Week 5 Reading Diary: The Voyages of Sinbad

For my Middle-Eastern unit I read The Voyages of Sinbad which is part of Andrew Lang's The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. I remember years ago I watched the cartoon version of Sinbad. The only part I remember is the scene with the deadly sirens. I thought reading this unit would refresh me of the story, but it turned out to be completely different than what I expected. My favorite voyages were Sinbad's second voyage and fourth voyage.

Second Voyage

 During Sinbad's second voyage, Sinbad was stranded on an island that contained huge pearly white rocks. These rocks were extremely massive and unlike any stone he has ever seen. He then realized that these "rocks" were actually eggs of a giant bird known as roc. Of course Sinbad, being the crazy sailor he is, attached himself to the bird's legs by wrapping his turban around the talon. I don't know why he thought this would be a great idea because the roc transported Sinbad to a valley of giant snakes which can swallow whole elephants. Sinbad noticed that the entire valley was covered with diamonds. So he takes some diamonds and attaches a slap of snake meat onto himself so that he can return to the roc's nest with his jewels.

Sinbad in the valley of diamonds. Source.

Fourth Voyage

This voyage was a bit crazier. Sinbad was ship wrecked on an island where he found a beautiful. What he didn't realize was that the was a strange custom on the island. If one married partner dies, then the other partner must be buried alive with his/her spouse. Sinbad's wife died of an illness so Sinbad was trapped in a cave with water and bread. Another couple entered the cave (husband died, wife alive), and Sinbad killed the wife to eat her rations. He continued this until a ship rescued him. What was crazy to me was the fact that Sinbad killed several husbands and wives in order to steal their rations instead of plotting an escape together...