th my friends.

THE FIFTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR

All that I had undergone could not cure me of my desire to make new
voyages. Therefore I bought goods, departed with them for the best
seaport, and, that I might have a ship at my own command, waited till
one was built for me. As I had not goods enough of my own to load her,
I took with me several merchants, of different nations, with their
wares.

We sailed with the first fair wind, and the first place we touched at,
after some time, was a desert island, where we found an egg of a roc,
equal in size to the one I have mentioned already. There was a young
roc in it, just ready to be hatched, and its beak had begun to break
the egg.

The merchants who landed with me broke the egg with hatchets, and made
a hole in it, pulled out the young roc piecemeal, and roasted it. I
had begged them in vain not to meddle with the egg.

Scarcely had they finished their repast, when there appeared in the
air far off two great clouds. The captain of my ship, knowing by
experience what they meant, said they were the male and female parents
of the roc, and urged us to reembark with all speed.

The two rocs approached with a frightful noise, which they redoubled
when they saw the egg broken and their young one gone. They flew back
in the direction they had come, and were gone for some time, while we
made all the sail we could, to try to prevent that which unhappily
befell us.

They soon returned, and we saw that each of them carried in its talons
a huge rock. When they came directly over my ship, they hovered, and
one of them let go his rock; but by the quickness of the steersman it
missed us, and fell into the sea. The other so exactly hit the middle
of the ship as to split it into pieces. The seamen and merchants were
all crushed to death or fell into the sea. I myself was of the number
of the latter; but, as I came up again, I fortunately caught hold of a
piece of the wreck, and swimming, sometimes with one hand and
sometimes with the other, but always holding fast to the plank, the
wind and the tide favoring me, I came to an island, and got safely
ashore.

[Illustration: THE TWO ROCS APPROACHED WITH A FRIGHTFUL NOISE, WHICH
THEY REDOUBLED WHEN THEY SAW THE EGG BROKEN. WE SAW THAT EACH OF THEM
CARRIED IN ITS TALONS A HUGE ROCK. WHEN THEY CAME DIRECTLY OVER MY
SHIP, THEY HOVERED, AND ONE OF THEM LET GO HIS ROCK; BUT BY THE
QUICKNESS OF THE STEERSMAN IT MIS