In the evenings, Sindbad invited his friends. His friends liked the good food. They liked the music. But above all, they liked to listen to Sindbad’s stories. His friends were dazzled.
Sindbad told his friends, “Soon our ship was out in the open sea. After sailing to many ports, the ship came to a wonderful island.
On the island, there were many flowers and trees full of ripe fruit. Our men walked around the island. They picked flowers and ate some of the fruit. I had brought food from the ship, and I found a nice spot for a picnic. After I had eaten, I took a nap.
Upon waking up, I found to my utter amazement that the ship had gone, leaving me alone on the island. Hopeless and afraid, I climbed up a tall tree. From high up on the tree, I looked at the sea below.
There was a strange white thing lying near the shore. I climbed down the tree and walked towards the white thing. When I got close to the white thing, I saw it was the huge egg of the fabled giant bird Roc.
All of a sudden, the great bird Roc swooped down there and settled down on the big white egg to warm it with its body and its wings.
A plan to get off the island flashed across my mind. I unwound my turban and tied its one end to the Roc’s leg and the other end around my waist.
The monstrous bird flew carrying me with it high and high.
After some time it landed on the ground. I quickly unfastened myself. The ground was so full of diamonds that it was hard to walk.
All over the ground there were diamonds and diamonds. I picked up a big diamond. How they happened to be there was beyond my understanding. Just then I heard a terrible hissing. There were a lot of snakes in a cave.
The cave was too small for those giant snakes. I crawled near it and put a big rock in front of it. I thought it would be safe there from the snakes.
I realized that I had come to the famous Valley of Diamonds, which no man had ever left alive. All around me, enormous pieces of raw meat were falling, hitting the ground hard. These pieces were being thrown down the steep slope by diamond hunters hoping that gems would get stuck to the pieces of meat.
The giant birds pounced upon the big chunks of meat and carried them off the their nests. There, the diamond hunters would frighten away them and collect the diamonds. As soon as I saw an eagle swoop upon the meat, an idea struck me. I crammed all the diamonds, I could into my pockets. Then I tied an enormous chunk of meat to my back. Some diamonds too got stuck to the chunk of meat.
I waited under the big chunk of meat. Soon I was in the air, lifted by the sharp talons of the eagle. In a few minutes I was on the other side of the valley, safe and sound. ‘Thief!’ a person cried, ‘Are you trying to take away my diamonds?’The person was a merchant. I told him that I had got the diamonds through my wit and courage. Thereafter, I showed him my pockets full of diamonds. In the meantime, some other merchants arrived there.
All the merchants were amazed and dazzled by the sight of my diamonds. They took me to their ship. Soon we set sail for home.”
My dear readers, I can’t stay home for long. Soon again, I will go to the sea and sail to faraway lands.
