The Seven Voyages of Sinbad - The Fourth Voyage

THE FOURTH VOYAGE

Once again, this voyage starts out much like the other voyages of Sinbad. Bored with his wealth and the comfort that comes with it, he pursued another voyage of adventure.

Once again, he traveled with many merchants out into the ocean from the port of Basra, another city in Iraq.

After what was a mostly comfortable journey of trading, another storm settled upon the sea and led Sinbad and his ship far into the ocean.

Eventually the winds became so strong and aggressive that every part of the ship was torn apart, along with all the items they were going to trade.

Sinbad found himself and many others of his crew washed up on the shoreline of a foreign island. Despite their exhaustion and hunger, they decided to walk further into the depths of the island.

They soon found themselves at the gate of a nice-looking house. Out came from it many men.

Even though they spoke a language unknown to Sinbad and his fellow men, the strangers were kind and led them on a tour throughout the island.

Soon they were introduced to the king of the island, whom let them feast on a variety of delicacies.

Sinbad noticed how his fellow merchants ate sloppily; in a way that was so vicious and aggressive, it was as if they were possessed.

What was even weirder though, was that the king and his fellow men did not seem bothered by such poor manners whatsoever.

Then, Sinbad realized something – the merchants were possessed by something that made them eat, eat, and eat! Until they couldn’t get away anymore. Who knows what were the real intentions of the strange men and their king?

As he was the only one who was not possessed, Sinbad had the mental capacity to realize what was wrong and excused himself. He ran away from the house as quickly as he could, leaving his fellow merchants behind.

He traveled down a road for many days until he found another city, one with many other travellers.

Sinbad told them of how he had escaped his previous circumstances, and the travellers were shocked with his luck. They promised to take him to the king of their city.

On his way to the castle, Sinbad noticed that no one on horseback had saddles. Realizing the potential for profit; upon meeting the king of the city, he introduced the concept of the saddle and eventually established a business of selling saddles to the people of the city.

Soon he became exceptionally wealthy from his business, and the king felt the need to reward him for his efforts.

“Due to your great efforts in providing I and my people with the most comfortable seating on horseback, I am glad to offer you the hand of one of the women of the most noble houses of this city, one who is wealthy and beautiful,” the king declared.

Sinbad and this woman lived together for a while, and Sinbad promised himself that one day he will bring her to Baghdad.

One day, Sinbad noticed his neighbor sobbing to himself. He decided to go see his neighbor and console him, but the neighbor continued to sob.

“You cannot comfort me,” said the neighbor, “you have not yet learned of our customs here in this city.”

Sinbad was curious as to what the neighbor was talking about. “What customs?” Sinbad asked.

“My wife just passed,” the neighbor began, “and when they bury her, they must bury me with her too. It is a tradition in our culture to do so, and the same goes for the wife if her husband dies first,” he explained through tears.

Later that day, Sinbad watched the funeral take place. The deceased wife was dressed in the most gorgeous jewelry and clothes. She went down into the grave first, then the husband along with a pitcher of water and seven chunks of bread.

Sinbad became worried, but not too much as his wife was still healthy.

However; after a few months, Sinbad’s wife grew weak and sick. Despite Sinbad’s prayers for her return to health, she eventually passed.

Soon enough, Sinbad was captured by soldiers and thrown into a tomb along with his deceased wife.

Sinbad knew he had to figure a way out, so he tried his best to maintain the pitcher of water and the seven pieces of bread for as long as possible.

In the tomb, he found various jewelry and heirlooms that he could tell would be worth a fortune, so he stored them in his turban. But what use were some precious jewels if he was trapped underground?!

After a few days of contemplating a way out, Sinbad began to hear what sounded like an animal scurrying. Whatever it was; if it could get in here, that means there is a way out!

Sinbad began to follow the sound of scurrying, until he found a tunnel he could crawl through. As he crawled through the tunnel, he eventually found a strip of light shining through.

He followed the light and made it out onto the shore of a sea. Sinbad spent many hours signalling with sticks he found and calling out to the ocean in hopes of a ship finding him. Luckily, a ship did notice him and sent out a boat for his rescue.

Once again, Sinbad returned to the port of Basra with the wealth of jewelry and heirlooms that he eventually sold for money that he gave away to the poor once more and added more to his life of comfort.