THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
ON THE TWENTY-SECOND NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
A venerable sheik with a white beard advanced towards me, who began by welcoming me and covering me with warm clothes which did me the greatest good.
Once revived by the friction and the massage that the old man was kind enough to give me, I was able to get up on my bed, without however recovering the use of speech. Then the old man supported me by the arm and led me gently to the hammam where he made me give an excellent bath which completed restoring my soul to me, then he made me smell exquisite perfumes and spread them all over my body, then he took me to his house.
When I was introduced into the house of this old man, his whole family greatly rejoiced at my arrival and received me with much cordiality and demonstrations of friendship. The old man himself made me sit in the middle of the divan in the reception room and made me eat things of the first order and drink water pleasantly scented with flowers. After which, incense was burned around me, and the slaves brought me hot and perfumed water to wash my hands with, and presented me with towels hemmed in silk to wipe my fingers, my beard. and the lips. After which, the old man led me into a very well furnished room, where he left me alone, and withdrew with great discretion. But he left at my command various slaves who, from time to time, came to see if I did not need their services.
For three days I was treated in this way, without anyone questioning me or asking any question whatever; and they let me want for nothing, nursing me with much kindness, until at last I felt my strength fully restored and my soul and heart calmed and refreshed. Then, as it was the morning of the fourth day, the old man came and sat down beside me, after the salams, and said to me: “O our guest, how your presence has filled us with ease and pleasure! May Allah be blessed who put us on your way to save you from the abyss! Who are you and where are you from?" So I thanked the old man very much for the enormous service he had rendered me by saving my life and then by making me eat excellently and drink excellently and perfume me excellently, and I said to him: "My name is Sindbad the Sailor! I am so named because of my great journeys on the sea and the extraordinary things that happened to me and which, if they were written, would serve as a lesson to attentive readers!" And I told the old man my story from beginning to end, without omitting a detail.
Then the old man was prodigiously astonished and remained a long time without being able to speak, so moved was he by what he had just heard. Then he raised his head, repeated to me the expression of his joy at having helped me, and said to me: "Now, O my host, if you would listen to my advice, you would sell your goods which are certainly worth a lot of money, because of their rarity and quality!"
At these words of the old man, I was on the verge of astonishment, and, not knowing either what he meant or what goods he was talking about, since I was stripped of everything, I was silent at first for a while ; then, as I did not want all the same to miss such an extraordinary opportunity which presented itself fortuitously, I put on a knowing air and replied: "It may very well be!" Then the old man said to me: "Don't worry, my child, about your merchandise. You just have to get up and come with me to the souk. And I take care of everything else. If she brings home a price that really suits us, we will accept it; otherwise, I will do you the service of keeping the goods in my warehouses until the price rises; and then we can get the most advantageous price! »
So, I was inwardly more and more perplexed; but I didn't show it, for I said to myself: "Wait a little longer, Sindbad, and you'll see what it's all about!" And I said to the old man: “O my venerable uncle, I listen and I obey! Everything you see fit to do will be full of blessing! For my part, after all you have done for my good, I can only conform to your will!" And I got up on time and accompanied him to the souk.
When we arrived in the middle of the souk where the public auction was taking place, what was my astonishment to see my raft transported there and surrounded by a crowd of brokers and merchants who looked at it with respect and shrugged heads. And from all sides I heard exclamations of admiration: “Ya Allah! what a wonderful quality sandal! Nowhere in the world is there such quality!" So I understood that this was the merchandise in question, and I thought it important for the sale to assume a dignified and reserved air.
But now that immediately the old man, my protector, approaching the chief broker, said to him: “Open the auction! And the auction was opened, as the first price on the raft, at a thousand dinars! And the chief broker shouted: “At a thousand dinars, the sandal raft, O buyers!" Then the old man exclaimed, "I'm a taker at two thousand!" But another shouted, "Three thousand!" And the merchants continued to raise the price to ten thousand dinars! Then the chief broker looked my way and asked me: "It's ten thousand! we are no longer increasing." But I say, "I'm not selling at that price!" »
Then my protector approached me and said: “My child, the souk, these days, is not very prosperous, and the merchandise has lost some of its value. It is therefore better to accept the price offered. But me, if you want, I'm going to increase my own account again, and I increase by a hundred dinars! Do you want to leave everything to me at ten thousand dinars and one hundred dinars?" I replied, “By Allah! my good uncle, for you only I will do the thing, in order to recognize your benefits! I agree to leave you the wood for the sum!" At these words, the old man ordered his slaves to transport all the sandal to the reserve stores, and took me to his house, where he counted out to me on the hour the ten thousand dinars and one hundred dinars, and locked them in a sturdy box to which he gave me the key, again thanking me for what I had done for him.
Then he had the tablecloth stretched out, and we ate, and we drank, and we chatted merrily. After which, we washed our hands and our mouths; then he said to me: “My child, I want to make a request to you which I would very much like to see you accept!" I answered: "My good uncle, everything will be easy for me to grant you!" He said to me: “You see, my son, that I have become a very old man, and that I have no male child who can one day inherit my property. But I must tell you that I have a daughter, still very young, full of charm and prettiness, who will be very rich when I die. So I wish to give her to you in marriage, on condition that you agree to live in our country and live our life. You will thus be the master of all that I possess and of all that my hand directs. And you will replace me in my authority and in the possession of my goods!"
When I heard these words of the old man, I lowered my head in silence, and remained like that without saying a word. He then resumed: “Believe me, O my son, grant me what I ask of you! It will bless you! I will add, to calm your soul, that after my death you can return to your country taking your wife, my daughter. I only ask you to stay here the time that is still due to me on earth!" So I answered: “By Allah, my uncle the sheik, you are like my father and, in front of you, I cannot have an opinion or take any resolution other than those that suit you; because, me, each time I wanted in my life to carry out a project, I had only misfortunes and disappointments. I am therefore ready to conform to your will!"
Immediately the old man, extremely delighted with my answer, ordered his slaves to fetch the kadi and the witnesses, who were not long in arriving...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night - Sixth Night - Seventh Night
Eighth Night - Ninth Night - Tenth Night - Eleventh Night - Twelfth Night - Thirteenth Night
Fourteenth Night - Fifteenth Night - Sixteenth Night - Seventeenth Night - Eighteenth Night
Nineteenth Night - Twentieth Night - Twenty-first Night