Reading Notes: Voyages of Sindbad, Part B
Week 9 Extra Credit, Reading Notes, Voyages of Sindbad, Part B
This time I decided to focus on content. Specifically, I will focus on the repetition of the same storyline by the author.
The story starts with Sindbad once again deciding to set sail on another voyage, despite his past. He and his fellow sailors come across a roc's egg and break it apart and eat it. They are then attacked by the parent birds. The boat is sunken but Sindbad survives. He drifts to an island and meets an old man who tricks him and forces Sindbad to carry him high so he can pick fruit. Sindbad makes wine to lighten his burden and also gets his captor drunk, thus allowing Sindbad to escape. He runs away and meets some mariners who help him. He leaves with these mariners and they go to a different island to collect coconuts. They have to fight with mischievous monkeys to get the coconuts. Sindbad collects and sells coconuts until he has enough money to return home.
Unsurprisingly, before long, Sindbad feels the urge to be back at sea. He sets off on another adventure and promptly gets caught in a storm. They crash on an island and Sindbad discovers a cave full of riches. All of Sindbad's companions starve but Sindbad survives because he has a lot of experience with being marooned. He finds a way off the island and takes many jewels with him. He is rescued and returns home a rich man.
Finally, Sindbad has decided he will live a peaceful life and stop going on dangerous voyages. However, he is summoned by an officer who entreats him to take a gift to a King. Sindbad tells the man he has made a vow not to ever leave his homeland again because of all of his past sufferings but the man says its a short trip and forces Sindbad to go on the trip. He is captured by pirates and made a slave. He becomes the slave of a merchant who asks him to hunt elephants. This turns out to be a test because the elephants are very dangerous. Sindbad survives and becomes a renowned hero. Then his captor allows him to return home and he lives happily ever after.
We can see that there is a pattern that the author is following. He repeats the same pattern in seven different stories. First, Sindbad goes on a voyage. Then disaster strikes and he ends up on an island. He discovers riches on the island but is always too worried about surviving to care. He then finds a way off the island and takes the riches with them. He uses his riches as gifts for his rescuers and the receives gifts in return and returns home a rich man.
I think it is interesting to see how an author can use a basic outline to create multiple different stories. It results in an interesting project overall.
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| (Image Information: Sindbad and the Elephants, Blogspot) |
Bibliography:
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).
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