They happen upon an island that is just above sea level. Part
of the crew gets out to walk around and check it out. They didn’t notice
anything on the island so some of the crew got some wood out and decided to
start a fire. After the fire was lit, the island started to shake and tremble.
Sindbad is yelling for everyone to get back on the vessel. Everyone is running
over there and about half of the crew makes it on the vessel when what they now
know is a whale plunges into the water leaving Sindbad and half the crew to
die. Sindbad struggling to stay afloat grabs onto a piece of wood that was used
to start the fire.
After floating for several hours, he sees a storm brewing
and approaching him. The storm is bringing big and heavy waves. He rides over
the first wave, but gets smothered by the second, dunking him under water. Struggling
for his life, he clenched onto the piece of wood and swam up until making above
the monstrous wave and throwing up the water he swallowed. He even coughed up
some blood. The storm finally passes after a while and he thinks he’s in the
clear.
The blood he coughed up attracted some sharks. They surround
him and are swimming in circles around him. Does he try and fight them or just
remain calm and hope they don’t attack him? Luckily, Sindbad chose the latter.
After swimming around him for a bit the sharks realized that he wouldn’t be
tasty at all and swam off.
Exhausted and relieved at the sharks’ departure, he clenched
onto the wood and fell asleep. After sleeping for a couple of hours, he had
floated near a river. He swam over there and found natives to the island. They
took him in and fed him.
Sindbad Floating away with his Riches Wikimedia Commons
Author's Note: I read the First Voyage of Sindbad and noticed that when the whale left him to float on the water with just a log of wood, the story just went straight to him finding an island. Did he have any struggles while on the water? It just said he was exhausted and was ready to get to the island. I added what happened to him from the whale to the island.
Bibliography: The Voyages of Sindbad from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).
Hi Michael!
ReplyDeleteI like what you added to the original story of Sindbad. It's weird that in the original story they would leave out his journey on the water, but I feel like you added enough details to make it more clear of what Sindbad may have encountered. One suggestion that could make your story a little better, is that you could have included what Sindbad first saw once he reached the island, just to give your readers a visual. Overall, I think you did a great job in retelling "The Voyages of Sindband".
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI chose to comment on this one because I also read the stories about Sindbad! I love the way you told the struggle of him while he was without a ship. I noticed this quick turn around from whale to the island, too, but didn't even think about adding to it. This made the story much more fun! I especially liked how you included sharks because being stranded in an ocean immediately makes me think of the scariness of a shark attack. Good work!