4. Sinbad the Sailor (The Fourth Voyage)

But a short time passed, and Sinbad again felt the desire to visit foreign lands. He bought the most expensive goods, set off for Basra, hired a good ship, and sailed toward India.

The first few days went smoothly, but one morning a storm arose. Sinbad's ship was tossed about on the waves like a splinter. The captain ordered the anchor to be dropped in a shallow area to wait out the storm. But before the ship could come to a stop, the anchor chains snapped, and the ship was carried straight toward the shore. The sails tore, waves flooded the deck, and swept all the merchants and sailors into the sea. The unfortunate travelers sank like stones. Only Sinbad and a few other merchants managed to grab hold of a plank and stayed afloat on the surface of the sea.

They drifted for an entire day and night, and in the morning, the waves washed them ashore on a rocky coast.

The travelers lay on the ground, barely alive. Only after a full day and night had passed did they begin to recover slightly.

Shivering from the cold, Sinbad and his companions walked along the shore, hoping to find people who would shelter and feed them. They walked for a long time and finally saw a tall structure in the distance, resembling a palace. Sinbad was overjoyed and quickened his pace. But as soon as the travelers approached the structure, they were surrounded by a crowd of people. These people seized them and took them to their king, who gestured for them to sit. When they sat down, bowls of some strange dish were placed before them. Neither Sinbad nor his merchant friends had ever eaten anything like it. Sinbad's companions greedily devoured the food and ate everything in the bowls. Only Sinbad barely touched the dish, merely tasting it.

The king of this city was a cannibal. His attendants captured all foreigners who entered their land and fed them this dish. Anyone who ate it gradually lost their mind and became like an animal. Once the foreigners were fattened, the king's attendants killed them, roasted them, and ate them. The king, however, ate people raw.

Sinbad's companions were destined for the same fate. Each day they ate large amounts of this dish, and their bodies became bloated with fat. They stopped understanding what was happening to them—they only ate and slept. They were handed over to a shepherd, treated like pigs; every day the shepherd drove them out of the city and fed them from large troughs.

Sinbad did not eat the dish, and no other food was given to him. He gathered roots and berries in the meadows and barely survived on them. His body withered, he grew weak, and could hardly stand. Seeing Sinbad so frail and thin, the king's attendants decided he was not worth guarding—he wouldn't escape anyway—and soon forgot about him.

Sinbad, however, dreamed only of escaping the cannibals. One morning, while everyone was still asleep, he slipped out of the palace gates and walked wherever his eyes led him. Soon he came to a green meadow and saw a man sitting on a large rock. It was the shepherd. He had just driven Sinbad's merchant companions out of the city and placed a trough of food before them. Seeing Sinbad, the shepherd immediately realized that Sinbad was healthy and in his right mind. He gestured to him: "Come here!"—and when Sinbad approached, he said, "Follow this path, and when you reach a crossroads, turn right and you will come to the sultan's road. It will lead you out of our king's land, and perhaps you will reach your homeland."

Sinbad thanked the shepherd and set off. He walked as quickly as he could and soon saw a road to his right. For seven days and nights, Sinbad walked along this road, surviving on roots and berries. Finally, on the eighth morning, he saw a crowd of people in the distance and approached them. The people surrounded him and began asking who he was and where he had come from. Sinbad told them everything that had happened, and they took him to the king of that land. The king ordered Sinbad to be fed and also asked him where he was from and what had happened to him. When Sinbad recounted his adventures, the king was amazed and exclaimed:

"I have never heard a more astonishing story in my life! Welcome, stranger! Stay and live in my city."

Sinbad remained in the city of this king, whose name was Taigamus. The king grew very fond of Sinbad and soon became so attached to him that he did not let him out of his sight for a moment. He showed Sinbad every kindness and granted all his wishes.

One day after lunch, when all the king's attendants except Sinbad had gone home, King Taigamus said to Sinbad:

"O Sinbad, you have become dearer to me than all my attendants, and I cannot bear to part with you. I have a great request for you. Promise me you will fulfill it."

"Tell me what your request is," Sinbad replied. "You have been kind to me, and I cannot disobey you."

"Stay with us forever," said the king. "I will find you a good wife, and you will be no worse off in my city than in Baghdad."

Hearing the king's words, Sinbad was deeply saddened. He still hoped to return to Baghdad someday, but now that hope seemed lost. After all, how could Sinbad refuse the king?

"Let it be as you wish, O king," he said. "I will stay here forever."

The king immediately ordered a room in the palace to be prepared for Sinbad and married him to the daughter of his vizier.
Sindbad lived in the city of King Taigamus for several more years and gradually began to forget Baghdad. He made friends among the city's inhabitants, and everyone loved and respected him.

One early morning, one of his friends named Abu-Mansur came to him. His clothes were torn, and his turban was askew; he was wringing his hands and weeping bitterly.

"What's wrong, Abu-Mansur?" asked Sindbad.

"My wife died last night," replied his friend.

Sindbad tried to comfort him, but Abu-Mansur continued to weep bitterly, beating his chest with his hands.

"Oh, Abu-Mansur," said Sindbad, "what good does it do to grieve so? Time will pass, and you will find solace. You are still young and will live a long life."

Suddenly, Abu-Mansur began to cry even harder and exclaimed:

"How can you say that I will live a long life when I have only one day left! Tomorrow you will lose me and never see me again."

"Why?" asked Sindbad. "You are healthy, and death does not threaten you."

"Tomorrow they will bury my wife, and I will be lowered into the grave with her," said Abu-Mansur. "In our country, this is the custom: when a woman dies, her husband is buried alive with her, and when a man dies, his wife is buried with him. 'This is a very bad custom,' thought Sindbad. 'It's good that I am a foreigner and won't be buried alive.'"

He tried his best to comfort Abu-Mansur and promised to ask the king to spare him from such a terrible death. But when Sindbad went to the king and made his request, the king shook his head and said:

"Ask for anything you wish, Sindbad, but not this. I cannot break the custom of my ancestors. Tomorrow your friend will be lowered into the grave."

"O King," asked Sindbad, "if a foreigner's wife dies, will her husband also be buried with her?"

"Yes," replied the king. "But do not worry about yourself. Your wife is still too young and will likely not die before you."

When Sindbad heard these words, he became very upset and frightened. Saddened, he returned home, and from then on, he could think of nothing but how to prevent his wife from falling ill with a fatal disease. A short time passed, and what he feared came to pass. His wife became gravely ill and died a few days later.

The king and all the city's inhabitants came, as was the custom, to console Sindbad. They dressed his wife in her finest jewels, placed her body on a bier, and carried her to a high mountain not far from the city. At the top of the mountain was a deep pit covered by a heavy stone. The bier with Sindbad's wife's body was tied with ropes, and after lifting the stone, they lowered it into the grave. Then King Taigamus and Sindbad's friends approached him and began to say their farewells. Poor Sindbad realized that his hour of death had come. He tried to run away, shouting:

"I am a foreigner and should not be subject to your customs! I do not want to die in this pit!"

But no matter how much Sindbad resisted, they still led him to the terrible pit. They gave him a jug of water and seven loaves of bread, tied him with ropes, and lowered him into the pit. Then they covered the pit with the stone, and the king and all who were with him returned to the city.
Poor Sinbad found himself in a tomb, among the dead. At first, he could see nothing, but when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a faint light coming from above. The stone covering the entrance to the tomb did not fit tightly, and a thin ray of sunlight pierced through into the cave.

The entire cave was filled with the dead—men and women. They were dressed in their finest clothes and adorned with jewelry. Despair and sorrow overwhelmed Sinbad.

"Now there is no escape for me," he thought. "No one can leave this tomb."

After a few hours, the sunbeam illuminating the cave faded, and everything around Sinbad became completely dark. Sinbad was very hungry. He ate a flatbread, drank some water, and fell asleep right on the ground, among the dead.

Day after day, and then a third, Sinbad spent in the terrifying cave. He tried to eat as little as possible to make the food last longer, but by the evening of the third day, he swallowed the last piece of flatbread and drank the last sip of water. Now all that was left for him was to await death.

Sinbad spread his cloak on the ground and lay down. He spent the entire night sleepless, reminiscing about his native Baghdad, his friends and companions. Only towards morning did his eyes close, and he fell asleep.

He woke up to a faint rustling: someone was scratching the stone walls of the cave with claws, growling and snorting. Sinbad jumped to his feet and moved towards the sound. Something ran past him, its paws clattering.

"It must be some wild beast," Sinbad thought. "It must have smelled a human, got scared, and ran away. But how did it get into the cave?"

Sinbad rushed after the beast and soon saw a light in the distance, which grew brighter the closer he got. Soon, Sinbad found himself before a large opening. He stepped through the opening and found himself on a mountainside. The sea waves roared as they crashed against the base of the mountain.

Joy filled Sinbad's heart, and hope for salvation returned.

"After all, ships do pass by this place," he thought. "Perhaps some vessel will pick me up. Even if I die here, it will be better than perishing in that cave full of the dead."

Sinbad sat for a while on a rock by the cave entrance, enjoying the fresh morning air. He began to think about his return to Baghdad, to his friends and companions, and it saddened him that he would return to them ruined, without a single dirham. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and exclaimed loudly:

"I am grieving over returning to Baghdad as a pauper, when such riches lie nearby, riches that even the treasuries of Persian kings do not possess! The cave is full of the dead, men and women, who have been buried there for hundreds of years. And with them, their finest jewels are placed in the tomb. These jewels will simply go to waste in the cave, serving no purpose. If I take some for myself, no one will suffer from it."

Sinbad immediately returned to the cave and began collecting rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets scattered on the ground. He tied them all up in his cloak and carried the bundle of jewels out of the cave. He spent several days on the seashore, surviving on grass, fruits, roots, and berries he gathered in the forest on the mountainside, and from morning till evening, he watched the sea. Finally, he saw a ship in the distance, heading his way.

In an instant, Sinbad tore off his shirt, tied it to a thick stick, and began running along the shore, waving it in the air. The lookout on the ship's mast noticed his signals, and the captain ordered the ship to stop near the shore. Without waiting for a boat to be sent for him, Sinbad plunged into the water and, with a few strokes, reached the ship. A moment later, he stood on the deck, surrounded by sailors, and told his story. From the sailors, he learned that their ship was sailing from India to Basra. The captain readily agreed to take Sinbad to that city, accepting only one precious stone as payment—albeit the largest one.

After a month of travel, the ship safely reached Basra. From there, Sinbad the Sailor set off for Baghdad. He stored the jewels he had brought with him in a vault and once again lived in his home, happy and joyful.

And so ended Sinbad's fourth voyage.

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4. Sinbad the Sailor (The Fourth Voyage)

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