Now on his fourth voyage Sindbad's ship was wrecked, and he fell among
hairy men, cannibals, who fattened all that they caught like cattle, and
consumed them. He being thin and wasted by all his misfortunes, escaped
death, and saw all his comrades fattened and roasted, till they went
mad, with cries of anguish. It chanced that the shepherd, who tended
these men in the folds, took pity on Sindbad and showed him the road out
of danger, which taking, he arrived, after divers adventures and
difficulties, at the country of a great king. In this country all were
horsemen, but the saddle was unknown, so Sindbad made first the king,
and afterwards the vizir, both saddle and stirrups, which so delighted
them that he was advanced to great fortune and honour.

Then was he married to a maiden most beautiful and chaste, so lovely to
behold that she ravished the senses, and he lived like one in a dream.
But it came to pass that she died, and when they buried her they took
Sindbad and shut him in the Place of the Dead with her, giving him a
little food and water till he should die. Such was the custom, that
husband and wife should accompany the dead wife or husband in the Place
of the Dead--a mighty cave strewn with dead bodies, dark as night, and
littered with jewels.

While Sindbad bewailed his lot in this place the doors opened, a dead
body of a man was brought in, and with it his live wife, to whom food
was given. Then Sindbad killed this fair lady with the bone of a leg,
took her food and jewels, and thus did he serve all the live people
thrust into the cavern. One day he heard a strange sound far up the
cavern, and perceived in the distance a wild beast. Then he knew that
there must be some entrance at that far end, and journeying thither,
found a hole in the mountain which led to the sea. On the shore Sindbad