Next evening after dinner, the
guests and Hindbad sat around Sindbad to hear about his wonderful tale of the
third voyage which read….
When I returned from my second voyage and settled in Baghdad, I had no intention
of leaving Baghdad ever again but the desire to be on the move was not
suppressed. Once more I purchased some exclusive items to trade in and went on a
trade ship with some merchants.
A few days later, a storm broke out. It was severe that we had to drop anchor at
an island where the captain of our ship did not want to land. The captain gave
us the reason for his reluctance. He said that the island was home to two feet
high dwarfs who were fierce by nature. Their attacks would leave us powerless.
If it wasn't for the storm we wouldn't have stopped at the island. As ill luck
would have it, we soon faced the fierce dwarfs. These tiny men were covered with
long, red hair. Even as we were still in our ship on the harbour, hundreds of
them entered the vessel. They were simply involved in senseless destruction.
They went around cutting the ship sails and destroying some parts of the deck.
Then they forced all of us to jump into water and sailed away to a nearby
island.
All of us somehow managed to swim ashore. There we saw a large palace with very
high ceiling-rooms. One of the large halls inside had a heap of human bones. A
large fire burnt in the fireplace with some glowing coals nearby. We even saw
some roasting iron rods. As we were looking at those fearfully, a huge dark
giant walked in. He was very tall indeed and had a fierce face with one red eye
right in the middle of his forehead. His long, sharp teeth sticking out of his
mouth made him look fearsome indeed. When we saw his long ears and sharp, long
nails, all of us lost our senses.
When we regained consciousness, we were scared indeed. The large giant took our
captain in his palm, thrust an iron roasting rod through his stomach, held him
over the glowing coals to roast him and gobbled him up. Then the giant slept but
his loud snores all night long did not let us catch even a wink of sleep. He
woke up in the morning and left the palace. We, too, thought of leaving. As we
went out of the palace to escape, all we found were trees and large poisonous
snakes. To escape the snakes, we had to return to the palace. For many days, the
giant ate one of us for dinner each night. We all lived in fear.
One day as we were exploring the island once again, we found some woods that had
washed ashore. Using the woods, we made some rafts. When the rafts were ready,
we thought of a plan.
One night as the giant slept after his dinner, the remaining of us heated the
iron roasting rods. Then all of us thrusted the hot rod into the sleeping
giant's eye and blinded him. As the giant rushed out in pain, all of us ran to
the rafts on the shore. As we thought we were safe, just then the giant returned
with other giants like himself. They threw large rocks at the rafts and all the
rafts sank but the raft on which I was with two of my companions remains safe
but we escaped with great difficulty.
After some days we reached another island where we went ashore and slept for
hours. When we woke up we saw a snake as long and as thick as a palm tree
approaching us. We ran to save our lives but one of my companions became the
snake's prey. One of my surviving companions climbed a tall tree to save
himself. A while later, the huge snake came and caught my companion, too. He ate
him up but I survived because I was hiding on the highest branch of the same
tree. To keep myself safe at night, I built a fence of prickly and thorny bush
around the tree so when the snake came to get me he could not harm me at all.
After trying all night, the snake left at dawn.
I thought it would be better to commit suicide than meet a cruel death. I went
to the shore to jump into the sea. To my glee I saw an approaching trade ship.
Soon the captain of the ship saw me and lowered a boat to take me to the ship.
The captain gave me fresh clothes and hot food and heard my adventurous tale.
I soon befriended with other merchants on the ship. I felt that I had met the
captain somewhere but I could not recall. One day, as we were nearing a port,
the captain gave me some goods to sell there and make money. I looked at the
packages which bore the label, 'Sindbad, the Sailor’. I asked the captain, where
he had found the package. He told me about Sindbad, the Sailor, who had been
left behind on a deserted island by mistake. Then I remembered and so did the
captain recognise me. He was the same captain and I was on the merchant ship I
had sailed on my second voyage. We hugged each other in joy.
At the port, I sold my goods and made a lot of money again. As we sailed on, I
saw a twelve yards long tortoise basking in the sun on an island. I also
happened to see a strange sea-creature that looked very much like a camel.
A few days later, I reached Baghdad and again had a lot of wealth to spend."
Then Sindbad said, "So friends, that was all about my third voyage. Tomorrow
you’re invited to hear about my fourth voyage."
Hindbad received a hundred gold coins from Sindbad once again and left for home
happily. He and the guests returned the next day for a feast and an adventurous
tale once more.