Although
The Voyages of Sindbad were somewhat repetitive, they were still entertaining stories and even comical at times.
The first thing we learn about Sindbad is that he inherited
a fortune from his parents, but then wasted most of it. He then sold his
belongings and started working as a merchant at sea. One day at sea some of the
crew members decided to go to what they thought was a small island, but later
found out it was actually a giant whale they were on the back of. Sindbad got
left behind by his ship and was stuck floating on a board. The next morning he
was washed up on an island and found a man there. The man took Sindbad to the
capital and met the king. While still in the city, he sees a vessel is
unloading cargo with Sindbad’s name and finds out that it is his old ship. At
first the captain thinks he is an imposter, but then finally realizes it actually
is Sindbad, who takes his belongings that he then trades for goods he needs. He
sails back home on the same vessel, sees his family, and buys a home for
himself there.
A while after being home, Sindbad embarks on another voyage,
but with a different ship this time. Once again the sailors embark an island,
except this time Sindbad falls asleep and wakes up to see that he has been left
stranded. He then finds a massive bird egg and when the bird comes to keep it
warm he ties himself to the bird. He unties himself when the bird lands and is
once again alone, but this time in a valley infested with nocturnal snakes. The
next morning while he is outside, a giant piece of meat falls right next to
him. He then remembers stories of past sailors talking about a land of
diamonds, where merchants threw meat into the valley with diamonds where eagles
also kept their eggs. Diamonds would embed into the meat and when the birds
brought the meat back to their next, they would scare the eagles away and take
the diamonds from the meat. Sindbad takes some diamonds and ties himself to a
piece of meat and gets carried away by an eagle. He leaves the valley with the
merchants and eventually returns home again with his treasures.
Once again, Sindbad seeks adventure and sets sail. A storm
blows his ship astray and he finds himself on an island again. The island had
savages that were very short and had red fur. The savages steal Sindbad’s
vessel and leave the island, stranding him and his crew. On the island they
find a castle, which has human bones and a giant inside. Sindbad and the crew
pretend to be dead, but the giant takes the Captain of the ship and eats him,
then leaves the next morning and Sindbad and the other men are alone in the
castle. During the day they roam the island and return to the castle at night,
where another one of them gets eaten. The next day the crew builds rafts,
returns to the castle, and another one gets eaten. They then kill the giant by
poking his eye out. The crew goes to the rafts and more giants appear and begin
throwing rocks at the crew. The rafts carry them to an island and once on the
island and a giant snake eats the rest of the men with Sindbad. He avoids being eaten by the snake and
attracts the attention of a sailing ship, which picks him up. At one of the
ports this ship stops at, Sindbad meets the captain from his second voyage and
eventually returns home again.
After embarking on another voyage, Sindbad’s ship gets
wrecked in a storm and he is stuck on an island. The inhabitants capture him
and the crew. Sindbad and his crew are then fed lots of food and everyone but
Sindbad gorges himself and the captors eat them all. Sindbad escapes and after
running for 7 days he finds other people by the shore. He leaves with them and
is taken back to their king. Sindbad realizes that the people do not use
saddles to ride horses, has them made for him, and is given lots of wealth. The
king offers Sindbad more riches and a beautiful wife in exchange for him living
the rest of his life there. Sindbad’s wife dies and he gets buried alive in a
tomb with her, as is customary in that land. One day the tomb got opened to
lower another body and living person in. Sindbad kills the living woman and
takes the bread and water that she was lowered down with. Sindbad then sees a
rodent and chases it through the tomb, which leads him to a way out. He then
catches a vessel and after voyaging a while returns home for the fourth time.
Sindbad sets out on a voyage again, except this time on his
own vessel and with other merchants that he invited along. They stop at an
uninhabited island and some of the merchants see the same type of egg that
Sindbad did on his second voyage, but they break it open and eat the bird inside.
The giant birds return to see the egg has been destroyed and pick up rocks,
destroying Sindbad’s boat with them. Sindbad finds a piece of wood to float on
and is carried to another island. An old man convinces Sindbad to carry him
across a river, but then attacks Sindbad. Sindbad finally sheds the old man and
meets some sailors on the shore. He tours with them for a while and eventually
returns home with riches once again.
Sindbad sets sail again, gets lost again, and is once again
on an ancient land! This land had a very large mountain and is supposedly one
that no sailor had ever lived to tell about. Running out of food, Sindbad
builds a raft and sets sail on a river that comes from the mountain then turns
inland. He falls asleep while on the raft and wakes up to see some men, who
tell him they saved his raft and then bring him to the king of the land.
Sindbad then returns home with lots of riches, but first stops to give his king
a letter and a gift from the king of the land that Sindbad was stranded on.
Sindbad has now refused to voyage ever again, but his king
demands that he returns to the land of his sixth voyage and give the king a
gift. On his way back home, pirates capture Sindbad’s ship and he is sold as a
slave to a rich merchant. He is used as an elephant hunter, but one day an
elephant tears down the tree he is in. He escapes from the elephants and
eventually returns back home. He is given many riches by his king and finally,
returns home and stays there for good.
