Evening star., 1928-12-25
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
THE SECOND VOYAGE OF SINBAD THE SAILOR
(From" ARABIA


(The Arabian Nights Tales" so called.
are known in collected form as THE Thou
sand ane One Nights" being supposedly told
master Ts ste and pospone
own impending execution. She succeeds
and is finally pardoned, so fascinating are
After my first voyage I thought I
would spend the rest of my life in Bag
dad, but I soon began to hunger for
adventure and activity. ] decided to
i try my hand at trading again. So ]
invested in goods and entered partner
ship with merchants known for their
honesty.
We put to sea in good ship and all
went well until we landed on an un-
also, fresh water. We liked the beautiful
country so much that we banqueted
under the trees, and afterwards I fell
asleep. When I awoke the ship was
gone.
was astonished to be thus left alone
Not one of the men who had landed
with me was to be seen. / had been
deserted. I scoIded myself severely for
not having been satisfied to remain in
Bagdad with my little fortune, which
would have kept me well the rest of my
days.
However, T decided to do all that
| a look about. All I could see in the
direction of the ocean was sky and
water. But as looked toward the land
could see something white. Coming
down from the tree, I Immediately set
out in the direction Of the white thing
for 1t was SO far away that I had not
been able to make out what it was!
AS I came nearer I perceived it to
be white bowl of a prodigious height,
and when I touched it I discovered it
to have very smooth surface. I walked
around it to see if there was any kind
of opening, but there was none. could
not climb up it, because it was too
smooth. Its circumference was at least
SO PAGES.
The sun was about to set and the sky
grew suddenly dark. The darkness,
however, was caused by bird of mon
Strous size which came flying toward
me. had heard Of the roc, the gi-
gantic bird In sailors stories, and
knew now that the great bowl I had
found must be its egg.
Indeed, the bird alighted and sat over
the egg to hatch it. I had crept close
to the egg as she settled down over it,
and right before me was one of the
birds legs-as big as the trunk Of
good sized tree. I took the opportunity
W VIC LlyScI4 SGIOuS4y 10 Lie UEQS IGB
with the cloth that went around my tur-'
ban, in hopes that when the roc flew
away the next morning Sne would carry
me with her out of this desert island.
I was carried away all right. The
bird few so high I could not see the
earth. Then she descended suddenly,
so fast that fell into a swoon. When
aWoke found that the roc was on
the ground, so hastily unfastened my
self. I was just in time, for the bird,
having taken huge serpent In its bill,
few away.
Now I was in a deep valley. The
cliffs were so high that 1t appeared i'm
possible ever to hope to scale them. I
had left desert island for this i'm
passable valley-surely was not much
better off than before!
An amazing thing to me was the fact
that this valley was strewn with huge
diamondS-genuine specimens of the
precious stones. Some of them were the
largest had ever seen or heard of, but
they were of little use to me in my pre-
dicament. What did captivate my at
ention, though, was bunch of huge
serpents which threatened my life. I
took refuge in a cave and blocked the
door with a rock for the night. The
serpents came out only at night, ap-
parently. In the daytime I was safe
from them.
Something that fell into the valley
with q great noise awakened me. 1t
was colossal piece of fresh meat
perhaps the whole side of a freshly
butchered COW. Other pieces fell
down in other places.
Now I had heard fables Of this val
ley of diamonds, which was inacces-
sible to man because of the high
precipices surrounding 1t. But I had
| never believed such stories until now.
The truth was clear, beyond a doubt.
These pieces of fresh meat were
| thrown down into the valley by av-
! aricious men who desired to secure
| diamonds.
The way the scheme worked was
this. The sharp-pointed gems would
| cling to the sides OF the meat. The
| meat would attract the attention of
gigantic eagles which frequented the
the meat in their claws and carry it
up to their nests on the cliffs to feed
| their young. These nests could be
reached by the diamond hunters, each
man having his own particular nest,
| and any diamonds brought by the
| eagles to that nest belonging to him
exclusively. The men would frighten
| the eagles away long enough to take
the diamonds from the sticky sides of
| the meat.
Until that moment I had been
thinking that this valley would be my
grave. But these thoughts gave me
stuffed my pockets with the finest and
!. largest diamonds I could find. Then
waited until particularly large
piece OF meat fell down. seized IL at