Anonymous · 900 · sea

The seven voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, the most famous tales of the One Thousand and One Nights. A merchant of Baghdad in the age of Harun al-Rashid, Sinbad sails again and again from Basra into the Indian Ocean in search of fortune, meeting the island-whale, the roc, the Valley of Diamonds, the cannibal giant and the Old Man of the Sea. This route follows his wanderings down the Persian Gulf and across the eastern seas to India, Ceylon, the spice islands and the shores of China, and home again each time to Baghdad.

1. 1
   Baghdad

   In the golden age of Baghdad, in the reign of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, a poor porter rests at the gate of a great house and bemoans his hard lot. The wealthy merchant within, Sinbad the Sailor, hears him and invites him in, and over seven feasts tells how he won his fortune across seven terrible voyages, each begun from this same city on the Tigris.

2. 2
   Basra

   Restless and ruined after squandering his inheritance, Sinbad takes ship for the first time. He travels down the Tigris to Basra, the great port at the head of the Gulf, where merchants load their vessels with goods for the East and wait upon the monsoon winds to carry them out to sea.

3. 3
   Whale-Island

   Steering for the Indies through the Persian Gulf, the ship anchors by a small green island. But as the sailors light their cooking-fires the island heaves and plunges beneath them, for it is no island at all but a vast sleeping whale. Sinbad clings to a wooden tub and is swept away alone, the first of the marvels and disasters that will dog every voyage.

4. 4
   Malabar Coast

   Voyage after voyage Sinbad trades along the coasts of India, the pepper and spice shores of Malabar, where Arab dhows have long sailed for the camphor, sandalwood and pearls of the East. Here too lie the diamond valleys guarded by serpents, from which he escapes by clinging to a slab of meat carried off by the great birds.

5. 5
   Serendib

   Again and again his voyages bring him to Serendib, the island of Ceylon, whose rivers run with gems and whose mountain bears the footprint of Adam. He is received by its king, who marvels at his tales of Harun al-Rashid and sends rich gifts back to Baghdad, a cup cut from a single ruby among them.

6. 6
   Sumatra

   Eastward still he sails, past Sumatra and the Isle of Bells, ten days voyage from Serendib, into seas where rocs darken the sky and drop boulders to shatter the ships below. On one such island he is seized by the Old Man of the Sea, who clamps onto his shoulders and will not let go until Sinbad makes him drunk and casts him off.

7. 7
   The East Indies

   Among the spice islands of the East Indies he meets every kind of wonder and horror: the cannibal isle where the crew are fattened and drugged, the city of apes, the giant who roasts the sailors one by one until Sinbad blinds him with a red-hot spit and escapes by raft. Each time he loses everything, and each time wins it back twofold.

8. 8
   China

   At the furthest reach of his wandering, Sinbad comes to the seas of China, the eastern end of the great sea-road that links the Gulf to the Orient. He has sailed as far as any merchant of Baghdad has gone, through every peril the ocean can show, and now at last he turns his face toward home.

9. 9
   Basra

   Laden with the treasures of the East, Sinbad makes the long voyage back across the monsoon seas to Basra, surviving pirates, slavery and shipwreck on the way, as he has survived them all his life. From the familiar quay he sets out up the river for the city of his birth.

10. 10
    Baghdad

    Home in Baghdad, rich beyond measure, Sinbad vows each time that he will never sail again, and each time the longing for the sea and its wonders draws him out once more. Seven voyages he makes in all, and at the last, grown old and content, he gives the porter a fortune and ends his tale, the most travelled merchant in all the lands of Islam.