on my companions, I persisted in not touching these dishes and I refused to allow myself to be coated with ointment. And really my sobriety was salutary because I discovered that these naked men were eaters of human flesh and that they used these various means to fatten the men who fell into their hands and thus make their flesh more tender and juicier. And as for the king of those eaters, I discovered that he was an ogre. A man fattened by this method was served to him every day as a roast; as for the naked men, they did not like the roast and ate raw human flesh, without any seasoning, just as it was.
At this sad discovery, my anxiety about my fate and that of my companions knew even less bounds, as I soon noticed a notable decrease in the intelligence of my companions as their bellies grew and their individual thickened. They even ended up being completely stupefied by eating and, having become absolutely like slaughter animals, they were entrusted to the care of a shepherd who led them to graze in the meadow every day.
As for me, hunger on one side and fear on the other had made me a shadow of myself, and my flesh had dried on my bones. Also, when the natives of this island saw me so thin and so emaciated, they no longer bothered about me and completely forgot me, probably judging me unworthy of being served roasted to the king or even grilled.
This lack of oversight from these black, naked islanders allowed me one day to wander away from their habitation and walk in an opposite direction. On my way, I met the shepherd who was grazing the cattle composed of my unfortunate companions stupefied by their stomachs. I hastened to sink into the tall grass and walk and run to lose sight of them, so painful and sad was their aspect to me.
The sun had already set and I kept walking. I continued to walk in front of me all night, without feeling the need to sleep, so much was I afraid of falling back into the hands of the dark eaters of human flesh. And I walked again all the next day, and also the other six days, taking only just enough time for a meal that allowed me to continue my journey into the unknown. And, for all food, I gathered herbs and ate them, just enough not to succumb to hunger.
On the morning of the eighth day...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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