But a little time passed, and Sinbad again wanted to visit foreign countries. He bought the most expensive goods, went to Basra, hired a good ship and sailed towards India.
The first days everything went well, but one day a storm arose in the morning. Sinbad's ship began to be tossed across the waves like a piece of wood. The captain ordered to anchor in a shallow place to wait out the storm. But before the ship could stop, the anchor chains broke, and the ship was carried straight to the shore. The sails on the ship tore, the waves flooded the deck and carried all the merchants and sailors out to sea. Unhappy travelers, like stones sank to the bottom. Only Sinbad and a few other merchants grabbed a piece of the board and stayed on the surface of the sea.
All day and all night they rushed across the sea, and in the morning the waves threw them onto the rocky shore.
The travelers lay on the ground barely alive. Only when the day passed, followed by the night, did they come to their senses a little.
Shivering from the cold, Sinbad and his friends walked along the shore, hoping that they would meet people who would shelter and feed them. They walked for a long time and finally saw in the distance a tall building that looked like a palace. Sinbad was very happy and walked faster. But as soon as the travelers approached this building, they were surrounded by a crowd of people. These people grabbed them and took them to their king, and the king ordered them to sit down with a sign. When they sat down, bowls with some strange food were placed in front of them. Neither Sinbad nor his merchant friends had ever eaten this. Sinbad's companions greedily attacked the food and ate everything that was in the bowls. Only Sinbad almost did not touch the food, but only tasted it.
And the king of this city was a cannibal. His entourage caught all the foreigners who entered their country and fed them this food. Anyone who ate it gradually lost their minds and became like an animal. Having fattened the stranger, the king's entourage killed him, fried him and ate him. And the king ate people directly raw.
Sinbad's friends also faced the same fate. Every day they ate a lot of this food, and their whole body became swollen with fat. They no longer understood what was happening to them - they only ate and slept. They were given to the shepherd, like pigs; every day the shepherd drove them out of the city and fed them from large troughs.
Sinbad did not eat this dish, and he was not given anything else. He picked roots and berries in the meadows and somehow ate them. His body became dry, he became weak and could barely stand on his feet. Seeing that Sinbad was so weak and skinny, the king’s entourage decided that there was no need to guard him - he wouldn’t run away anyway - and they soon forgot about him.
And Sinbad only dreamed of how to escape from the cannibals. One morning, when everyone was still sleeping, he left 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 stone. It was a shepherd. He had just driven the merchants, Sinbad's friends, out of the city and placed a trough of food in front of them. Seeing Sinbad, the shepherd immediately realized that Sinbad was healthy and in control of his mind. He made a sign to him with his hand: “Come here!” and when Sinbad approached, he said to him: “Walk along this path, and when you reach the crossroads, turn right and you will go out onto the Sultan’s road.” She will lead you out of the land of our king, and perhaps you will reach your homeland.
Sinbad thanked the shepherd and left. He tried to walk as quickly as possible and soon saw a road to his right. Sinbad walked along this road for seven days and seven nights, eating roots and berries. Finally, on the eighth day in the morning, he saw a crowd of people not far from him and approached them. People surrounded him and began to ask who he was and where he came from. Sinbad told them everything that had happened to him, and he was taken to the king of that country. The king ordered Sinbad to be fed and also asked him where he was from and what happened to him. When Sinbad told the king about his adventures, the king was very surprised and exclaimed:
“I’ve never heard a more amazing story in my life!” Welcome, stranger! Stay live in my city.
Sinbad remained in the city of this king, whose name was Taigamus. The king fell in love with Sinbad very much and soon got so used to him that he did not let him go for a minute. He showed Sinbad all kinds of favors and fulfilled all his wishes.
And then one afternoon, when all the king’s entourage, except Sinbad, had gone home, King Taigamus said to Sinbad:
- Oh Sinbad, you have become dearer to me than all my loved ones, and I cannot part with you. I have a big favor to ask of you. Promise me that you will fulfill it.
“Tell me what your request is,” answered Sinbad. “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 very upset. He still hoped to return to Baghdad someday, but now he had to give up hope. After all, Sinbad could not refuse the king!
“Let it be your way, O king,” he said. “I will stay here forever.”
The king immediately ordered that Sinbad be given a room in the palace and married him to the daughter of his vizier.
Sinbad lived for several more years in the city of King Taigamus and began to gradually forget Baghdad. He made friends among the city residents, everyone loved and respected him.
And then one early morning one of his friends named Abu Mansur came to him. His clothes were torn and his turban had slipped to one side; he wrung his hands and sobbed bitterly.
“What’s wrong with you, Abu Mansur?” asked Sinbad.
“My wife died last night,” answered his friend.
Sinbad began to console him, but Abu Mansur continued to cry bitterly, hitting himself in the chest with his hands.
“Oh Abu Mansur,” said Sinbad, “what is the use of killing yourself like that?” Time will pass and you will be consoled. You are still young and will live a long time.
And suddenly Abu Mansur cried even harder and exclaimed:
- How can you say that I will live long when I have only one day left to live! Tomorrow you will lose me and never see me again.
“Why?” asked Sinbad. “You are healthy, and you are not in danger of death.”
“Tomorrow they will bury my wife, and I will also be lowered into the grave with her,” said Abu Mansur. “In our country there is such a 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 Sinbad. “It’s good that I’m a foreigner and won’t be buried alive.”
He tried as best he could to console Abu Mansur and promised that he would ask the king to save him from such a terrible death. But when Sinbad came to the king and expressed his request to him, the king shook his head and said:
- Ask for whatever you want, Sinbad, but not this. I cannot break the custom of my ancestors. Tomorrow your friend will be lowered into the grave.
“O king,” asked Sinbad, “and if a foreigner’s wife dies, will her husband also be buried with her?”
“Yes,” answered the king. “But don’t worry about yourself.” Your wife is still too young and will probably not die before you.
When Sinbad heard these words, he was very upset and afraid. Sad, he returned to his place and from then on he always thought about one thing - lest his wife fall ill with a fatal disease. A little time passed, and what he feared happened. His wife became seriously ill and died a few days later.
The king and all the inhabitants of the city came, as usual, to console Sinbad. They put her best jewelry on his wife, placed her body on a stretcher and carried her to a high mountain not far from the city. At the top of the mountain a deep hole was dug, covered with a heavy stone. The stretcher with the body of Sinbad's wife was tied with ropes and, lifting the stone, they lowered it into the grave. And then King Taigamus and Sinbad’s friends approached him and began to say goodbye to him. Poor Sinbad realized that the hour of his death had come. He started running shouting:
“I am a foreigner and should not submit to your customs!” I don't want to die in this pit!
But no matter how Sinbad fought back, he was still led to a terrible pit. They gave him a jug of water and seven loaves of bread, tied him with ropes, and lowered him into a hole. And then the hole was filled with stone, and the king and everyone who was with him went back to the city.
Poor Sinbad found himself in the grave, among the dead. At first he saw nothing, but when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed that a faint light was coming into the grave from above. The stone that covered the entrance to the grave did not fit tightly to its edges, and a thin ray of sun made its way into the cave.
The whole cave was full of dead men and women. They were wearing their best dresses and jewelry. Despair and grief overwhelmed Sinbad.
“Now I can no longer be saved,” he thought. “No one can come out of this grave.”
A few hours later, the sunbeam that illuminated the cave went out, and it became completely dark around Sinbad. Sinbad was very hungry. He ate a cake, drank water and fell asleep right on the ground, among the dead.
Sinbad spent a day, two, and then a third in a terrible cave. He tried to eat as little as possible so that the food would last longer, but on the third day in the evening he swallowed the last piece of flatbread and washed it down with the last sip of water. Now he could only wait for death.
Sinbad spread his cloak on the ground and lay down. He lay awake all night, remembering his native Baghdad, friends and acquaintances. Only in the morning his eyes closed and he fell asleep.
He woke up from a faint rustling: someone was scratching the stone walls of the cave with his claws, grumbling and snorting. Sinbad jumped to his feet and walked in the direction of the noise. Someone ran past him, knocking their paws.
“This must be some kind of wild animal,” thought Sinbad. “Sensing a man, he got scared and ran away. But how did he get into the cave?
Sinbad rushed after the beast and soon saw a light in the distance, which became brighter the closer Sinbad came to it. Soon Sinbad found himself in front of a large hole. Sinbad went out through the hole and found himself on the mountainside. The sea waves crashed at its base with a roar.
Sinbad felt joyful in his soul; he again had hope of salvation.
“After all, ships are passing by this place,” he thought. “Maybe some ship will pick me up.” And even if I die here, it will be better than dying in this cave full of dead people.”
Sinbad sat for a while on a stone at the entrance to the cave, enjoying the fresh morning air. He began to think about his return to Baghdad, to his friends and acquaintances, and he became sad that he would return to them ruined, without a single dirham. And suddenly he slapped his hand on his forehead and said loudly:
“I am sad that I will return to Baghdad as a beggar, and not far from me lie such riches that are not in the treasuries of the Persian kings!” The cave is full of dead men and women who have been lowered into it for many hundreds of years. And their best jewelry is lowered into the grave with them. These jewels will disappear in the cave without any use. If I take some of them for myself, no one will suffer from it.
Sinbad immediately returned to the cave and began to collect rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets scattered on the ground. He tied it all up in his cloak and carried the bundle of jewelry out of the cave. He spent several days on the seashore, eating grass, fruits, roots and berries, which he collected in the forest on the mountainside, and from morning to evening he looked at the sea. Finally, he saw in the distance, on the waves, a ship heading towards him.
Sinbad instantly tore off his shirt, tied it to a thick stick and began to run along the shore, waving it in the air. A lookout sitting on the ship's mast noticed its signs, and the captain ordered the ship to stop not far from the shore. Without waiting for a boat to be sent for him, Sinbad rushed into the water and reached the ship in a few strokes. A minute later he was already standing on the deck, surrounded by sailors, and telling his story. From the sailors he learned that their ship was sailing from India to Basra. The captain willingly agreed to take Sinbad to this city and took from him only one precious stone in payment, albeit the largest.
After a month of travel, the ship safely reached Basra. From there Sinbad the Sailor went to Baghdad. He put the jewelry that he had brought with him into the storeroom, and again lived in his home, happy and joyful.
Thus ended Sinbad's fourth journey.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru