The 7th Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor

Seventh and Last Voyage


After my sixth voyage I was quite determined that I would go to sea no
more. I was now of an age to appreciate a quiet life, and I had run
risks enough. I only wished to end my days in peace. One day,
however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends, I was told
that an officer of the Caliph wished to speak to me, and when he was
admitted he bade me follow him into the presence of Haroun al Rashid,
which I accordingly did. After I had saluted him, the Caliph said:

"I have sent for you, Sindbad, because I need your services. I have
chosen you to bear a letter and a gift to the King of Serendib in
return for his message of friendship."

The Caliph's commandment fell upon me like a thunderbolt.

"Commander of the Faithful," I answered, "I am ready to do all that
your Majesty commands, but I humbly pray you to remember that I am
utterly disheartened by the unheard of sufferings I have undergone.
Indeed, I have made a vow never again to leave Baghdad."

With this I gave him a long account of some of my strangest adventures,
to which he listened patiently.

"I admit," said he, "that you have indeed had some extraordinary
experiences, but I do not see why they should hinder you from doing as
I wish. You have only to go straight to Serendib and give my message,
then you are free to come back and do as you will. But go you must; my
honour and dignity demand it."

Seeing that there was no help for it, I declared myself willing to
obey; and the Caliph, delighted at having got his own way, gave me a
thousand sequins for the expenses of the voyage. I was soon ready to
start, and taking the letter and the present I embarked at Basra, and
sailed quickly and safely to Serendib. Here, when I had disclosed my
errand, I was well received, and brought into the presence of the king,
who greeted me with joy.

"Welcome, Sindbad," he cried. "I have thought of you often, and
rejoice to see you once more."

After thanking him for the honour that he did me, I displayed the
Caliph's gifts. First a bed with complete hangings all cloth of gold,
which cost a thousand sequins, and another like to it of crimson stuff.
Fifty robes of rich embroidery, a hundred of the finest white linen
from Cairo, Suez, Cufa, and Alexandria. Then more beds of different
fashion, and an agate vase carved with the figure of a man aiming an
arrow at a lion, and finally a costly table, which had once belonged to
King Solomon. The King of Serendib received with satisfaction the
assurance of the Caliph's friendliness toward him, and now my task
being accomplished I was anxious to depart, but it was some time before
the king would think of letting me go. At last, however, he dismissed
me with many presents, and I lost no time in going on board a ship,
which sailed at once, and for four days all went well. On the fifth
day we had the misfortune to fall in with pirates, who seized our
vessel, killing all who resisted, and making prisoners of those who
were prudent enough to submit at once, of whom I was one. When they
had despoiled us of all we possessed, they forced us to put on vile
raiment, and sailing to a distant island there sold us for slaves. I
fell into the hands of a rich merchant, who took me home with him, and
clothed and fed me well, and after some days sent for me and questioned
me as to what I could do.

I answered that I was a rich merchant who had been captured by pirates,
and therefore I knew no trade.

"Tell me," said he, "can you shoot with a bow?"

I replied that this had been one of the pastimes of my youth, and that
doubtless with practice my skill would come back to me.

Upon this he provided me with a bow and arrows, and mounting me with
him upon his own elephant took the way to a vast forest which lay far
from the town. When we had reached the wildest part of it we stopped,
and my master said to me: "This forest swarms with elephants. Hide
yourself in this great tree, and shoot at all that pass you. When you
have succeeded in killing one come and tell me."

So saying he gave me a supply of food, and returned to the town, and I
perched myself high up in the tree and kept watch. That night I saw
nothing, but just after sunrise the next morning a large herd of
elephants came crashing and trampling by. I lost no time in letting
fly several arrows, and at last one of the great animals fell to the
ground dead, and the others retreated, leaving me free to come down
from my hiding place and run back to tell my master of my success, for
which I was praised and regaled with good things. Then we went back to
the forest together and dug a mighty trench in which we buried the
elephant I had killed, in order that when it became a skeleton my
master might return and secure its tusks.

For two months I hunted thus, and no day passed without my securing, an
elephant. Of course I did not always station myself in the same tree,
but sometimes in one place, sometimes in another. One morning as I
watched the coming of the elephants I was surprised to see that,
instead of passing the tree I was in, as they usually did, they paused,
and completely surrounded it, trumpeting horribly, and shaking the very
ground with their heavy tread, and when I saw that their eyes were
fixed upon me I was terrified, and my arrows dropped from my trembling
hand. I had indeed good reason for my terror when, an instant later,
the largest of the animals wound his trunk round the stem of my tree,
and with one mighty effort tore it up by the roots, bringing me to the
ground entangled in its branches. I thought now that my last hour was
surely come; but the huge creature, picking me up gently enough, set me
upon its back, where I clung more dead than alive, and followed by the
whole herd turned and crashed off into the dense forest. It seemed to
me a long time before I was once more set upon my feet by the elephant,
and I stood as if in a dream watching the herd, which turned and
trampled off in another direction, and were soon hidden in the dense
underwood. Then, recovering myself, I looked about me, and found that
I was standing upon the side of a great hill, strewn as far as I could
see on either hand with bones and tusks of elephants. "This then must
be the elephants' burying place," I said to myself, "and they must have
brought me here that I might cease to persecute them, seeing that I
want nothing but their tusks, and here lie more than I could carry away
in a lifetime."

Whereupon I turned and made for the city as fast as I could go, not
seeing a single elephant by the way, which convinced me that they had
retired deeper into the forest to leave the way open to the Ivory Hill,
and I did not know how sufficiently to admire their sagacity. After a
day and a night I reached my master's house, and was received by him
with joyful surprise.

"Ah! poor Sindbad," he cried, "I was wondering what could have become
of you. When I went to the forest I found the tree newly uprooted, and
the arrows lying beside it, and I feared I should never see you again.
Pray tell me how you escaped death."

I soon satisfied his curiosity, and the next day we went together to
the Ivory Hill, and he was overjoyed to find that I had told him
nothing but the truth. When we had loaded our elephant with as many
tusks as it could carry and were on our way back to the city, he said:

"My brother--since I can no longer treat as a slave one who has
enriched me thus--take your liberty and may Heaven prosper you. I will
no longer conceal from you that these wild elephants have killed
numbers of our slaves every year. No matter what good advice we gave
them, they were caught sooner or later. You alone have escaped the
wiles of these animals, therefore you must be under the special
protection of Heaven. Now through you the whole town will be enriched
without further loss of life, therefore you shall not only receive your
liberty, but I will also bestow a fortune upon you."

To which I replied, "Master, I thank you, and wish you all prosperity.
For myself I only ask liberty to return to my own country."

"It is well," he answered, "the monsoon will soon bring the ivory ships
hither, then I will send you on your way with somewhat to pay your
passage."

So I stayed with him till the time of the monsoon, and every day we
added to our store of ivory till all his ware-houses were overflowing
with it. By this time the other merchants knew the secret, but there
was enough and to spare for all. When the ships at last arrived my
master himself chose the one in which I was to sail, and put on board
for me a great store of choice provisions, also ivory in abundance, and
all the costliest curiosities of the country, for which I could not
thank him enough, and so we parted. I left the ship at the first port
we came to, not feeling at ease upon the sea after all that had
happened to me by reason of it, and having disposed of my ivory for
much gold, and bought many rare and costly presents, I loaded my pack
animals, and joined a caravan of merchants. Our journey was long and
tedious, but I bore it patiently, reflecting that at least I had not to
fear tempests, nor pirates, nor serpents, nor any of the other perils
from which I had suffered before, and at length we reached Baghdad. My
first care was to present myself before the Caliph, and give him an
account of my embassy. He assured me that my long absence had
disquieted him much, but he had nevertheless hoped for the best. As to
my adventure among the elephants he heard it with amazement, declaring
that he could not have believed it had not my truthfulness been well
known to him.

By his orders this story and the others I had told him were written by
his scribes in letters of gold, and laid up among his treasures. I
took my leave of him, well satisfied with the honours and rewards he
bestowed upon me; and since that time I have rested from my labours,
and given myself up wholly to my family and my friends.
----