Reading Notes: Voyages of Sinbad

For Sinbad's fifth voyage, he decided to make his own ship so he could take his own time and go where he wanted to go. His crew set sail and arrived on an uninhabited island. The men went exploring and found another Roc egg. The men decided to kill the baby bird inside and cook it for something to eat against Sinbad's advice. Soon after, the parents of the Roc egg arrived and were obviously upset about their baby. The men scrambled to the ship and set sail, but the Rocs traveled after them with huge rocks in their talons. They crushed the ship with their rocks and Sinbad grabbed onto another piece of driftwood. He made his way to the rocky shoreline of a nearby island. On the island he found an old man who needed help getting around. Sinbad helped him travel the island by way of piggy back rides. After a few days of doing this, Sinbad made some wine and they both shared a good bit. Sinbad took this opportunity to get the old man off of his back and left for the coastline where he met some mariners. The crew sailed to a rich city and suggested Sinbad go with an interesting group of merchants. It turned out they were going to fetch some coconuts, but the trees were huge and slick. The men began to throw rocks at monkeys in the tree because the monkeys would grab the coconuts and hurl them back at the merchants. Sinbad went on to trade his coconuts for other valuables on his way back to Bagdad. 

On Sinbad's 6th trip, he traveled to India before setting out on the seas. His ship was caught in a storm that directed them to the deadliest sea current in all the ocean. It led them to the base of a mountain where their ship was torn to shreds. The men made it away with their most valuable possessions, but they appeared stranded for the time coming. Sinbad found a flowing river that went underground, and just as he was about to run out of food he determined he would build a raft and float the river because there was a chance it would lead him to safety. He fell asleep and woke up to a group of friendly black men. They had pulled his raft from the river. The men were amazed by Sinbad's story and brought him to their king. The king was also amazed and treated Sinbad very, very well. Eventually Sinbad asked to leave, and the king sent him on his way with many gifts. He also commissioned him to deliver a letter to "the commander of the faithful". Sinbad set out to do as the king asked. The package contained a vase carved from a single ruby with pearls and other goods inside it. There were a number of other goods including a beautiful slave girl. The Caliph who received the goods asked Sinbad of the king's wealth. Sinbad confirmed the king's wealth and significance, to which the Caliph was pleased. After this delivery, Sinbad returned home. 

Sinbad's 7th, and final, trip was commissioned by the Caliph. He requested Sinbad travel back to the king who had sent the gifts because the Caliph wanted to return the favor. Sinbad asked to be removed from the mission, but the Caliph wouldn't allow it. When he arrived at the king's palace, the king was pleased to see him. Sinbad presented the gifts from the Caliph to the. After a short while, the king allowed Sinbad to leave. Sinbad was ready to return home and enjoy peaceful life, so he left quickly. On his return trip home, he was captured by pirates who sold him in a foreign land as a slave. He was sold to a rich merchant. His owner commissioned him to hunt for elephants in the forest. He killed an elephant and it was buried so that after it deteriorated it would provide beautiful tusks. For months he killed elephants each day. One day the elephants caught wind of him and surrounded his tree. Then the biggest of them all put his trunk around the tree and pulled it from the ground. He flew to the ground and the giant beast picked him up, again with his trunk, and placed Sinbad on his back. The elephants went stampeding into the forest with Sinbad. The elephants brought Sinbad to their burial ground where there were piles of elephant bones in an effort to convince him to stop shooting the elephants with his bow. Sinbad told his owner the story and brought him to the bone pile. There they collected tusks and the master set Sinbad free because he had enriched him so well. His master sent him on his way home with plenty of ivory and other gifts because he had been such a good slave. 

When Sinbad returned home, the Caliph was surprises, but happy, to see him. Sinbad told him all of his stories and the Caliph was amazed. This was the end of Sinbad's voyages.

Sinbad the Sailor - Wikipedia

The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang

Reading Notes: Voyages of Sinbad

As it turns out, I really like Hero stories. Today I read The Voyages of Sinbad, and it was so entertaining. To start with, he was given great sums of money from his parents. He lived a lavish lifestyle by spending much of his inheritance until one day he decided he wanted to be responsible with it. He decided to become a merchant and set out for the seas to begin trading. The ship landed on an "island" which turned out to be the back of a whale. When they lit their fire, the whale plunged into the ocean and many of the men drowned as they had left the boat. Sinbad clung only to a piece of floating wood from the fire to keep from drowning. He floated and floated until the morning came and he realized he had arrived at an island. The island he landed on had a king who treated Sinbad well. One day while at the port, he ran into the crew from his old ship. One of them spoke of a man named Sinbad, whose possessions he had because Sinbad "drowned". The sailor did not recognize Sinbad, but eventually was convinced it was him. He then sailed home with his crew.

His second voyage was similarly adventurous. He got bored sitting in his luxurious home with piles of riches, so he set back out for sea. His group of merchants arrived at an island and they got out to explore. He decided to take a nap, but he slept too long and his crew group forgot about him! As he explored his new island, he discovered an enormous egg. It belonged to an even bigger bird called a roc. Sinbad tied himself to the foot of the bird and it flew him to another island. This island had massive snakes on it that came out only at night. He decided to sleep in a cave and put a big rock over the entrance to keep the snakes out. He found a valley of diamonds on this island. They were so big he had never even fathomed diamonds so large. Then huge chunks of meat started to fall off of a cliff into the valley. He remembered that this was done to attract large eagles, so he grabbed onto a piece of meat and an eagle came down and swooped it up. He was flown to ANOTHER island. The eagle flew him to some merchants that had been using the eagle to retrieve diamonds. He accompanied the merchants on their trip home, and he returned home as well.

On his third trip, his ship encountered a mighty storm that set them off their path. They arrived on an island of savages. They crowded the ship in hundreds within seconds and took command of the ship. The minions took the ship to another island and kicked the original passengers off. Then men were so sad because their only means of travel was gone and they deemed themselves stuck forever. They saw a large castle on the island and determined to check it out. Inside, they encountered a cyclops. The cyclops terrified them and he proceeded to eat the fattest of them all. Eventually, they devised a plan to get out. They took a scorching hot stick from the fire and jabbed it into the cyclops' eye while he was sleeping. Afterward, they prepared rafts for groups of three. As they were escaping, the cyclops and his friends started to hurl rocks after the rafts and sunk all of them except Sinbad's. They drifted to another island and decided to rest there. In the night, a massive snake ate his companions, but Sinbad got away. He was terrified, though. The next morning he caught the eye of a passing ship and joined them aboard. He eventually returned home with the ship after making a ton of money... again.

On his last voyage, his ship hit another hurricane and was decimated. He, again, clung to pieces of the wreckage in order to stay afloat. As he washed ashore, he met a friendly people with a kind king. The people liked him, and the king eventually asked him to stay and take a wife. He did, and enjoyed it. One day his neighbor's wife got ill and died. He went to visit him afterward and the man was sad. He informed Sinbad of the tradition where if one of the spouses passed away, the other was to be buried alive with them. Sinbad was horrified and became worried his wife would die. As he feared, she too passed away soon thereafter. He was buried in the cave with her and mourned his death. He began killing the living that were buried in order to take their food, and one day a critter got inside the tomb and he scared it away. He chased after the critter and it eventually led him out of the cave. He was at the bottom of a cliff on the ocean and caught the eye of a passing ship. They let him come aboard and eventually took him home.

Sinbad the Sailor by Edmund Dulac

The Roc - E. Dulac