The Voyages of Sindbad
The voyages of Sindbad are told from a first-person narrative. Reading these, I tried to calculate the probability of the tall-tale actually taking place.
Voyage 1:
In this voyage, Sindbad and his men set up camp on an island out in the middle of the ocean for the night. But when they try starting a fire, the island reveals itself to actually be the back of a ginormous whale! Many of the men try to escape, but many more die. Sindbad is left behind by his crew and clings to a single plank of wood as life support until he drifts up to an (actual) island and happens upon some of the King’s men grazing his horses. The men take him to the king, he is reunited with his crew who has come to trade with the king, and everybody has a happy ending.
Now I’m not sure an entire crew would be able to make camp on the back of a whale, but I wonder if the resting back of a whale could be enough room for at least a few people. The awakening would still be rude, of course, but maybe it would be fun to camp on a whale for a night.
Voyage 2:
This voyage is definitely a bit harder to believe because Sindbad ends up stranded on an island with giant eagle birds. Because he’s crafty, he sneaks up to one and uses his turban to tie himself to the leg of the bird. Then, he’s carried across the island and unties himself in a valley of diamonds! Unfortunately, the diamonds appear to be in a land of giant snakes.
I’m all for believing giant animals still exist, but diamonds? Out in the open on the ground? No way. I don’t know much about crystal chemistry, but I’m pretty sure diamonds are harvested from veins of coal that have seen too much pressure and heat. They don’t just pop up out of the ground like that.
Sindbad plans his escape from the roc nest
Image: Virginia Frances Sterrett
Voyage 3:
This tale sounds a lot like the one I read in ‘The Odyssey’, when Odysseus and his men land on the island of Cyclops. In this tale, Sindbad and his crew land upon an uncharted island where these hairy dwarves hijack their ship and strand them on another island. Sindbad and his crew wander the island and find a castle that they venture into. They soon discover it’s littered with human bones, and then I giant comes in and eats the captain. I don’t know what it is, but something humanoid cannibalizing another human just gives me the major creeps.
They escape the same way Odysseus and his men did - stabbing the giant in the eye with a red hot poker. Then they escape on driftwood rafts with the other giants trying to avenge their giant brother and throwing large boulders at the escaping sailors. I suppose this in itself is another great example of storytelling!
The giant from the third voyage decides which sailor he will eat that night.
Image: visiteveryday
Bibliography
Book: Arabian Nights' Entertainments
Author: Andrew Lang
Year: 1898
Read the stories here!
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