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| Sinbad escapes down a stream on a raft (Wikipedia) |
Note: We continue with the ever more incredible adventures of the doughty Sinbad.
Get Ready: Why do you think people used to tell stories like theoens about Sinbad? What could their value be to the listeners?
In the previous lesson, we learned about the adventurer known as Sinbad the Sailor, and we read about the first four of his seven voyages. Today we'll explore the other three.
As Sinbad lives his comfortable life in Baghdad, he begins to forget the trials he experienced on his travels and remembers only the adventure and excitement, so he sets out on a fifth voyage. His shipmates foolishly break open a roc egg and eat the chick inside; knowing this is dangerous, Sinbad bids them to flee--but not soon enough! The infuriated parent birds catch up to the ship and destroy it by dropping boulders on it.
Shipwrecked again, Sinbad becomes enslaved by the "Old Man of the Sea" and must carry him on his shoulders night and day, while the Old Man squeezes his neck with his legs. But Sinbad tricks the Old Man into drinking some wine, and kills him when he falls off drunk. He escapes to the City of the Apes; the people there must spend the night on boats in the harbor, as every night the city is taken over by man-eating apes. Sinbad learns to deal with the apes and has them pick fruit for him, which he sells at a profit. Once more he returns to Baghdad a wealthier man.
Shipwrecked yet again on his sixth voyage, he is the last man alive as his shipmates die of starvation. He escapes on a raft down a stream filled with gems, and meets a king in this wondrous land, who sends him back to Baghdad with many rich gifts.
On his seventh and final voyage, Sinbad is stranded on a desolate shore, and floats a raft to a great city. He marries the daughter of the richest merchant of the city, and inherits all the merchant's goods when the merchant soon dies. He also discovers that, once a month, some of the people of this city are turned into birds, and he rides into the heavens on one of them, where he hears the angels sing. As he joins their song, fire comes from heaven, because a mortal man is not supposed to be there; this nearly kills the bird-people. Angry with him, they set Sinbad on a mountaintop, where he meets the servants of God and is given a golden staff.
Back in the city, Sinbad learns that the bird-men are actually devils, so he sells his possessions and returns with his wife to Baghdad, where he lives out his days as a wealthy man.
--------Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinbad_the_Sailor
Practice: Match the term to its definition below:
- bids
- boulders
- chick
- enslaved
- gems
- infuriated
- mortal
- raft
- starvation
- wondrous
- jewels; precious stones
- lack of food
- a crudely-made boat
- extremely angry
- a baby bird
- held in bondage; captive
- orders; strongly suggests
- amazing; marvelous
- very large stones
- human; able to die
Answers are in the first comment below.
Submitted to the Shenzhen Daily for January 4, 2022
Answers to the Practice: 1. g; 2. i; 3. e; 4. f; 5. a; 6. d; 7. j; 8. c; 9. b; 10. h
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