THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
This is the last episode of the Story of Sindbad the Sailor. Tomorrow we will start the last story, that will be followed by the conclusion of the One Thousand and One Nights.
ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
"In any case, if I have any advice to give you, we have nothing better to do, since my father is dead, than to leave this ungodly city, after having however sold our goods, our houses and our properties. You will do all this as best you can, you will buy beautiful goods with part of the sum you will receive, and we will both go to Baghdad, your country, to see your parents and your friends, and live in peace. and safety, and in the respect due to Allah Most High!" So I answered by hearing and obedience.
Immediately I began to sell, to the best of my ability, piece by piece, and each thing in its time, all the property of my uncle the sheik, father of my wife, the deceased may Allah have mercy on him and in his mercy! And I realized in this way all that belonged to us, as furniture or properties, in pieces of gold; and thus I made a profit of one hundred to one.
After which, I took my wife and the goods that I had taken care to buy, I chartered on my own account a ship which, with the will of Allah, had a happy and fruitful navigation; so that, from island to island and from sea to sea, we finally arrived in safety at Basra, where we stopped only a very short time. We went up the river and entered Baghdad, the city of peace.
I then went, with my wife and my wealth, towards my street and my house, where my parents received us with great transports of joy, and loved my wife very much, the sheik's daughter.
As for me, I hastened to put my affairs in order definitively, I stored away my fine goods, I locked away my riches, and I was finally able, in peace, to receive the congratulations of my friends and relatives who, having calculated the time that I had been away, found that this seventh journey, the last of my voyages, had lasted exactly twenty-seven years from one end to the other. And I told them in detail about my adventures during this long absence; and I made a vow, which I keep scrupulously, as you see, never again, during the rest of my life, to undertake a journey, whether by sea or simply by land. And I did not fail to give thanks to Allah Almighty for having, on several occasions and despite my recurrences, delivered me from so many dangers and brought me back to the midst of my family and my friends!
And such was, O my guests, this seventh and last journey which was the definitive remedy for my adventurous desires!"
When Sindbad the Sailor had thus finished his tale, in the midst of the silent and wondering guests, he turned to Sindbad the Porter and said to him: "And now, O earthling Sindbad, consider the labors which I have accomplished and the difficulties that I have overcome by the grace of Allah, and tell me if your fate as porter, has not been much more favorable to a quiet life than that which fell to me by destiny? You have, it is true, remained poor and I have acquired incalculable wealth; but was it not that each of us was rewarded according to his effort?" At these words Sindbad the Porter came and kissed the hand of Sindbad the Sailor and said to him: “By Allah upon you, O my master, excuse the inconsistency of my song!"
Then Sindbad the Sailor had the tablecloth stretched out for his guests, and gave them a feast which lasted thirty nights. Then he wanted to keep with him, as steward of his house, Sindbad the Porter. And both lived in perfect friendship and at the limit of expansion until it came to visit them, the one that makes delights vanish, who breaks friendships, who destroys palaces and raises tombs, the bitter death. Glory to the Living who does not die!
— When Sheherazade, the vizier's daughter, had finished telling the story of Sindbad the Sailor, she felt slightly tired, and, as she saw the morning approaching and refused, discreetly as usual, to abuse the granted permission, she fell silent with a smile.
Then little Doniazade, who had listened, filled with wonder and with dilated eyes, to this astonishing story, got up from the carpet where she was huddled and ran to kiss her sister, saying to her: "O Sheherazade, my sister, how sweet and kind are your words and pure and delicious in taste and tasty in their freshness! And how terrible and prodigious and reckless is Sindbad the Sailor!"
And Sheherazade smiled at her and said, “Yes, my sister! But what is that compared to what I will tell you both next night, if I am still alive by the grace of Allah and the good pleasure of the King! »
And King Schahriar, who had found Sindbad's journeys much longer than the one he had made himself with his brother Schahzaman in the meadow, by the sea, where the genni in charge of the box had appeared to them, turned to Schahrazade and said: "Truly, Sheherazade, I don't see what story you can tell me anymore!" And Sheherazade said: “On my eyes! Precisely the one I reserve for you, O fortunate King, will give you complete satisfaction. You can already judge by the title which is: THE TENDER STORY OF PRINCE JASMINE AND PRINCESS ALMOND.
In the morning, King Schahriar got up and went out to the hall of his justice. And the diwan was filled with the crowd of viziers, emirs, chamberlains, guards and people of the palace. And the last to enter was the grand-vizier, father of Sheherazade, who arrived with, under his arm, the shroud intended for his daughter whom he believed, this time, to be dead for good. But the King said nothing to him on the subject, and continued to judge, to appoint to offices, to dismiss, to govern and to terminate pending cases, and this until the end of the day. Then the diwan was lifted and the King returned to the palace, while the Grand Vizier remained in perplexity and on the verge of astonishment.
Then, when night came, King Schahriar entered Sheherazade's house and they did their usual thing together.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night - Sixth Night - Seventh Night
Eighth Night - Ninth Night - Tenth Night - Eleventh Night - Twelfth Night - Thirteenth Night
Fourteenth Night - Fifteenth Night - Sixteenth Night - Seventeenth Night - Eighteenth Night
Nineteenth Night - Twentieth Night - Twenty-first Night - Twenty-second Night - Twenty-third Night
Next Story: The Story of Prince Jasmine and Princess Almond