THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
ON THE THIRD NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
Sindbad the Sailor continued:
"I was among those who preferred to walk and enjoy the beauties of the vegetation with which these coasts were covered, while not forgetting to eat and drink.
While we were relaxing in this way, we suddenly felt the whole island tremble and give us such a violent shock that we were thrown a few feet above the ground. And, at the same moment, we saw the captain appear at the front of the ship, who, in a terrible voice and with frightful gestures, cried out to us: “O passengers, save yourselves! Hurry up! Get back on board quickly! Drop everything! Leave your belongings on the ground and save your souls! Flee the abyss that awaits you! Run fast! Because the island you are on is not an island! It's a gigantic whale! She has taken up residence in the middle of this sea, since the times of antiquity; and the trees have grown on its back, thanks to the sea sand! You woke her up from her sleep! You disturbed their rest and disturbed their feelings by lighting fires on his back! And here it is moving! Run away, or she will sink into the sea which will swallow you up forever! Save yourself! Drop everything! I am leaving!"
At these words of the captain, the terrified passengers dropped their effects, clothes, utensils, and stoves and took their course towards the ship which was already weighing anchor. A few were able to reach it just in time; the others could not. For the whale was already on the move and, after a few frightening leaps, was sinking into the sea with all those on its back, and the crashing and crashing waves closed in on it and on them forever.
Now, I was one of those who were abandoned on that whale and drowned!
But Allah Almighty saved me and delivered me from drowning by putting in my hand a hollow piece of wood, a kind of large tub that the passengers had brought to wash their laundry. I clung to it at first, then I succeeded in getting on it astride it, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of which the danger and the dearness of my soul, which was precious to me, made me capable! So I started beating the water with my feet as if with oars, while the waves played with me and made me capsize sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left!
As for the captain, he hastened away, all sails to the wind, with those who had been able to save themselves, without worrying about those who were still floating. These were not long in perishing, while I rowed from my feet, putting all my strength into it, to try to reach the ship which I thus followed with my eye until it had disappeared from my sight, and night would fall on the sea, bringing me the certainty of my loss and my abandonment!
I remained thus to fight against the abyss for a whole night and a whole day. I was finally carried by the wind and the currents to the edges of a steep island covered with vines that descended along the cliffs and dipped into the sea. I clung to these branches and succeeded, using my feet and hands, to climb to the top of the cliff.
Then, having escaped in this way from such certain perdition, I thought of examining my body, and I saw the bruises which covered it and the swelling of my feet, and the traces of the bites made by the fish which had filled my body. belly of my extremities. However, I felt no pain, so desensitized was I to fatigue and danger. So I threw myself on the ground of the island face down like a corpse and fainted, drowned in total stupefaction.
I remained in this state until the second day and only woke up thanks to the sun which fell on me steeply. I wanted to get up, but my swollen and aching feet refused me their help, and I fell back on the ground. So, much saddened by the state in which I found myself reduced, I began to drag myself, sometimes crawling on my feet and hands, sometimes walking on my knees, in search of something to eat. I finally end up arriving in the middle of a plain covered with fruit trees and watered by springs with pure and excellent water. And I rested there for several days, eating fruit and drinking from the springs. Also, my soul was not long in reviving itself and in reviving my numb body which could move more easily and recover the use of its members, not quite however, because, to walk, I was obliged to make myself a pair of crutches from which to support myself. In this way, I was able to walk slowly between the trees dreaming and eating fruits, and spent long moments admiring this country and marveling at the work of the Almighty.
One day as I was walking along the shore, I saw something in the distance appear to me, which I believed to be a wild beast or some monster among the monsters of the sea. Something intrigued me so much that, despite the various feelings which were agitated in me, I approached it, sometimes advancing and sometimes retreating. And I ended up seeing that it was a marvelous mare, tied to a stake. She was so beautiful that I wanted to approach her again to see her up close when suddenly a terrible cry terrified me and froze me on the spot, while I only wanted to flee as quickly as possible; and, at the same moment, from underground, a man came out who, with great strides, advanced on me and cried out to me: “Who are you? And where are you from? And what is the reason that pushed you to venture here?"
I replied: “O my master, know that I am a foreign man and was on board a ship when I drowned with various other passengers. But Allah gave me a wooden tub, which I straddled until I was thrown on this coast by the waves! »
When he heard my words, he took my hand and said: “Follow me!" And I followed him. So he took me down to an underground cavern and led me into a large room where he made me sit in the place of honor, and he brought me something to eat, for I was hungry. I ate until I was full and had enough and my soul was stilled. Then he questioned me about my adventure, and I related it to him from the beginning to the end, and it astonished him prodigiously. Then I added: “By Allah upon you, O my master, do not blame me too much for what I am about to ask of you! I have just told you the truth about my adventure, and I now wish to know who you are and the reason for your stay in this underground room, and the cause which made you tie up this mare all alone on the shore of the sea. !"
He said to me: "Know that on this island there are several of us who, stationed in different places...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.