The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor 7

For seven days I hurried on, resting only when the darkness stopped me, and living chiefly upon cocoanuts, which afforded me both meat and drink, and on the eighth day I reached the seashore and saw a party of white men gathering¹ pepper, which grew abundantly all about. Reassured² by the nature of their occupation, I advanced towards them and they greeted me in Arabic, asking who I was and whence I came. My delight was great on hearing this familiar speech, and I willingly satisfied their curiosity, telling them how I had been shipwrecked, and captured by the blacks. "But these savages³ devour⁴ men!" said they. "How did you escape?" I repeated to them what I have just told you, at which they were mightily⁵ astonished. I stayed with them until they had collected as much pepper as they wished, and then they took me back to their own country and presented me to their king, by whom I was hospitably⁶ received. To him also I had to relate my adventures, which surprised him much, and when I had finished he ordered that I should be supplied with food and raiment（衣服） and treated with consideration. 

 

The island on which I found myself was full of people, and abounded⁷ in all sorts of desirable things, and a great deal of traffic went on in the capital, where I soon began to feel at home and contented⁸. Moreover, the king treated me with special favour, and in consequence of this everyone, whether at the court or in the town, sought to make life pleasant to me. One thing I remarked which I thought very strange; this was that, from the greatest to the least, all men rode their horses without bridle⁹（缰绳） or stirrups（马镫）. I one day presumed to ask his majesty¹⁰ why he did not use them, to which he replied, "You speak to me of things of which I have never before heard!" This gave me an idea. I found a clever workman, and made him cut out under my direction the foundation of a saddle（鞍，车座）, which I wadded and covered with choice leather, adorning¹¹ it with rich gold embroidery¹². I then got a lock-smith to make me a bit and a pair of spurs after a pattern that I drew for him, and when all these things were completed I presented them to the king and showed him how to use them. When I had saddled one of his horses he mounted it and rode about quite delighted with the novelty, and to show his gratitude¹³ he rewarded me with large gifts. After this I had to make saddles for all the principal officers of the king's household, and as they all gave me rich presents I soon became very wealthy and quite an important person in the city. 

 

One day the king sent for me and said, "Sindbad, I am going to ask a favour of you. Both I and my subjects esteem¹⁴ you, and wish you to end your days amongst us. Therefore I desire that you will marry a rich and beautiful lady whom I will find for you, and think no more of your own country." 

 

As the king's will was law I accepted the charming bride he presented to me, and lived happily with her. Nevertheless I had every intention of escaping at the first opportunity, and going back to Bagdad. Things were thus going prosperously with me when it happened that the wife of one of my neighbours, with whom I had struck up quite a friendship, fell ill, and presently died. I went to his house to offer my consolations¹⁵, and found him in the depths of woe¹⁶. 

 

"Heaven preserve you," said I, "and send you a long life!" 

 

"Alas¹⁷!" he replied, "what is the good of saying that when I have but an hour left to live!" 

 

"Come, come!" said I, "surely it is not so bad as all that. I trust that you may be spared to me for many years." 

 

"I hope," answered he, "that your life may be long, but as for me, all is finished. I have set my house in order, and to-day I shall be buried with my wife. This has been the law upon our island from the earliest ages--the living husband goes to the grave with his dead wife, the living wife with her dead husband. So did our fathers, and so must we do. The law changes not, and all must submit to it!" 

 

As he spoke¹⁸ the friends and relations of the unhappy pair began to assemble. The body, decked in rich robes and sparkling with jewels, was laid upon an open bier, and the procession started, taking its way to a high mountain at some distance from the city, the wretched husband, clothed from head to foot in a black mantle¹⁹, following mournfully. 

 

When the place of interment was reached the corpse²⁰ was lowered, just as it was, into a deep pit. Then the husband, bidding farewell to all his friends, stretched himself upon another bier, upon which were laid seven little loaves of bread and a pitcher²¹ of water, and he also was let down-down-down to the depths of the horrible cavern²²（洞穴）, and then a stone was laid over the opening, and the melancholy²³（忧郁，哀思） company wended its way back to the city. 

 

You may imagine that I was no unmoved spectator of these proceedings²⁴; to all the others it was a thing to which they had been accustomed from their youth up; but I was so horrified²⁵ that I could not help telling the king how it struck me. 

 

"Sire," I said, "I am more astonished than I can express to you at the strange custom which exists in your dominions²⁶ of burying the living with the dead. In all my travels I have never before met with so cruel and horrible a law." 

 

"What would you have, Sindbad?" he replied. "It is the law for everybody. I myself should be buried with the Queen if she were the first to die." 

 

"But, your Majesty," said I, "dare I ask if this law applies to foreigners also?" 

 

"Why, yes," replied the king smiling, in what I could but consider a very heartless manner, "they are no exception to the rule if they have married in the country." 

 

When I heard this I went home much cast down, and from that time forward my mind was never easy. If only my wife's little finger ached I fancied she was going to die, and sure enough before very long she fell really ill and in a few days breathed her last. My dismay was great, for it seemed to me that to be buried alive was even a worse fate than to be devoured²⁷ by cannibals, nevertheless there was no escape. The body of my wife, arrayed in her richest robes and decked with all her jewels, was laid upon the bier. I followed it, and after me came a great procession, headed by the king and all his nobles, and in this order we reached the fatal mountain, which was one of a lofty（高的） chain bordering the sea. 

 

Here I made one more frantic²⁸ effort to excite the pity of the king and those who stood by, hoping to save myself even at this last moment, but it was of no avail. No one spoke to me, they even appeared to hasten over their dreadful task, and I speedily found myself descending²⁹ into the gloomy pit, with my seven loaves and pitcher of water beside me. Almost before I reached the bottom the stone was rolled into its place above my head, and I was left to my fate. A feeble ray of light shone into the cavern through some chink, and when I had the courage to look about me I could see that I was in a vast vault³⁰, bestrewn with bones and bodies of the dead. I even fancied that I heard the expiring sighs of those who, like myself, had come into this dismal³¹ place alive. All in vain did I shriek³² aloud with rage and despair, reproaching myself for the love of gain and adventure which had brought me to such a pass, but at length, growing calmer, I took up my bread and water, and wrapping my face in my mantle I groped my way towards the end of the cavern, where the air was fresher.

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