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Sinbad, the sailor, was the protagonist of the Middle Eastern story-cycle. He was a fictional mariner.
Sinbad, the sailor
The term "story-cycle" is also known as a story sequence or composite novel. The story cycle's narrative style is specifically composed and arranged in a beautiful way to create a different experience for the readers. Likewise, Sindbad's story is also written in the form of a story-cycle.
The sailor's story began in the city of "Baghdad". Baghdad was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Abbasid Caliphate was a dynasty of caliphs who ruled Baghdad from \(750\) to \(1258\). Sinbad belonged to a famous city called "Baghdad", and he had a great love for his hometown. Sinbad, the sailor, made seven voyages throughout the seas East of Africa and South of Asia.
Baghdad
The sailor faced many exciting adventures throughout his seven voyages, like fighting with monsters, mystical powers, and discovering superhuman events. Sindbad, the sailor, believed in his luck and good fortunes. His belief saved him from all struggles and hardships. The sailor's will power and the people he met on each journey gave him a good lesson and a good way of living. At the end of each voyage, the sailor yearned to return to his city, "Baghdad". His longingness towards his hometown was clearly seen in all his voyages.
Encountering monsters
Once there lived a poor porter named Sindbad. The poor porter used to carry luggage or things from the ship for his livelihood. He worked hard to make money. Being a porter, he was unable to earn much money. The porter blamed himself for being a poor person. One day, the porter met a wealthy sailor named Sindbad, the hero of the story. While speaking with the poor porter, the sailor understood the porter's situation and started narrating his voyages to him. The purpose of telling his story to the poor porter was to make him recognise there is hope for him and he explained to the poor porter how he lost his wealth and regained it with good luck and fortune. Through his stories, Sindbad, the sailor, tried to tell the porter that he can also earn his wealth through his luck and good fortunes. Sindbad, the sailor, made seven voyages. Among them, our prescribed story was Sindbad's first voyage.
Sindbad, the poor porter
The sailor started narrating his first voyage to the poor porter. Sindbad's father was a wealthy businessman. His father earned a lot of money for the welfare of Sindbad, the sailor.
Sindbad's father, a rich man
But fate played a vital role in his life. Sindbad's father passed away when he was young. His father had left immense wealth for Sindbad. After his father's death, Sindbad took care of his business. The sailor led a luxurious life with his father's money. Due to his immaturity, the sailor spent his money lavishly, and he never bothered what would happen if there was no money. After wasting all the wealth, the sailor became a poor person.
Sindbad, the sailor, became poor
Sindbad realised his mistakes after losing everything he owned. The sailor decided to earn a lot of money. So he started his journey with some goods to the Gulf of Persia. His crew members travelled from one country to another to sell goods.
Sindbad and the crew members
On a fine day, when Sindbad and his crew members were sailing on the sea, they noticed an island in the distance. The island seemed to be very beautiful. It was a small green island with plenty of trees and bushes over it. The green patches over the island made them feel very excited. The sailor and his crew members decided to have some fun and entertainment over the island.
Beautiful green island
After a while, Sindbad and his crew members felt very hungry, and they decided to cook some food. When they started to light a fire, Sindbad and his crew noticed that the ground began to tremble.
Sindbad and the crew members lit a fire
Sindbad and his crew members got scared, and they did not know what was happening. They saw the back of a giant animal. Finally, they realised that they were not standing on an island; Sindbad and his crew members were standing on a water animal. It was believed that the water animal was a big Whale. The trees and bushes over the animal made them feel like an island. The animal became very disturbed when they lit the fire on it. To save their own lives, Sindbad and the crew members ran away and jumped into the water.
Huge water animal (Whale)
Fortunately, many of the crew members boarded the ship; sadly, a few missed it. When a few crew members tried to climb up, the captain started the ship hurriedly. The fear did not allow the captain to think about who was not on the ship. Unknowingly, the captain of the ship left them in the sea. Sindbad was one of the passengers who failed to board the ship. After struggling for a long time, Sindbad, the sailor, was surprised to see a large piece of wood floating nearby. Immediately, he grabbed the piece of wood using his hands. The piece of wood saved his life.
Sindbad grabbed the piece of wood
The strong waves washed out Sindbad, but he clung to the piece of wood and managed to remain floating for a long time. After a prolonged struggle, the sea waves pushed him to another island. On reaching the other island, the sailor became exhausted and unconscious.
Sindbad became unconscious
Sindbad was eventually trapped on a strange island and could not eat anything for a while. This made him feel very tired and hungry. He searched for food, but there was nothing to eat except a few herbs. Sindbad's limb became rigid and refused to move due to the continuous struggle in the seawater. He managed to move forward using his hands and legs to get some herbs. At last, he saw a few herbs on the island. He ate them and drank some water from a small spring to satisfy his thirst.
Sindbad took a long walk on the strange island. He did not know where to go. The sailor waited for a long time, hoping that someone would ask him what had happened to him. To his delight, he met a stranger on the island.
A stranger
The stranger came in front of the sailor and enquired about his dwelling place and where he belonged. The stranger asked him who he was. Immediately, Sindbad shared his misfortunes with the man. On hearing Sindbad's sad story, the man felt very pity, and he took him inside the cave. There were few men inside the cave. They were the slaves of the king. All of them were kind-hearted. The slaves of the king agreed to help the sailor. They treated him with love and care. They served him enough food and water and treated him in the right way. Sindbad took a rest for a while.
The slaves of the king
Later on, the slaves of the island took him to the king. The name of the king was Mihrjan. The king was a noble and kind man.
King Mihrjan
Sindbad narrated his story of sufferings and hardships to the king. He explained to him how he reached the island without a ship and crew members. The king felt bad after hearing his pathetic story. Finally, the king agreed that he would help him. To make him happy and wealthy, King Mihrjan appointed Sindbad as an officer on his island.
The king felt sad after hearing the sailor's story
Sindbad very soon developed a good friendship with the people on the island.
Sindbad and his friends
Many small nearby islands were also under the control of King Mihrjan. When Sindbad was staying on the island, he saw a lot of amazing things. Sindbad found that the seawater surrounding the islands were filled with enormous and terrifying fishes. Some of them were a hundred times bigger than the largest ship.
Enormous and terrifying fish
Sindbad, the sailor, noticed many unbelievable surprises. The things he witnessed during his voyages were beyond one's imagination. One day he saw a strange fish on the island. He was surprised to see the fish because the head of the fish looked like a bull.
Fish had a head like a bull (only for reference)
Sailors from different parts of the world visited the port regularly with their ship. The sailors would reach the port for selling their goods. Sindbad would ask the visiting sailors about his city, 'Baghdad'. However, no one knew where the city was, on hearing that Sindbad was quite upset. He yearned to return to his hometown. Every day, Sindbad would come near the port and enquire the sailors about his city. But no one knew about it. His longingness towards his hometown shows that he was fond of returning home.
On a fine day, when Sindbad was standing on the port, he noticed a ship was coming closer to the port. To his surprise, it was his old ship (the one he had missed during the incident with a huge water animal). Sindbad felt happy on seeing the ship. When the ship came closer, Sindbad felt extreme happiness.
A ship arrives near the port
Sindbad saw the captain of the ship and felt overjoyed. On seeing Sindbad alive, the captain felt delighted. The captain and his crew members hugged Sindbad with extreme happiness. After spending some time together, the captain of the ship handed the leftover things to Sindbad. The leftover things are the items he left on the ship.
Sindbad took his bag, and it contained several valuable goods. From them, the sailor took a few precious things and presented them to the kind-hearted king. The kind king accepted his gift with immense pleasure, and in return, he expressed his love by offering some expensive items. The ship from "Baghdad" stayed on the same island for a few days. Within that short time, Sindbad earned a lot of money and succeeded in his business. This point shows his transformation from a poor to a rich person. When he arrived on the strange island, he had nothing in his hand. But when he decided to leave the island, he had a vast amount of wealth in his hands. In this way, Sindbad became rich again.
King Mihrjan presented expensive gifts to Sindbad
Sindbad went to meet the king. It was his time to leave the island. Sindbad thanked the king for his generosity and the favours he had done for him. The king gave him many unique farewell gifts. At last, Sindbad returned to his city, 'Baghdad', as a wealthy man.
King says goodbye to Sindbad
Sindbad was a good story-teller. His story-telling character is proven in all his voyages. Sindbad's first voyage had finally come to an end. Sindbad (the porter) was listening to the sailor's story with curiosity and eagerness. The sailor then bid farewell to the porter and invited him to return the next day to learn about his new adventure. At the end of the story, the rich Sindbad gifted him a purse full of gold coins. The porter was overjoyed by the unforeseen wealth. He expressed his gratitude and returned home with a huge smile. The day had given the porter good memories, unexpected hope, and a new life.
It is understood that the porter came back to listen to Sindbad's rest of the adventures. The adventures made the porter feel very energetic and enthusiastic. At the end of each story, the porter was gifted with gold coins. Hence, the voyages had transformed the sailor's life, and the stories had reshaped the porter's life.
Purse full of gold coins
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