Story: The Voyages of Sinbad

Whiskey glass on a bar

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It is 2am on a Tuesday. Sailor’s Pub is a pub in the outskirts of Baghdad. The manager, who also tends bar, is preparing to close the bar for the night. All customers have left and the pub is quiet. When he looks down the bar, he sees an older man with a scruffy beard and baggy eyes. The man is sitting quietly alone with his head down and a glass of whiskey in his hand. The manager walks over to the man to see if he is alright. The man lifts his head slightly and whispers, “I’m not a bad person.”

“What?” says the manager.

“I did it to survive…does that make me a bad man?” says the man.

The manager realizes that he cannot just kick the man out of the bar. The man is clearly troubled, so he pours himself a glass of whiskey and asks, “What is your name?”

The man replies, “Sinbad.”

“Well, Sinbad, tell me what is bothering you,” the manager softly says.

At this point in time, Sinbad raises his head to stare directly into the manager’s eyes. With a surprisingly calm demeanor, Sinbad dives into the story of his fourth voyage….

“You see, I was once a merchant. I sailed many voyages. The fourth of my seven voyages brought out the worst in me. We were sailing the great sea when our ship wrecked on an island. Me and my crew were captured by some inhabitants of the island. These people…they were…they were crazy. They drugged my crew, taking over their brains. I refused to take the drug because I knew I must keep my wits about me. They began to fatten my crew up like they were pigs for slaughter. One night…my crew just disappeared from our sleeping area.”

At this point both the manager and Sinbad take a large sip of whiskey, and the manager softly says, “Continue.”

Sinbad continues.

“The next day I was walking around the camp looking for my crew…All I found was human remains. They had been eaten by these cannibals. I knew, then, that I must make a move at an escape. I waited till no one was watching and I bolted. I ran as fast as I could through the jungle, ducking and dodging trees. When I hit the shore, there was a merchant ship anchored. The merchants were kind enough to take me in.”

The manager intercedes, “Well, escaping without your crew doesn’t make you a bad person. There was nothing you could do.”

“It gets worse…” Sinbad replies as he takes another sip of whiskey.

“The merchants took me to their island. They gave me many treasures and treated me with much care. They even gave me a beautiful wife to marry….”

He continues telling the story of living in peace on the island.

“One day my wife became very sick and eventually disease took her. I was devastated. What came next was even worse. It was custom for a widower to be buried alive with the remains of the dead spouse… They snagged me and lowered me into a tomb deep in the ground with minimal provisions to survive. I began to give up hope on the fifth day….But then…then…”

Sinbad trails off and looks away. His eyes begin watering. He chokes up and does not know if he can continue. The manager lets Sinbad sit in silence for a few moments before putting his hand on Sinbad’s shoulder and softy saying, “You don’t have to continue if you don’t wish to.”

“I need to. I need to clear my mind of this,” Sinbad replied. He took the last gulp of whiskey and the manager gave him a refill. He took a deep breath and continued.

“On the fifth day in the tomb, another couple was lowered into the hole. The woman was the one alive. She had a fresh amount of provisions. I…I needed to survive…I had to make it home. I killed her.”

Sinbad begins to cry but continues telling the story.

“I killed every person who came down the hole, and I stole their provisions. I am a bad person!”

Sinbad is frantically weeping. The manager tries for another thirty minutes to calm Sinbad down. When Sinbad finally calms down, he explains how he stole jewels from the tomb and escaped through a tunnel that an animal dug out. He found his way home and sold the jewels for money, all of the jewels except one necklace. It was the necklace of the first woman he killed in the tomb. He keeps it to remind him of the things he’s done.

By this time, it is nearly 4am and Sinbad has stopped crying. The manager explains that everyone does bad things, but that doesn’t make them a bad person. He assures Sinbad that there is still time to turn his life around and do some good. He then walks Sinbad out, and they shake hands. At this point, Sinbad thanks him for listening, and the manager then closes the bar and goes home.

Author's Note:

Sinbad went on seven voyages that all ended with him shipwrecked and finding a way home. The fourth voyage involved him being buried alive and killing innocent people lowered into the tomb. It was easily the worst thing that Sinbad had to do to survive, so I imagine it took a toll on him. I decided to write the story about the toll it took on him by having Sinbad finally tell the story of his survival after many years of holding it in. In my story, Sinbad was very ashamed about what he did, but refused to retell the story. When someone has a secret that they are ashamed of, it can slowly eat away at their conscience. It is better for someone to talk out their feelings with another person, whether that be a therapist or, in this case, a friendly bartender. Alcohol can sometimes loosen up a person’s lips, and allow them to spill their feelings. Sinbad finally could not hold in his secrets anymore. Afterwards, Sinbad could finally move on with his life after letting go of his past. This is an overarching theme in life, you must let go of the past to move on with your future.

Bibliography:

The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). Link