Sinbad the Sailor: The First Voyage

I inherited a large fortune from my parents and, young and foolish, threw it away on every pleasure. When I saw how quickly money vanishes under bad management, and remembered how miserable old age is without means, I sold my household goods at auction and joined a company of sea merchants. We fitted out a ship together and embarked from Balsora.

We sailed toward the East Indies by the Persian Gulf, Persia on our left and Arabia Felix on our right. At first the ship’s motion made me ill, but I soon recovered and have never been seasick since.

From time to time we landed on islands to sell or trade our goods. One day the wind dropped and we lay becalmed beside a small island that rose only a little above the water, green as a meadow. The captain furled sail and let anyone who wished go ashore to amuse themselves. I went with the others. After we had strolled about we lit a fire and sat down to the meal we had brought—then the island suddenly trembled violently, and those still on the ship shouted for us to come aboard for our lives: what we had taken for land was the back of a sleeping whale. Those nearest the boat threw themselves in; others sprang into the sea. Before I could save myself the whale plunged, leaving me clinging to a piece of the wood we had brought for the fire. A breeze sprang up; in the confusion of hoisting sail and pulling survivors aboard, no one missed me. All that day I floated, beaten this way and that; by night I despaired, yet I clung on. Morning light showed I had drifted against an island.

The cliffs were high and steep, but tree-roots stuck out in places, and by them I climbed at last and lay on the turf more dead than alive until the sun was high. Hungry, I found edible herbs and a clear spring, then set out to explore. On a great plain a horse stood tethered; as I looked I heard voices that seemed underground, and a man appeared and asked how I came there. I told my story. He was one of the grooms of Mihrage, king of the island; each year they brought their master’s horses to feed on this plain. He took me to a cave where his companions fed me and said I was lucky to have found them, for they returned to the king next day, and without them I would never have reached the inhabited part of the island.

Early next morning we set out. At the capital the king received me kindly, heard my adventures, and ordered that I be cared for and given what I needed. Being a merchant I sought out men of my trade, especially foreigners, hoping for news of Bagdad and a way home—for the capital stood on the shore and ships visited from all parts of the world. Meanwhile I answered questions about my country and, to pass the time, explored a little island named Cassel that belonged to King Mihrage and was said to be haunted by a spirit called Deggial; sailors claimed one could hear timbals played there at night. I saw nothing strange on that trip except fish two hundred cubits long that fled if we so much as struck a board to frighten them, and other fish only a cubit long with heads like owls.

One day after my return I went down to the quay and saw a ship discharging cargo. Drawing nearer I noticed my own name on some packages; examining them, I was sure they were the goods I had shipped at Balsora. I recognized the captain, who believed me dead. I asked who owned the packages he was unloading.

“There was on board,” he said, “a merchant of Bagdad named Sindbad. One day he and others landed on what we thought was an island—really a whale asleep on the waves. When it felt the heat of our fire it plunged. Several perished, among them that unlucky Sindbad. This merchandise is his; I mean to sell it for his family’s benefit if I ever find them.”

“Captain,” I said, “I am that Sindbad you believe dead, and these are my possessions!”

He cried out in amazement that the world was coming to a strange pass—people claiming the goods of the dead—and would not believe me at first. I begged him to hear my story. When I told how I escaped, met the king’s grooms, and was received at court, and when I described marks on the bales that only the owner would know, he was convinced. He threw his arms around my neck, praised Heaven for my escape, and restored everything that was mine. I made rich presents to him and his crew, presented myself again to King Mihrage with the tale of my recovered fortune, and, when a favourable ship offered, sailed home to Bagdad with a cargo that made me wealthier than before. There I gave generously to widows and orphans and settled down to enjoy my riches and forget my past hardships.

Where this story comes from

Sindbad’s first voyage comes from The Arabian Nights Entertainments, edited by Andrew Lang in 1898 and translated from Antoine Galland’s French. It is an Arabian Nights tale, not an Indian folktale, although Sindbad sets sail toward the East Indies.

In the book, Sindbad the rich merchant tells his seven voyages, one each day, to a poor porter named Hindbad, whose name is almost the same as his, and who is given a purse of a hundred sequins after every story. Lang’s preface suggests that some of Sindbad’s adventures may have come from Homer’s Odyssey.

Read the original: Andrew Lang, The Arabian Nights Entertainments (Project Gutenberg #128, The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor: First Voyage)

Suggested for ages 6–8 with an adult: includes a shipboard disaster, deaths at sea and Sinbad’s fear of drowning.

Two appearances need checking

The green surface looks like an island but proves dangerous. Later, the returning owner looks to the captain like an impostor claiming a dead man’s goods. In the second scene, conversation and private marks on the bales correct the first impression. The captain’s hesitation also shows his duty to protect the missing merchant’s property.

Sinbad survives through persistence, but the grooms’ food, the king’s hospitality and the captain’s honesty all matter. His return is not the achievement of a solitary hero.

Map the help home

List the plank, roots, grooms, king and captain in order. Beside each, name the immediate problem it or they help solve. Which step restores Sinbad’s identity as a merchant, as well as his safety?

Talk about it

• What did the sailors think the “island” was, and what was it really?
• How did Sindbad prove to the captain that the bales were his?
• Sindbad nearly drowned, yet he went back to sea again and again. Why do you think he kept going?

Related stories

• Sinbad the Sailor: The Second Voyage — Sindbad sets out again and is stranded on an island of giant birds
• The Fisherman and the Genie — another Arabian Nights tale of a poor man’s adventure by the sea
• Scheherazade and the Sultan — the story of the queen who tells the Sultan all the Arabian Nights