Sinbad lived in his hometown for several years, without leaving anywhere. His friends and acquaintances, Baghdad merchants, came to him every evening and listened to stories about his wanderings, and every time Sinbad remembered the Rukh bird, the diamond valley of huge snakes, he became so scared, as if he were still wandering in the valley of diamonds.
One evening, as usual, his merchant friends came to Sinbad. When they finished dinner and prepared to listen to the owner’s stories, a servant entered the room and said that a man was standing at the gate selling strange fruits.
“Order him to come here,” said Sinbad.
The servant brought the fruit merchant into the room. He was a dark man with a long black beard, dressed in a foreign style. On his head he carried a basket full of magnificent fruits. He placed the basket in front of Sinbad and removed the cover from it.
Sinbad looked into the basket and gasped in surprise. It contained huge round oranges, sour and sweet lemons, oranges, bright as fire, peaches, pears and pomegranates, so large and juicy, which do not exist in Baghdad.
“Who are you, stranger, and where did you come from?” Sinbad asked the merchant.
“Oh sir,” he answered, “I was born far from here, on the island of Serendib.” All my life I sailed the seas and visited many countries and everywhere I sold such fruits.
“Tell me about the island of Serendib: what is it like and who lives on it?” said Sinbad.
“You can’t tell about my homeland in words.” It must be seen, since there is no island in the world more beautiful and better than Serendib,” answered the merchant. “When the traveler steps ashore, he hears the singing of beautiful birds, whose feathers glow in the sun like precious stones.” Even the flowers on the island of Serendib glow like bright gold. And there are flowers on it that cry and laugh. Every day at sunrise they raise their heads up and shout loudly: “Morning! Morning!” and they laugh, and in the evening, when the sun sets, they lower their heads to the ground and cry. As soon as darkness falls, all kinds of animals come to the seashore - bears, leopards, lions and sea horses - and each one holds in his mouth a precious stone that sparkles like fire and illuminates everything around. And the trees in my homeland are the rarest and most expensive: aloe, which smells so wonderful when lit; strong water that goes to ship masts - not a single insect will gnaw through it, and neither water nor cold will harm it; tall palms and shiny ebony, or ebony. The sea around Serendib is gentle and warm. At the bottom of it lie wonderful pearls - white, pink and black, and fishermen dive into the water and take them out. And sometimes they send little monkeys for pearls...
The fruit merchant talked for a long time about the wonders of the island of Serendib, and when he finished, Sinbad generously rewarded him and let him go. The merchant left, bowing low, and Sinbad went to bed, but for a long time he tossed from side to side and could not sleep, remembering the stories about the island of Serendib. He heard the splash of the sea and the creaking of ship masts, he saw in front of him wonderful birds and golden flowers sparkling with bright lights. Finally he fell asleep and dreamed of a monkey with a huge pink pearl in its mouth.
When he woke up, he immediately jumped out of bed and said to himself:
- I definitely have to visit the island of Serendib! Today I will start getting ready for the journey.
He collected all the money he had, bought goods, said goodbye to his family and again went to the seaside city of Basra. He spent a long time choosing a better ship for himself and finally found a beautiful, strong ship. The captain of this ship was a sailor from Persia named Buzurg - an old fat man with a long beard. He sailed the ocean for many years, and his ship was never wrecked.
Sinbad ordered his goods to be loaded onto Buzurg's ship and set off. His merchant friends went with him, who also wanted to visit the island of Serendib.
The wind was fair and the ship was moving quickly forward. The first days everything went well. But one morning a storm began at sea; A strong wind arose, which kept changing direction. Sinbad's ship was carried across the sea like a piece of wood. Huge waves rolled across the deck one after another. Sinbad and his friends tied themselves to the masts and began to say goodbye to each other, not hoping to escape. Only Captain Buzurg was calm. He himself stood at the helm and gave orders in a loud voice. Seeing that he was not afraid, his companions also calmed down. By noon the storm began to subside. The waves became smaller and the sky cleared. Soon there was complete calm.
And suddenly Captain Buzurg began to hit himself in the face, moan and cry. He tore the turban from his head, threw it on the deck, tore his robe and shouted:
- Know that our ship is caught in a strong current and we cannot get out of it! And this current carries us to a country called “The Country of the Furry Ones.” There live people who look like monkeys, and no one has ever returned alive from this country. Get ready for death - there is no salvation for us!
Before the captain had time to finish speaking, a terrible blow was heard. The ship shook violently and stopped. The current drove him to the shore, and he ran aground. And now the entire shore was covered with little people. There were more and more of them, they rolled down from the shore straight into the water, swam up to the ship and quickly climbed the masts. These little people, covered with thick hair, with yellow eyes, crooked legs and tenacious hands, gnawed through the ship's ropes and tore off the sails, and then rushed at Sinbad and his companions. The leading man crept up to one of the merchants. The merchant pulled out his sword and cut it in half. And immediately ten more furry ones rushed at him, grabbed him by the arms and legs and threw him into the sea, followed by the second and third merchant.
“Are we really going to be afraid of these monkeys?!” Sinbad exclaimed and took his sword out of its sheath.
But Captain Buzurg grabbed him by the hand and shouted:
- Watch out, Sinbad! Don't you see that if each of us kills ten or even a hundred monkeys, the rest will tear him to pieces or throw him overboard? We run from the ship to the island, and let the monkeys get the ship.
Sinbad listened to the captain and sheathed his sword.
He jumped out onto the shore of the island, and his companions followed him. Captain Buzurg was the last to leave the ship. He was very sorry to leave his ship to these shaggy monkeys.
Sinbad and his friends slowly walked forward, not knowing where to go. They walked and talked quietly among themselves. And suddenly captain Buzurg exclaimed:
- Look! Look! Palace!
Sinbad raised his head and saw a tall house with black iron gates.
“Perhaps people live in this house.” “Let’s go and find out who his owner is,” he said.
The travelers walked faster and soon reached the gate of the house. Sinbad was the first to run into the yard and shouted:
- There was probably a feast here recently! Look - cauldrons and frying pans are hanging on sticks around the brazier and gnawed bones are scattered everywhere. And the coals in the brazier are still hot. Let's sit on this bench for a while - maybe the owner of the house will come out into the yard and call us.
Sinbad and his companions were so tired that they could hardly stand on their feet. They sat down, some on a bench, some directly on the ground, and soon fell asleep, basking in the sun. Sinbad woke up first. He was awakened by a loud noise and rumble. It seemed that a large herd of elephants was passing somewhere nearby. The ground shook from someone's heavy steps. It was already almost dark. Sinbad stood up from the bench and froze in horror: a man of enormous stature was moving straight towards him - a real giant, looking like a tall palm tree. He was all black, his eyes sparkled like burning brands, his mouth looked like a hole in a well, and his teeth stuck out like the tusks of a boar. His ears fell onto his shoulders, and the nails on his hands were wide and sharp, like a lion's. The giant walked slowly, slightly bent, as if it was difficult for him to bear his head, and sighed heavily. With every breath, the trees rustled and their tops bent to the ground, as if during a storm. In the hands of the giant there was a huge torch - an entire trunk of a resinous tree.
Sinbad's companions also woke up and lay on the ground half-dead from fear. The giant came up and bent over them. He looked at each of them for a long time and, having chosen one, picked it up like a feather. It was Captain Buzurg - the largest and fattest of Sinbad's companions.
Sinbad pulled out his sword and rushed to the giant. All his fear passed, and he thought of only one thing: how to snatch Buzurg from the hands of the monster. But the giant kicked Sinbad aside with a kick. He lit a fire on the brazier, roasted Captain Buzurg and ate him.
Having finished eating, the giant stretched out on the ground and snored loudly. Sinbad and his comrades sat on a bench, huddled together and holding their breath.
Sinbad was the first to recover and, making sure that the giant was fast asleep, jumped up and exclaimed:
“It would be better if we drowned in the sea!” Are we really going to let the giant eat us like sheep?
“Let’s leave here and look for a place where we can hide from him,” said one of the merchants.
-Where should we go? “He will find us everywhere,” objected Sinbad. “It will be better if we kill him and then sail away by sea.” Maybe some ship will pick us up.
“What will we sail away on, Sinbad?” asked the merchants.
- Look at these logs that are stacked near the brazier. “They are long and thick, and if you tie them together, they will make a good raft,” said Sinbad. “Let’s take them to the seashore while this cruel cannibal sleeps, and then we will come back here and figure out a way to kill him.”
“This is a wonderful plan,” said the merchants and began to drag the logs to the seashore and tie them with ropes made of palm bast.
By morning the raft was ready, and Sinbad and his comrades returned to the giant's courtyard. When they arrived, the cannibal was not in the yard. He did not appear until the evening.
When it got dark, the earth shook again and a rumble and stomping was heard. The giant was close. As the day before, he slowly walked up to Sinbad's comrades and bent over them, shining a torch on them. He chose the fattest merchant, pierced him with a skewer, fried him and ate him. And then he stretched out on the ground and fell asleep.
“Another of our companions has died!” exclaimed Sinbad. “But this is the last.” This cruel man will not eat any of us again.
“What are you planning, Sinbad?” the merchants asked him.
“Watch and do as I say!” exclaimed Sinbad.
He grabbed two spits on which the giant fried meat, heated them on the fire and put them to the eyes of the cannibal. Then he made a sign to the merchants, and they all piled onto the spits together. The ogre's eyes went deep into his head and he went blind.
The cannibal jumped up with a terrible cry and began to rummage around with his hands, trying to catch his enemies. But Sinbad and his comrades rushed away from him and ran to the sea. The giant followed them, continuing to scream loudly. He caught up with the fugitives and overtook them, but never caught anyone. They ran between his legs, dodged his hands and finally ran to the seashore, sat on the raft and sailed away, rowing like an oar with the thin trunk of a young palm tree.
When the cannibal heard the sound of the oar hitting the water, he realized that his prey had left him. He screamed even louder than before. Two more giants, just as scary as he, came running to his cry. They broke off a huge stone from the rocks and threw it after the fugitives. Blocks of rocks fell into the water with a terrible noise, only slightly touching the raft. But such waves arose from them that the raft capsized. Sinbad's companions could not swim at all. They immediately choked and sank. Only Sinbad himself and two other younger merchants managed to grab the raft and stay on the surface of the sea.
Sinbad barely climbed back onto the raft and helped his comrades out of the water. The waves carried away their oar, and they had to float with the current, guiding the raft slightly with their feet. It was getting lighter. The sun was soon to rise. Sinbad's comrades, wet and shivering, sat on the raft and complained loudly. Sinbad stood on the edge of the raft, looking out to see if the shore or the sails of a ship could be seen in the distance. Suddenly he turned to his companions and shouted:
- Take courage, my friends Ahmed and Hassan! The land is not far, and the current carries us straight to the shore. Do you see the birds circling there, in the distance, above the water? Their nests are probably somewhere nearby. After all, birds do not fly far from their chicks.
Ahmed and Hassan cheered and raised their heads. Hasan, whose eyes were as keen as a hawk's, looked forward and said:
-Your truth, Sinbad. Over there, in the distance, I see an island. Soon the current will bring our raft towards it, and we will rest on solid ground.
The exhausted travelers rejoiced and began to row harder with their legs to help the flow. If only they knew what awaited them on this island!
Soon the raft washed ashore, and Sinbad, Ahmed and Hassan went onto land. They slowly walked forward, picking up berries and roots from the ground, and saw tall, spreading trees on the bank of the stream. The thick grass beckoned to lie down and rest.
Sinbad threw himself under a tree and immediately fell asleep. He was awakened by a strange sound, as if someone was grinding grain between two huge stones. Sinbad opened his eyes and jumped to his feet. He saw in front of him a huge snake with a wide mouth, like a whale. The snake lay calmly on its belly and moved its jaws lazily, with a loud crunch. This crunch woke up Sinbad. And human feet in sandals protruded from the snake’s mouth. By the sandals, Sinbad recognized that these were Ahmed's feet.
Gradually, Ahmed completely disappeared into the belly of the snake, and the snake slowly crawled into the forest. When he disappeared, Sinbad looked around and saw that he was left alone.
“Where is Hassan?” thought Sinbad. “Did the snake eat him too?”
“Hey, Hassan, where are you?” he shouted.
“Here!” came a voice from somewhere above. Sinbad raised his head and saw Hassan, who was sitting huddled in the thick branches of a tree, neither alive nor dead from fear.
“Climb here too!” he shouted to Sinbad.
Sinbad grabbed several coconuts from the ground and climbed up the tree. He had to sit on the top branch, it was very uncomfortable. And Hassan settled perfectly on a wide lower branch.
Sinbad and Hassan sat on the tree for many hours, waiting every minute for the snake to appear. It began to get dark, night came, but the monster was still not there. Finally, Hassan could not stand it any longer and fell asleep, leaning his back against a tree trunk and dangling his legs. Soon Sinbad also dozed off. When he woke up, it was light and the sun was quite high. Sinbad carefully leaned down and looked down. Hassan was no longer on the branch. On the grass, under a tree, his turban was white and his worn-out shoes were lying - all that was left of poor Hassan.
“He, too, was devoured by this terrible snake,” thought Sinbad. “Apparently, you can’t hide from him in a tree.”
Now Sinbad was alone on the island. For a long time he looked for some place to hide from the snake, but there was not a single rock or cave on the island. Tired of searching, Sinbad sat down on the ground near the sea and began to think about how he could escape.
“If I escaped from the hands of the cannibal, will I really allow myself to be eaten by a snake?” he thought. “I am a man, and I have a mind that will help me outwit this monster.”
Suddenly a huge wave splashed from the sea and threw a thick ship's plank onto the shore. Sinbad saw this board and immediately figured out how to save himself. He grabbed the board, picked up several more smaller boards on the shore and took them into the forest. Having chosen a board of the appropriate size, Sinbad tied it to his feet with a large piece of palm bast. He tied the same board to his head, and two others to his body, right and left, so that he seemed to be in a box. And then he lay down on the ground and waited.
Soon the crackling of brushwood and a loud hiss were heard. The snake smelled the man and sought out its prey. His long head appeared from behind the trees, on which two large eyes shone like torches. He crawled up to Sinbad and opened his mouth wide, sticking out a long forked tongue.
He looked at the box in surprise, from which there was such a delicious human smell, and tried to grab it and chew it with his teeth, but the strong wood did not give in.
The snake walked around Sinbad from all sides, trying to tear off the wooden shield from him. The shield turned out to be too strong, and the snake only broke off its teeth. In a rage, he began to hit the boards with his tail. The boards shook, but held firm. The snake worked for a long time, but never got to Sinbad. Finally, he was exhausted and crawled back into the forest, hissing and scattering dry leaves with his tail.
Sinbad quickly untied the boards and jumped to his feet.
“Lying between the boards is very uncomfortable, but if the snake catches me defenseless, it will eat me,” Sinbad said to himself. “We must escape from the island.” It is better that I drown in the sea than perish in the mouth of the serpent, like Ahmed and Hassan.”
And Sinbad decided to make himself a raft again. He returned to the sea and began collecting boards. Suddenly he saw a ship's sail nearby. The ship was getting closer and closer, a fair wind was driving it towards the shores of the island. Sinbad tore off his shirt and began to run along the shore, waving it. He waved his arms, shouted and tried in every possible way to attract attention. Finally, the sailors noticed him, and the captain ordered the ship to be stopped. Sinbad rushed into the water and reached the ship in a few strokes. From the sails and clothing of the sailors, he learned that the ship belonged to his fellow countrymen. Indeed, it was an Arab ship. The captain of the ship heard many stories about the island where a terrible snake lives, but he never heard of anyone being saved from it.
The sailors greeted Sinbad kindly, fed and clothed him. The captain ordered the sails to be raised, and the ship rushed on.
He sailed for a long time on the sea and finally swam to some land. The captain stopped the ship at the pier, and all the travelers went ashore to sell and barter their goods. Only Sinbad had nothing. Sad and sorrowful, he remained on the ship. Soon the captain called him over and said:
- I want to do a good deed and help you. There was one traveler with us whom we lost, and I do not know whether he is dead or alive. And his goods still lie in the hold. Take them and sell them in the market, and I will give you something for your troubles. And what we cannot sell, we will take to Baghdad and give it to relatives.
“I’ll do it willingly,” said Sinbad.
And the captain ordered the sailors to take the goods out of the hold.
When the last bale was unloaded, the ship's scribe asked the captain:
— What kind of goods are these and what is the name of their owner? In whose name should they be written?
“Write it in the name of Sinbad the Sailor, who sailed with us on the ship and disappeared,” answered the captain.
Hearing this, Sinbad almost fainted from surprise and joy.
“Oh sir,” he asked the captain, “do you know the man whose goods you ordered me to sell?”
“It was a man from the city of Baghdad named Sinbad the Sailor,” answered the captain.
“It’s me, Sinbad the Sailor!” Sinbad cried. “I didn’t disappear, but fell asleep on the shore, and you didn’t wait for me and sailed away.” It was on my last journey when the bird Rukh brought me to the valley of diamonds.
The sailors heard Sinbad's words and surrounded him in a crowd. Some believed him, others called him a liar. And suddenly a merchant, who was also sailing on this ship, approached the captain and said:
“Do you remember I told you how I was on the diamond mountain and threw a piece of meat into the valley, and some man clung to the meat, and the eagle brought it up the mountain along with the meat?” You didn't believe me and said I was lying. Here is a man who tied his turban to my piece of meat. He gave me diamonds that couldn’t be better, and said that his name was Sinbad the Sailor.
Then the captain hugged Sinbad and said to him:
— Take your goods. Now I believe that you are Sinbad the Sailor. Sell them quickly before the market runs out of trade.
Sinbad sold his goods at a large profit and returned to Baghdad on the same ship. He was very pleased to have returned home and was determined never to travel again.
Thus ended Sinbad's third journey.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru