Know, O my brothers, that when I had been ashore for a time after my fourth voyage, living in comfort and pleasure, making merry, and rejoicing in the large gains and profits I had made, I found myself forgetting all the perils and suffering I had endured. The desire that comes with youth seized me again—I longed to travel and see foreign countries and islands. So I bought costly merchandise suited to my purpose, made it into bales, and set out for Bassorah. There, walking about the river quay, I found a fine tall ship, newly built with unused gear and fitted ready for sea. She pleased me, so I bought her and loaded my goods aboard. I hired a master and crew, and placed certain of my slaves and servants as inspectors over them. Other merchants brought their goods too, paid me freight and passage money, and after reciting the Fatihah, we set sail over Allah's waters in joy and cheer, promising ourselves a prosperous voyage and much profit.

We sailed from city to city and island to island, viewing the lands and peoples by which we passed, selling and buying goods. Then one day we came to a great uninhabited island, deserted and desolate, on which stood a white dome of enormous size, half buried in the sands. The merchants landed to examine it, leaving me in the ship. When they drew near, behold—it was a huge Rukh's egg! They fell upon it with stones, not knowing what it was, and presently broke it open. Water ran out, and a young Rukh appeared within. They pulled the creature from the shell, cut its throat, and took great quantities of meat. I was still in the ship and knew nothing of this, but presently one of the passengers came up to me and said,

"My lord, come and look at the egg we thought was a dome." I looked and, seeing the merchants beating it with stones, called out to them, "Stop! Do not meddle with that egg, or the Rukh will come out and break our ship and destroy us!" But they paid no heed. They kept striking the egg when suddenly the day grew dark and the sun was hidden from us, as if a great cloud had passed over the sky. We looked up and saw that what we had taken for a cloud was the Rukh itself, poised between us and the sun. Its wings were what darkened the day. When the bird came and saw his egg broken, he cried out with a terrible voice. His mate came flying up, and they both began circling the ship, crying out at us with voices louder than thunder. I called to the captain and crew, "Put out to sea! Seek safety in flight before we are all destroyed!" The merchants rushed aboard, we cast off, and made haste from the island to reach open water. When the Rukhs saw this, they flew after us, and we crowded every sail onto the ship, trying to escape their country. But soon the two birds reappeared and flew after us, hovering over the ship. Each carried in its claws a huge boulder brought from the mountains.

As soon as the male Rukh came up with us, he released the rock he held in his talons. But the master changed our course, and the rock missed by a small distance, plunging into the waves with such force that the ship pitched high and then sank into the trough of the sea. The ocean bottom appeared to us. Then the female Rukh let fall her rock—it was bigger than her mate's. As Destiny had decreed, it fell on the stern of the ship and crushed it, the rudder flying into pieces. The vessel foundered, and all of us were cast into the sea. As for me, I struggled for my life until Almighty Allah threw in my way one of the planks of the ship. I clung to it and, straddling it, paddled with my feet.

The ship had gone down near an island in the midst of the ocean, and the winds and waves carried me until, by permission of the Most High, they cast me up on the shore of the island, gasping and half dead from hunger and thirst. I came ashore more like a corpse than a living man and threw myself down on the beach. After a time, I revived and recovered my spirits. I walked about the island and found it like one of the gardens of Paradise. Its abundant trees bore ripe yellow fruit; its streams ran clear and bright; its flowers were beautiful to smell and to see, and its birds sang the praises of Him to whom belong eternity and all might. So I ate my fill of the fruits and drank from the streams until I could eat no more, and I gave thanks to the Most High and glorified Him.—

When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty seventh night

I drew near and greeted him. He returned my greeting by signs but spoke not. I asked him, "Uncle, what causes you to sit here?"

He shook his head and moaned, signing with his hand as if to say, "Take me on your shoulders and carry me to the other side of the well channel." I thought to myself, "I will be kind to him and do what he asks. Perhaps I will earn a reward in Heaven, for he may be a cripple." So I took him on my back and carried him to the place he indicated. "You can dismount now," I told him.

But he would not get off. Instead, he wound his legs around my neck. Looking at them, I saw they were black and rough like buffalo hide, and I was terrified. I wanted to cast him off, but he clung to me and gripped my neck with his legs so tightly that I nearly choked. The world went black in my sight and I fell senseless to the ground like a dead man. Yet he remained on my back. He raised his legs and drummed his heels against me, beating my back and shoulders harder than palm rods, until the pain forced me to rise.

Then he signalled with his hand for me to carry him here and there among the trees that bore the finest fruits. Whenever I refused to obey, or slowed down, or tried to rest, he beat me with his feet more cruelly than any whip. He constantly signalled for me to take him where he wanted to go. I carried him about the island like a captive slave, and he urinated and defecated on my shoulders and back, never dismounting night or day. When he wanted to sleep, he wound his legs around my neck, leaned back, and slept for a while. Then he woke and beat me, and I sprang up in pain, unable to resist because of the agony he inflicted. I blamed myself bitterly for having shown compassion and repented deeply. I endured fatigue beyond description.

Finally, I said to myself, "I did him good and he repaid me with evil. By God, I will never do any man a service as long as I live!" Again and again I begged the Most High that I might die, so weary was I and so miserable. I lived in this condition for a long time until, one day, I came with him to a place where gourds grew in abundance, many of them dried. I took a large dried gourd, cut off the top, scooped out the inside, and cleaned it. Then I gathered grapes from a nearby vine and squeezed them into the gourd until it was full of juice. I stopped it up and set it in the sun, and after several days, it became strong wine. Every day I drank from it to comfort myself and give me strength to bear my weariness with that stubborn, obstinate creature. Whenever I drank myself drunk, I forgot my troubles and took heart again.

One day he saw me drinking and signalled with his hand, asking, "What is that?" I said, "It is an excellent cordial that cheers the heart and revives the spirits." Then, heated with wine, I ran and danced with him among the trees, clapping my hands, singing, and making merry. I staggered deliberately under him. When he saw this, he signalled for me to give him the gourd so he could drink. I was afraid of him and gave it to him. He took it, drained it to the last drop, and cast it on the ground. Then he became playful and began to clap his hands and dance back and forth on my shoulders, urinating on me so much that all my clothes were soaked. But soon the fumes of the wine rose to his head. He became helplessly drunk, and his muscles and limbs went slack. He swayed back and forth on my back.

When I saw that he had lost his senses from the wine, I put my hand to his legs, loosened them from my neck, and stooped until I was nearly bent to the ground. Then I threw him off with all my might onto the earth.—

When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty eighth night

Then, behold, a ship appeared, making its way through the dashing sea and clashing waves. It cast anchor, and the passengers landed. I hurried to them, and when they saw me, they all came to me and gathered around, asking about my condition and how I came to be there. I told them all that had happened to me, and they marvelled greatly. They said, "The creature who rode on your shoulder is called the 'Shaykh al-Bahr'—the Old Man of the Sea. None who have felt his legs upon their neck have ever escaped alive except you. Those who die under him, he eats. So praised be Allah for your safety!" They set food before me, and I ate my fill. They gave me clean clothes to wear, and I dressed myself anew and covered my nakedness. Then they took me aboard the ship.

We sailed for days and nights until fate brought us to a place called the City of Apes. It was built with lofty houses, all facing the sea, with a single gate studded and strengthened with iron nails. Every night, as soon as dusk fell, the inhabitants would come forth from the gates, put out to sea in boats and ships, and pass the night on the water, fearing lest the apes should come down from the mountains and attack them. When I heard this, I was greatly troubled, remembering the suffering I had endured from apes before.

I landed to walk about the city, but while I was gone, the ship set sail without me. I repented bitterly of having gone ashore, and remembering my companions and what had befallen me with apes before, I sat down and wept with lamentation. Presently, a townsman approached me and said, "My lord, I perceive that you are a stranger to these parts."

"Yes," I answered, "I am indeed a stranger and a poor one. I came here in a ship that cast anchor, and I landed to visit the city. But when I wanted to board again, I found they had sailed without me."

"Come and embark with us," he said, "for if you remain in the city at night, the apes will destroy you."

"I hear and obey," I replied, and rising at once, I embarked with him in one of the boats. They pushed off from shore and anchored about a mile from land, and we passed the night there. At daybreak, they rowed back to the city and landed, each going about his business. Thus they did every night, for any man who tarried in the city by night would be attacked by the apes and slain. At dawn, the apes would leave and eat the fruits of the gardens, then return to the mountains and sleep until nightfall, when they came down again to attack the city.

This place was in the farthest part of the country of the blacks. One of the strangest things that happened to me during my stay in the city was this: One of the men with whom I passed the night in the boat asked me, "My lord, you are clearly a stranger to these parts. Do you have any craft by which you can work?"

I answered, "By God, O my brother, I have no trade and know no handicraft. I was a merchant and a man of wealth and standing, and I had a ship of my own laden with many goods and merchandise. But it foundered at sea, and all were drowned except me, whom Allah saved by letting me cling to a piece of plank."

Upon this, he brought me a cotton bag and gave it to me, saying, "Take this bag, fill it with pebbles from the beach, and go forth with the townsfolk to whom I will entrust you. Do as they do, and perhaps you will gain something to help you return to your native land." He carried me to the beach, where I filled my bag with large and small pebbles. Presently, we saw a company of people come from the town, each carrying a bag like mine, filled with pebbles. He entrusted me to their care, saying to them, "This man is a stranger. Take him with you and teach him how to gather, so he may earn his daily bread, and you will earn your reward and recompense in Heaven."

"With pleasure!" they answered, welcoming me warmly. We set out together until we came to a spacious valley full of tall trees with smooth trunks that no one could climb. Many apes were sleeping under these trees. When they saw us, they rose and fled, swarming up among the branches. My companions began to pelt the apes with the pebbles from their bags, and the apes responded by plucking fruit from the trees and throwing it at us. I looked at the fruit they threw and found them to be coconuts. So I chose a great tree full of apes, went up to it, and began to pelt them with stones. They threw coconuts back at me, which I collected along with the rest. Before I had even emptied my bag of pebbles, I had gathered a great quantity of coconuts. As soon as my companions had collected as many as they could carry, we returned to the city, arriving at the end of the day.

I went to the kind man who had brought me with the nut gatherers and gave him all I had gathered, thanking him for his kindness. But he would not accept them, saying, "Sell them and make a profit from the price." Then he gave me the key to a closet in his house, saying, "Store your nuts in this safe place. Go out every morning and gather as you did today, and choose the worst ones for sale and your own use. But save the rest here, so perhaps you may collect enough to serve you for your journey home."

"May Allah reward you!" I answered, and I did as he advised. I went out daily with the coconut gatherers, who praised me to one another and showed me the best trees. I did this for some time, until I had laid up great stores of excellent nuts, besides a large sum of money from those I had sold. I grew comfortable and bought whatever I saw and desired, passing my time pleasantly and greatly enjoying my stay in the city. Then one day, as I stood on the beach, a great ship came steering through the heart of the sea and cast anchor by the shore. The merchants on board landed and began to sell and buy goods and barter for coconuts and other commodities.

I went to my friend and told him of the ship's arrival and how I wished to return to my own country. He said, "That is for you to decide." So I thanked him for his kindness and took leave of him. Then I went to the ship's captain, agreed with him for my passage, and embarked my coconuts and all that I possessed. We weighed anchor,—

When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty ninth night

They did so and brought up from the deep great stores of large and priceless pearls. They said to me, "By God, my master, your luck is blessed!" Then we sailed on with the blessing of Allah, whose name be exalted, and did not stop until we arrived safely at Bassorah. I remained there a little while, then travelled on to Baghdad, where I entered my quarter and found my house. I was reunited with my family and greeted my friends, who gave me joy at my safe return. I stored all my goods and valuables in my warehouses. Then I distributed alms and gifts, clothed widows and orphans, and made presents to my relations and companions. For the Lord had requited me fourfold for all that I had lost. After that, I returned to my old way of life, living in pleasure and mirth, and soon forgot all the hardship I had suffered in the joy of the great profit and wealth I had made.

"Such, then, is the history of my fifth voyage and its marvels. Now let us go to supper. Tomorrow, come again, and I will tell you what befell me in my sixth voyage, for it was even more wonderful than this."

(Says he who tells the tale): Then he called for food, the servants spread the table, and when they had eaten their evening meal, he gave Sindbad the porter a hundred golden dinars. The porter returned home and lay down to sleep, marvelling at all he had heard.

The next morning, as soon as it was light, he prayed the dawn prayer and, after blessing Muhammad, the best of all creatures, went to the house of Sindbad the Seaman and greeted him. The merchant bade him sit and talked with him until the rest of the company arrived. The servants spread the table, and when they had well eaten and drunk and were merry and happy, Sindbad the Seaman began telling the narrative of