beings; and of its skin bucklers are made.[FN#36] There were eke
fishes like asses and camels[FN#37] and tortoises twenty cubits
wide.[FN#38] And I saw also a bird that cometh out of a sea-shell
and layeth eggs and hatcheth her chicks on the surface of the
water, never coming up from the sea to the land.[FN#39] Then we
set sail again with a fair wind and the blessing of Almighty
Allah; and, after a prosperous voyage, arrived safe and sound at
Bassorah. Here I abode a few days and presently returned to
Baghdad where I went at once to my quarter and my house and
saluted my family and familiars and friends. I had gained on this
voyage what was beyond count and reckoning, so I gave alms and
largesse and clad the widow and the orphan, by way of
thanksgiving for my happy return, and fell to feasting and making
merry with my companions and intimates and forgot, while eating
well and drinking well and dressing well, everything that had
befallen me and all the perils and hardships I had suffered.
"These, then, are the most admirable things I sighted on my third
voyage, and to-morrow, an it be the will of Allah, you shall come
to me and I will relate the adventures of my fourth voyage, which
is still more wonderful than those you have already heard."
(Saith he who telleth the tale), Then Sindbad the Seaman bade
give Sindbad the Landsman an hundred golden dinars as of wont and
called for food. So they spread the tables and the company ate
the night-meal and went their ways, marvelling at the tale they
had heard. The Porter after taking his gold passed the night in
his own house, also wondering at what his namesake the Seaman had
told him, and as soon as day broke and the morning showed with
its sheen and shone, he rose and praying the dawn-prayer betook
himself to Sindbad the Seaman, who returned his salute and
received him with an open breast and cheerful favour and made him