Week 4: Storytelling- Sinbad's Final Charge

            "Sinbad, you've been summoned by the Caliph."

            "What could he possibly want with me? He has never asked for me in this manner before," Sinbad thought to himself nervously. Still it was his duty, so he would do whatever the Caliph asked of him.

            Putting on his nicest clothes, he followed the servant who had summoned him to the chamber of the Caliph. It's grandeur was intimidating. Gems glittered and gold shone from the decadent lamps that lined the sides of the Caliph's meeting hall. A beautifully embroidered rug led to the platform where the Caliph himself sat. The platform was raised four feet off the ground, and the Caliph sat upon a golden throne, a fabulous gift from a King across the sea years ago. Now Sinbad had been here once before, but it was no less awe-inspiring than the first time beheld it.

            Saluting as was customary, Sinbad addressed the Caliph, "Your majesty, I am your humble and willing servant. I will do anything and everything that you ask. Give me my task and it will be done as best I can."

            Laughing, the Caliph stood up from his throne and gave his charge to Sinbad. "Sinbad, my friend you are too formal," his voice booming from his place of power. "I ask little more than you have already done. I would send you as my emissary to the King of Serendib. I would answer his message in kind, and would be most pleased if you would bear my gifts to him."

            As flashbacks of his horrible experiences raced through his mind, he struggled to find the words to respond to the task before him. "I would do all that you ask sire, but please, I pray, ask me not to do this. I have taken a vow to never leave Bagdad again. My voyages upon the open sea have nearly been the death of me no less than six times!" Sinbad then told the Caliph of all his voyages, and his near escapes from certain death.

            Sinbad paid close attention to the Caliph as he recounted his story. "Surely my stories will win his favor, and he will let this task pass from me. Though my heart still longs for the sea, my body and mind know better. It would be better if I never were to sail again. He must allow me to remain here with my health, my family and my fortune!"

            Sinbad would not get his wish. The King was not laughing anymore, seeing that his authority was being challenged.

            "Though your stories trouble me greatly, I do not see any great danger in the task before you. The seventh voyage of Sinbad the sailor will be his greatest. My honor and dignity demand that you do this for me!"

            "Of course your majesty, I will obey all that you command " Sinbad said with his eyes downcast.

            The Caliph, upon getting his way, brightened again. "Gods be with you Sinbad! May the sea bring you quickly there and back again! The last voyage of Sinbad the sailor!"

            As Sinbad left the Caliph's meeting room, he thought to himself, "I certainly pray that this is not the last voyage of Sinbad. I don't know how much luck that poor sailor has left. Who knows if he will return safely home to his family. To the sea once more, and for the last time, I go..."

(The Caravan of Sinbad's Seventh Voyage, Source: Wikipedia)

Author's Note-

This story is a re-telling of Sinbad being ordered to go on his Seventh and Last Voyage. He is charged by his ruler to take a gift to another King. At this point, Sinbad has sworn to never sail again, so he is dismayed at the thought of going on another voyage, so I wanted to imagine what would be going through his mind during his meeting with the Caliph.

Bibliography-

Sinbad: Seventh and Last Voyage

The Arabian Nights' Entertainments

Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford

1898