he, alas! perished in a dreadful way soon after we
sailed, for with a number of people belonging to my ship he landed on
what looked like a green island, but which was really the back of a
great sleeping whale. As soon as the monster felt the warmth of the
fire which they had lighted on his back, he woke up and dived below
the sea. Many of my men were drowned, and among them poor Sindbad. Now
I mean to sell his goods that I may give the money to his relations
when I find them.'

"'Captain,' said I, 'these bales are mine, for I am that Sindbad who
thou sayest was drowned.'

"'What wickedness there is in the world,' cried the captain. 'How
canst thou pretend to be Sindbad when I saw him drowned before my
eyes?'

"But presently, when I had told him all that had happened to me, and
when the other merchants from the ship knew me to be the true Sindbad,
he was overjoyed, and ordered that the bales should be at once given
to me.

"Now I was able to give the King a handsome present, and after I had
traded with my goods for sandal-wood, nutmegs, ginger, pepper and
cloves, I set sail once more with the kind old captain. On the way
home I was able to sell all my spices at a good price, so that when I
landed I found I had a hundred thousand sequins.

"My family were delighted to see me again, and I soon bought some land
and built a splendid house, in which I meant to live happily and
forget all the troubles through which I had passed."

Here Sindbad ended the story of his first voyage. He ordered the music
to strike up and the feast to go on, and when it was over he gave the
poor porter Hindbad a hundred gold pieces and told him to come back at
the same time next evening if he wished to hear the tale of the second
voyage.

Hindbad went joyfully home, and you can imagine how happy the poor
family were that night.

Next evening he set out once more for Sindbad's house, dressed in his
best clothes. There he enjoyed a splendid supper as before, and when
it was over Sindbad said:

"I was very happy for some time at home, but before long I began to
grow weary of leading an idle life. I longed to be upon the sea again,
to feel the good ship bounding over the waves, and to hear the wind
whistling through the rigging.

"So I set to work at once and bought all kinds of goods that I might
sell again in foreign lands, and then, having found a suitable ship, I
set sail with other merchants, and so began my second voyage.

"We s