Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sindbad, Part B


Sindbad: Fifth Voyage

 A common theme is emerging in these stories. After a disastrous turn of events out at sea, Sindbad always fortunately floats from the wreckage to an island. Awfully fortunate to happen again and again. The beginning of this story lends some opportunity to creativity. Sindbad and a group of sailors come to an apparently uninhabited island, but they end up finding the egg of a roc. They smash the eggshell and kill the bird, inciting the wrath of the parents. Almost immediately, the parent birds return to smash the ship. One of my favorite storytelling methods is to reframe the perspective with which the story is told, because of the opportunities for varying details and themes. I think it would be a creative turn to tell this story from the perspective of the family of birds, or even just from the parent birds. They are continuing on about their normal lives, when all of a sudden, a terrible group of humans appears on their island and kills their child!

Additionally, an old man tricks Sindbad into carrying him upon his shoulders, then manipulating him in order to get fruit for himself from he trees!

Sindbad: Fifth Voyage (continued)

 Sindbad rids himself of the old man in a hilarious way. By simply squeezing grape juice into a container, he quickly produces wine. Creating wine is such a long and complex process that I thought this was hilarious! He then uses the effects of the wine to trick the old man into letting go, for he has experienced inebriation in some form or another. It would be a funny twist for the old man to pretend to be drunk, and then continue with his manipulation of Sindbad as opposed to letting him go free! Fortunately, Sindbad comes across an entirely new group of sailors. They undergo a mission to gain fruits from trees guarded by monkeys, which the monkeys unknowingly help them obtain. Sindbad gains great wealth from this and soon continues on his adventures! I think this story would take an interesting twist if the monkeys ended up being much more difficult to deal with than originally intended, perhaps by being more violent or by taking one of the men as hostage.

Bibliography:
"The Arabian Nights' Entertainments: The Voyages of Sindbad" by Andrew Lang: online link

Image Information: Sindbad with the deceptive old man on his back.
Image: Wikimedia

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