Week 5 Story: Sindbad's Fifth Voyage

Another day and another opportunity for Sindbad and Zoey to set sail on a voyage to the unknown. Sindbad decided to gather a set of sailors from neighboring states as well as take Zoey his best friend on board. Zoey was Sindbad's companion since day one. She helps in protecting the boat from invaders as well as retrieving items for Sindbad. Traditionally, taking people from different states was frowned upon but Sindbad explained to the Caliph that his motive for such a decision was to motivate more people to go on merchant voyages as there were many opportunities to find valuable treasure.

They set sail on a boat and drifted with the direction of the wind hoping that they would stumble upon an island. For hours, they sailed on to the ocean until the saw the shadow of an island at the end of the horizon. As they approached the island, the tall palm trees were the only thing visible. The island seemed to be filled with valleys of diamonds but there were eggs planted that were double the amount of diamonds there. The eggs belonged to the roc, which is a big aggressive bird. Sindbad directly warned the people on the ship to not approach the eggs when collecting diamonds upon arrival. Till this point, Sindbad had full control of the ship but the diamonds were too much of a temptation for other sailors. Sindbad and Zoey had a lot of experiences on their voyages and had seen much more valuable things than that valley of diamond. So they were not tempted to take any hasty decisions. The sailors on the ship but were mostly first time goers on a voyage and have not seen beyond the horizon of Baghdad. Sindbad would get sailors in such condition because he would want to train them himself. 

As they hit the shores of the islands, the sailors broke the word of Sindbad and ran to the valleys eager to gather as many diamonds as possible. As the sailors eagerly reached the valleys, they ran to the diamonds while stumbling near the eggs. Before the sailors gathered any diamonds, the rocs viciously flew into the valley and outnumbering the sailors they gathered around them and beat them to death. Sindbad could only sit back and watch as Zeoy was alert and warned them by barking but they were too naïve to listen to his expertise. Sindbad, being the lone survivor with Zoey on the ship, just waited and planned the safest way to gather all the eggs. To scare off the birds he thought to take Zoey and go down to the valley. Birds are intimidated by other animals and as long as they avoided the eggs, they would be able to gather the diamonds.

Sindbad and Zoey

As they left the ship into the valley, Sindbad and Zoey had to be extremely cautious as there were a lot of eggs scattered everywhere. They succeeded in gathering a bagful of diamonds and directly returned to the ship after that. They then continued to sail until they reached Serendib. They were welcomed by the King of India and awarded for their achievements. Zoey was given an honorary collar for her efforts, as well as unlimited steak treats and thick bones. They were able to sell all the diamonds to the king which made Sindbad extremely rich as he returned to back to Baghdad. The news of the deaths of the sailors saddened everyone and Sindbad felt guilty as he was responsible for the ship. As a gesture, Sindbad donated a large portion of the trip’s profit to the families of the victims and was loved and appreciated for his good deed. Sindbad learned his lesson but was looking forward to setting sail on his next voyage into the ocean.

Author's Note: This is a rewrite of Sindbad's fifth journey voyage. The story explains how Sindbad set sail to India and gathered sailors from different countries. As they reached an island, the valleys were full of diamonds but were surrounded with roc eggs. The sailors on the ship decided to take the eggs and cook the meat from them which pissed off the parents. They then dropped rocks on the sailors and killed them. Sindbad then met the Old Man of the Sea who gripped onto him for days. He then got him drunk to loosen up his grip and killed him.  After he left and met with other merchants who were able to gather coconuts. They then sold them and made enough money to make Sindbad rich. As he returned he gave back to the improvished porter as usual and waited until his next voyage. I chose to use a picture of Sindbad and Zoey his best friend Labrador that helped him distract the birds to gather the diamonds. Instead of making himself rich, this story focuses on the good deeds Sindbad is known for.

Bibliography: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Image Information: I cropped Zoey from an existing picture of her and then used snapchat to insert her on the original photo of Sindbad. 

Reading Notes: Voyages of Sindbad, Part B

Sindbad’s fifth voyage: The story starts out as Sindbad is retelling a journey that he set on his own ship with sailors from different countries. As they passed an island they saw a roc’s egg, which Sindbad warned from damaging. The crew members did not adhere to him and chose to break the egg and cook the meat. The parents of the egg soon returned and destroyed the ship. The difference in citizenship might have been the reason why Sindbad’s word was broken. Sindbad was the only survivor of the ship. This shows that the person with good intentions sometimes gets lucky in certain incidents. Later on, he drifted to an island full of fruits. He there encountered the Old Man of the Sea. Sindbad being the nice character he is, he accepted to help the old man grip on to him to climb trees and gather fruit. It lasted for several days and Sindbad started to get tired of carrying the old man, so he had to figure a way to make him let go. They found some grapes and a gourd and prepared some wine. As they both drank wine, the Old man’s grip relaxed due to drunkenness. Sindbad escaped the grip and the old man died. Sindbad then went on the ship until he reached another small town where he met other merchants. There were coconut trees that were inaccessible so the merchants started throwing rocks at the monkeys that were at the top of the tree. The monkeys countered back with throwing coconuts, which the merchants took and sold to make money. Sindbad then returned even richer and gave money back to impoverished porter.

Sindbad's Fifth Voyage

Sindbad’s sixth voyage: This story is unlike others by seeing how Sindbad is respected worldwide. This time Sindbad set to voyage to India but struggled like no other time. The island they were stranded on had bones that littered the area. Then Sindbad with his plan to survive, reached Serendib and was able to quickly befriend the king of Serendib. This shows the strong character of Sindbad. He was able to mingle and gain respect of royalty although he was nothing but a sailor. The king enjoyed his company that he honored him with sending many tokens of friendship to Caliph Harun al-Rashid. This created peace among the two kingdoms. Sindbad then gifted 100 sequins to the impoverished porter which continues to show his great generosity.

Reading Notes: Voyages of Sindbad, Part A

Sindbad’s First voyage: This part was a great introduction to the past of Sindbad and how that shaped his character. He lost all his money due to youthful decisions and decided to become a merchant sailor. He encountered some difficulties by getting stranded in the middle of the sea because they thought the whale was an island. After recovering his chest, Sindbad had to convince the sailors and captain that he is still alive and did not drown. He finally succeeded and on his way back to Baghdad he was able to sell the gifts given to him by the king to become wealthy. Due to his kindness of personality, Sindbad then gave back to his family as they are the ones that deserve it.

Sindbad’s second voyage: This story also reveals a lot about the character and personality of Sindbad. Although he was wealthy again and was at home, he felt the urge to go out and explore so he set sail again. As expected, he was left out again and had to use his cunning mind and creativity to figure his way back. He saw a white orb which was an egg for a roc. He attached himself to the bird’s leg and took off with it into a valley full of roc’s natural prey. However, Sindbad did realize that the floors were full of diamonds. Sindbad had no options to get out of the valley until he realized that merchants throw slabs of meat on the ground hoping to catch a diamond. The meat is caught by eagles and carried to their nests. Sindbad collected diamonds and then covered himself with meat hoping that he will be collected by an eagle and transported out of the valley. Sure yet he succeeded and was able to get away from the valley and team up with merchants. He travels with them, and sells the diamonds at a high profit to become even wealthier. Sindbad then returns back to Baghdad and waits till he sets on a voyages again.

Valley of Diamonds