Sindbad the Sailor: The First Voyage
Also known as Sindbad Jahazi
- 3 minute read
- Ages 8-12
- Alif Laila Stories
Sindbad inherited a fortune from his father in Baghdad and spent it in a few years on friends and feasting. When he came to the end of it he sold what was left, bought goods, and joined a ship going down the Gulf.
He was not running away. He wanted to see what was out there.
The island that moved
After many days at sea the ship anchored beside a small green island, low and flat, with a little grass on it.
The passengers went ashore to stretch their legs. Somebody lit a fire to cook.
The island moved.
It did not drift. It rolled, and heaved, and began to go down, and the captain was screaming from the deck that it was not an island at all — it was a whale that had lain still so long that sand had settled on its back and grass had grown there, and the fire had woken it.
Everyone ran for the boats. Sindbad did not reach them. The whale went under and took him with it, and when he came up the ship was already far off, running before the wind, and no one on it could hear him.
He got hold of a wooden trough that had floated free and held on to it, and the current took him.
The king's mares
He was washed up on a real island two days later, and lay on the sand until he could stand.
Walking inland he found a groom holding a fine mare at the water's edge, who took him to the King's stables and gave him food. The King of that island heard about the stranger from Baghdad and sent for him, and liked him, and gave him work in the harbour recording the cargoes of ships that came in.
Sindbad did that work for a long time. He was good at it. He learned about the island and asked every captain who came in for news of Baghdad, and none of them had any.
The ship
Then one morning a ship came into harbour and the crew began unloading bales onto the dock, and Sindbad went down with his register to record them.
He knew the ship. He had sailed on it.
He read the marks on the bales and they were his own.
"Whose goods are these?" he asked the captain.
"They belonged to a merchant we lost," said the captain. "He went ashore on a whale off the coast two years ago with a dozen others. I am carrying his goods home to sell for his family."
"I am that merchant," said Sindbad.
The captain laughed at him, and then looked at him properly, and stopped laughing.
Sindbad sold his goods in that harbour at a very good price, took a gift to the King, and sailed home to Baghdad in the same ship he had left.
Moral of the story
Losing everything is not the end of the story. Work steadily where you land, and stay ready for the day your luck turns.
Questions and answers
- Why did Sindbad go to sea?
He had spent his father's whole fortune and wanted to make his own money and see the world.
- What was the island the sailors landed on?
It was not an island at all. It was an enormous whale that had lain still so long that sand and grass had covered its back.
- What woke the whale?
The sailors lit a cooking fire on its back.
- How did Sindbad survive?
He grabbed a floating wooden trough and held on to it until the current carried him to a real island two days later.
- How did Sindbad get his goods back?
A ship arrived carrying bales marked with his own name. The captain was bringing them home believing Sindbad was dead, and Sindbad proved who he was.
Word meanings
- voyage
- A long journey, especially by sea.
- anchored
- Stopped a ship in place using a heavy weight dropped to the sea floor.
- groom
- A person who looks after horses.
- cargo
- Goods carried by a ship.
Questions about Sindbad the Sailor: The First Voyage
How many voyages did Sindbad make?
Seven. Each one is told as a separate story within Alif Laila, and this is the first.
Is Sindbad the Sailor a real person?
No. He is a character from the Thousand and One Nights, though the voyages reflect the real trading routes Arab merchants sailed to India, East Africa and beyond.
What is the moral of Sindbad's first voyage?
That misfortune is survivable. Sindbad loses his ship, his goods and his position, and rebuilds by working patiently until his chance comes.
Where does Sindbad come from?
He is a merchant from Baghdad, which was one of the great trading cities of the medieval world.