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"May God save you," I said, "and send you a
long life!"
"Alas!" he replied, "but what is the good of saying
that when I have an hour left to live!"
"Come-on!" I said, "surely it is not so bad
as all that happened just now I trust that you may be
secure to
me for many years."
"I hope," answered he, "that your life may be
long, but to me, everything is at all finished. I have set
my house in order, and today itself I shall be buried
with my wife. This has been the law upon our
island from the thousands of years ago, that the living
husband goes to the die with his dead wife,
and the living wife with her dead husband. So
how
our fathers did, and so must we do. The law
never changes, and all must agree towards it!"
As he spoke all of his friends and relations began to assemble on the place
where they were to be buried. The body, decorated
in rich fine clothes and sparkling with jewels, was
laid upon an open bier, and the procession
started, they went in the way to a high mountain at
some distance from the city, the depressed
husband, clothed from head to foot in a black
covering, followed unwillingly.
When the place of burial was reached the
dead body was lowered, just as it was, into a deep
hollow. Then the husband, said a
good-bye to all
his friends, placed himself upon another
bier, upon which the seven little pieces of
breads were laid and a jug of water too, and he also was
let down, down, down and down to the depths of the
dark horrible
hollow, and then a stone was placed over the
opening, and the depressed company walked away
in its
way back to the city.
You may imagine that I was a bystander who did not moved
out
of these proceedings; to all the others it was a
thing to which they had been practiced from
their childhood; but I was so horrified that I
could not help telling the king how it shocked
me.
"Sir," I said, "I am more shocked than I can
express to you at the strange practice which
remain in your island of burying the living
with the dead. In all my travels I have never
before met with so cruel, unjust and horrible law."
"What would you have, Sinbad?" he replied. "It
is the law for everybody. I myself should be
buried with the Queen if she must be the first to
die."
"But, your Majesty," I said, "dare I ask if this
law is applicable to the foreigners also?"
"Why, yes," replied the king smiling, in what I
could but judge a very heartless manner,
"there are no protection for them if they have
married in this country itself."
When I heard this I went home sadly,
and from that time my mind was never
easy. If only my wife's little finger ached it
seemed to me as if she was about to die, and sure enough
before very long she fell really ill and in a
few days died.
My fear was great, for it seemed to me that to
be buried alive was even a worse thing than to be
kidnapped and killed by cannibals, none over there was no
way to escape. The body of my wife,
decorated in her
richest robes and with all her jewels too,
was laid upon the bier. I followed it all over
in the same way as that man did, and after
me came a great procession, headed by the king
and all his companions, and in this order we reached
the dangerous mountain, which was one of the bordering
of the sea.
Here I made one more try over to excite
the pity of the king and those who stood by,
hoping to save myself even at this last moment,
but it was of no use. No one spoke to me, they
even appeared to speed up their horrible
task, and I speedily found myself descending
into the gloomy pit, with my seven pieces of
bread and
a jug of water beside me. Almost before I
reached the bottom the stone was rolled into its
place above my head, and there was no chance to
be left.
A thin ray of light came into the hollow
through some gaps, and when I had the courage
to look about me I could see that I was in a
huge tomb, full with bones and bodies of
the dead. I even pretended that I heard the
expiring cries of those who, like me, had
come into this deadly place alive. Hopelessly I
yelled aloud with temper and pain,
reproaching myself for the love of gain and
adventure which had brought me to such a
pass, but after a long time , growing calmer, I took up my
bread and water, and wrapping my face in my
mantle I searched for my way towards the end of the
cavern, where the air was much fresher.
Here I lived in darkness and misery until my
necessities were worn out, but just as I was
about to be dead from starvation, the rock was rolled
away overhead and I saw that a bier was being
lowered into the cavern, and that the body
upon it was a man. In a moment my mind was made
up, the woman who followed had nothing to expect
but a lasting death; I should be doing her a
service if I shortened her depression.
Therefore when she was loaded downwards, already
lacking
from fear, I was ready with a huge bone,
and gave one blow on her head from which left her dead, and I
took up
the bread and water which gave me a hope of
life. Many times I did the same, and I do not know how long I
had been a prisoner when one day I heard something near me, which breathed
loudly. Turning to the place from which the
sound came; I barely saw a shadow which
run off at my movement, getting itself out through a
gap in the wall.
I followed it as fast as I could, and found
myself in a narrow gap among the rocks, along
which I was just able to get my way out from
this place. I
followed it for what seemed to me many miles,
and at last saw before me a ray of light
which grew clearer every moment until I come
into sight
upon the sea shore with a joy which I cannot
describe in my words. When I was sure that I was not
dreaming, I realized that it was doubtless some
little animal which had found its way into the
cavern from the sea, and when disturbed had
ran away, showing me a means of escape which I could
never have discovered for myself. I quickly look
over at my surroundings, and saw that I was
safe from all quest from the town.
The mountains sloped downright to the sea, and
there was no road across them. Being guaranteed of
this I returned to the cavern, and collected a
rich treasure of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and
jewels of all kinds which covered the ground.
These I made up into large amount, and stored them into
a safe place upon the beach, and then waited for the passing of a ship.
I had searched out for two days, however, before a
single sail appeared, so it was with much
delight that I at last saw a vessel not very far
from the shore, and by waving my arms and
by crying out loudly, I succeeded in attracting the
attention of her sailors. A boat was sent off to me
and I answer to the questions of the sailors as
to how I came to be in such a place, I replied
that I had been stuck two days before, but
had managed to scramble ashore with the
treasures
which I pointed out to them.
Luckily for me they believed my story, and
without even looking at the place where they
found me, took up my bundles, and welcomed me back
to the ship. Once on board, I soon saw that the
captain was too much occupied with the
difficulties of navigation to pay much attention to
me, though he charitably made me welcome, and
would not even accept the jewels with which I
offered to pay my passage. Our journey was
successful, and after visiting many lands, and
collecting in each place great store of goodly
merchandise, I found myself at last in Baghdad
once more with unheard of riches of every
description. Again I gave large sums of money to
the poor, and enriched all the mosques in the
city, after which I gave myself up to my friends
and relations, with whom I passed my time in
feasting and happiness.
Here Sinbad stopped, and all his hearers declared
that the adventures of his fourth voyage had
pleased them better than anything they had heard
before. They then took their leave, followed by
Hindbad, who had once more received a hundred
tinsels, and with the rest had been bidden to
return next day for the story of the fifth
voyage.
When the time came all were in their places, and
when they had eaten and drunk of all that was
set before them Sinbad began his tale.
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