"Oft when thy case shows knotty and tangled skein,
Fate downs from Heaven and straightens every ply.
In patience keep thy soul till clear thy lot,
For He who ties the knot can eke untie."
Then I walked about till I found on the further side a great river
of sweet water, running with a strong current, whereupon I called to
mind the boat raft I had made aforetime and said to myself: "Needs
must I make another. Haply I may free me from this strait. If I
escape, I have my desire and I vow to Allah Almighty to foreswear
travel. And if I perish, I shall be at peace and shall rest from
toil and moil." So I rose up and gathered together great store of
pieces of wood from the trees (which were all of the finest
sandalwood, whose like is not albe' I knew it not), and made shift
to twist creepers and tree twigs into a kind of rope, with which I
bound the billets together and so contrived a raft. Then saying, "An I
be saved, 'tis of God's grace," I embarked thereon and committed
myself to the current, and it bore me on for the first day and the
second and the third after leaving the island whilst I lay in the
raft, eating not and drinking, when I was athirst, of the water of the
river, till I was weak and giddy as a chicken for stress of fatigue
and famine and fear.
At the end of this time I came to a high mountain, whereunder ran
the river, which when I saw, I feared for my life by reason of the
straitness I had suffered in my former journey, and I would fain
have stayed the raft and landed on the mountainside. But the current
overpowered me and drew it into the subterranean passage like an
archway, whereupon I gave myself up for lost and said, "There is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
However, after a little the raft glided into open air and I saw before
me a wide valley, whereinto the river fell with a noise like the
rolling of thunder and a swiftness as the rushing of the wind. I
held onto the raft, for fear of falling off it, whilst the waves
tossed me right and left, and the craft continued to descend with
the current, nor could I avail to stop it nor turn it shoreward till
it stopped me at a great and goodly city, grandly edified and
containing much people. And when the townsfolk saw me on the raft,
dropping down with the current, they threw me out ropes, which I had
not strength enough to hold. Then they tossed a net over the craft and
drew it ashore with me, whereupon I fell to the ground amidst them, as
I were a dead man, for stress of fear and hunger and lack of sleep.
After a while, there came up to me out of the crowd an old man of
reverend aspect, well stricken in years, who welcomed me and threw
over me abundance of handsome clothes, wherewith I covered my
nakedness. Then he carried me to the hammam bath and brought me
cordial sherbets and delicious perfumes. Moreover, when I came out, he
bore me to his house, where his people made much of me and, seating me
in a pleasant place, set rich food before me, whereof I ate my fill
and returned thanks to God the Most High for my deliverance. Thereupon
his pages fetched me hot water, and I washed my hands, and his
handmaids brought me silken napkins, with which I dried them and wiped
my mouth. Also the Sheikh set apart for me an apartment in a part of
his house, and charged his pages and slave girls to wait upon me and
do my will and supply my wants. They were assiduous in my service, and
I abode with him in the guest chamber three days, taking my ease of
good eating and good drinking and good scents till life returned to me
and my terrors subsided and my heart was calmed and my mind was eased.
On the fourth day the Sheikh, my host, came in to me and said: "Thou
cheerest us with thy company, O my son, and praised be Allah for thy
safety! Say, wilt thou now come down with me to the beach and the
bazaar and sell thy goods and take their price? Belike thou mayest buy
thee wherewithal to traffic. I have ordered my servants to remove
thy stock in trade from the sea, and they have piled it on the shore."
I was silent awhile and said to myself, "What mean these words, and
what goods have I?" Then said he: "O my son, be not troubled nor
careful, but come with me to the market, and if any offer for thy
goods what price contenteth thee, take it. But an thou be not
satisfied, I lay em up for thee in my warehouse, against a fitting
occasion for sale." So I bethought me of my case and said to myself,
"Do his bidding and see what are these goods!" and I said to him: "O
my nuncle the Sheikh I hear and obey. I may not gainsay thee in aught,
for Allah's blessing is on all thou dost."
Accordingly he guided me to the market street, where I found that he
had taken in pieces the raft which carried me and which was of
sandalwood, and I heard the broker crying it for sale. Then the
merchants came and opened the gate of bidding for the wood and bid
against one another till its price reached a thousand dinars, when
they left bidding and my host said to me: "Hear, O my son, this is the
current price of thy goods in hard times like these. Wilt thou sell
them for this, or shall I lay them up for thee in my storehouses
till such time as prices rise?" "O my lord," answered I, "the business
is in thy hands. Do as thou wilt." Then asked he: "Wilt thou sell
the wood to me, O my son, for a hundred gold pieces over and above
what the merchants have bidden for it?" and I answered, "Yes, I have
sold it to thee for monies received." So he bade his servants
transport the wood to his storehouses, and, carrying me back to his
house, seated me, and counted out to me the purchase money. After
which he laid it in bags and, setting them in a privy place, locked
them up with an iron padlock and gave me its key.
Some days after this the Sheikh said to me, "O my son, I have
somewhat to propose to thee, wherein I trust thou wilt do my bidding."
Quoth I, "What is it?" Quoth he: "I am a very old man, and have no
son, but I have a daughter who is young in years and fair of favor and
endowed with abounding wealth and beauty. Now I have a mind to marry
her to thee, that thou mayest abide with her in this our country.
And I will make, thee master of all I have in hand, for I am an old
man and thou shalt stand in my stead." I was silent for shame and made
him no answer, whereupon he continued: "Do my desire in this, O my
son, for I wish but thy weal. And if thou wilt but as I say, thou
shalt have her at once and be as my son, and all that is under my hand
or that cometh to me shall be thine. If thou have a mind to traffic
and travel to thy native land, none shall hinder thee, and thy
property will be at thy sole disposal. So do as thou wilt." "By Allah,
O my uncle," replied I, "thou art become to me even as my father,
and I am a stranger and have undergone many hardships, while for
stress of that which I have suffered naught of judgment or knowledge
is left to me. It is for thee, therefore, to decide what I shall do."
Hereupon he sent his servants for the kazi and the witnesses and
married me to his daughter, making for us a noble marriage feast and
high festival. When I went in to her, I found her perfect in beauty
and loveliness and symmetry and grace, clad in rich raiment and
covered with a profusion of ornaments and necklaces and other trinkets
of gold and silver and precious stones, worth a mint of money, a price
none could pay. She pleased me, and we loved each other, and I abode
with her in all solace and delight of life till her father was taken
to the mercy of Allah Almighty. So we shrouded him and buried him, and
I laid hands on the whole of his property and all his servants and
slaves became mine. Moreover, the merchants installed me in his
office, for he was their sheikh and their chief, and none of them
purchased aught but with his knowledge and by his leave. And now his
rank passed on to me.
When I became acquainted with the townsfolk, I found that at the
beginning of each month they were transformed, in that their faces
changed and they became like unto birds and they put forth wings
wherewith they flew unto the upper regions of the firmament; and
none remained in the city save the women and children. And I said in
my mind, "When the first of the month cometh, I will ask one of them
to carry me with them, whither they go." So when the time came and
their complexion changed and their forms altered, I went in to one
of the townsfolk and said to him: "Allah upon thee! Carry me with
thee, that I might divert myself with the rest and return with you."
"This may not be," answered he. But I ceased not to solicit him, and I
importuned him till he consented. Then I went out in his company,
without telling any of my family or servants or friends, and he took
me on his back and flew up with me so high in air that I heard the
angels glorifying God in the heavenly dome, whereat I wondered and
exclaimed: "Praised be Allah! Extolled be the perfection of Allah!"
Hardly had I made an end of pronouncing the tasbih- praised be
Allah!- when there came out a fire from Heaven and all but consumed
the company. Whereupon they fied from it and descended with curses
upon me and, casting me down on a high mountain, went away exceeding
wroth with me, and left me there alone. As I found myself in this
plight, I repented of what I had done and reproached myself for having
undertaken that for which I was unable, saying: "There is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! No
sooner am I delivered from one affliction than I fall into a worse."
And I continued in this case, knowing not whither I should go, when
lo! there came up two young men, as they were moons, each using as a
staff a rod of red gold. So I approached them and saluted them; and
when they returned my salaam, I said to them: Allah upon you twain.
Who are ye, and what are ye?" Quoth they, "We are of the servants of
the Most High Allah, abiding in this mountain," and giving me a rod of
red gold they had with them, went their ways and left me.
I walked on along the mountain ridge, staying my steps with the
staff and pondering the case of the two youths, when behold, a serpent
came forth from under the mountain, with a man in her jaws whom she
had swallowed even to below his navel, and he was crying out and
saying, "Whoso delivereth me, Allah will deliver him from all
adversity!" So I went up to the the serpent and smote her on the
head with the golden staff, whereupon she cast the man forth of her
mouth. Then I smote her a second time, and she turned and fled,
whereupon he came up to me and said, "Since my deliverance from yonder
serpent hath been at thy hands I will never leave thee, and thou shalt
be my comrade on this mountain." "And welcome," answered I. So we
fared on along the mountain till we fell in with a company of folk,
and I looked and saw amongst them the very man who had carried me
and cast me down there. I went up to him and spake him fair,
excusing to him and saying, "O my comrade, it is not thus that
friend should deal with friend." Quoth he, "It was thou who
well-nigh destroyed us by thy tasbih and thy glorifying God on my
back." Quoth I, "Pardon me, for I had no knowledge of this matter, but
if thou wilt take me with thee, I swear not to say a word."
So he relented and consented to carry me with him, but he made an
express condition that so long as I abode on his back, I should
abstain from pronouncing the tasbih or otherwise glorifying God.
Then I gave the wand of gold to him whom I had delivered from the
serpent and bade him farewell, and my friend took me on his back and
flew with me as before, till he brought me to the city and set me down
in my own house. My wife came to meet me and, saluting me, gave me joy
of my safety and then said: "Beware of going forth hereafter with
yonder folk, neither consort with them, for they are brethren of the
devils, and know not how to mention the name of Allah Almighty,
neither worship they Him." "And how did thy father with them?" asked
I, and she answered: "My father was not of them, neither did he as
they. And as now he is dead, methinks thou hadst better sell all we
have and with the price buy merchandise and journey to thine own
country and people, and I with thee; for I care not to tarry in this
city, my father and my mother being dead." So I sold all the Sheikh's
property piecemeal, and looked for one who should be journeying thence
to Bassorah that I might join myself to him.
And while thus doing I heard of a company of townsfolk who had a
mind to make the voyage but could not find them a ship, so they bought
wood and built them a great ship, wherein I took passage with them,
and paid them all the hire. Then we embarked, I and my wife, with
all our movables, leaving our houses and domains and so forth, and set
sail, and ceased not sailing from island to island and from sea to
sea, with a fair wind and a favoring, till we arrived at Bassorah safe
and sound. I made no stay there, but freighted another vessel and,
transferring my goods to her, set out forthright for Baghdad city,
where I arrived in safety, and entering my quarter and repairing to my
house, forgathered with my family and friends and familiars and laid
up my goods in my warehouses.
When my people, who, reckoning the period of my absence on this my
seventh voyage, had found it to be seven and twenty years and had
given up all hope of me, heard of my return, they came to welcome me
and to give me joy of my safety. And I related to them all that had
befallen me, whereat they marveled with exceeding marvel. Then I
foreswore travel and vowed to Allah the Most High I would venture no
more by land or sea, for that this seventh and last voyage had
surfeited me of travel and adventure, and I thanked the Lord (be He
praised and glorified!), and blessed Him for having restored me to
my kith and kin and country and home. "Consider, therefore, O Sindbad,
O Landsman," continued Sindbad the Seaman, "what sufferings I have
undergone and what perils and hardships I have endured before coming
to my present state." "Allah upon thee, O my Lord!" answered Sindbad
the, Landsman. "Pardon me the wrong I did thee." And they ceased not
from friendship and fellowship, abiding in all cheer and pleasures and
solace of life till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and
the Sunderer of Societies, and the Shatterer of palaces and the
Caterer for Cemeteries; to wit, the Cup of Death, and glory be to
the Living One who dieth not! And there is a tale touching
The Lady And Her Five Suitors.