A tough read for me as are all folk/fairytales. But it makes up for it with the content. This is NOT the Sindbad your familiar with. It's amazing to think they got all those films from this source.
You know he's only called 'the Sailor' because he travels by boat a lot, thats like calling someone 'the Pilot' cause they use a lot of air-travel!
He's also a coward, remarkably docile in captivity and with a nasty habit of figuring ways out of a trap once everyone ELSE is dead. Oh and the 4th voyage, wow!! it really says everything you need to know about this guy :lol .
(read from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang) ( )

The Voyages of Sinbad is the 20th and final book in the Penguin Epics collection. It is 100 small pages containing two stories from The 1001 Arabian Nights. The two stories are The Voyages Sindbad the Sailor and The Tale of Ma'aruf the Cobbler. These are two fairly similar stories drawn from the great Arabian Nights collection which itself is a compilation of folk tales from the Arab golden age. The two stories draw from a range of traditional experiences across the Arab and Persian world. Sindbad's nominal setting is Baghdad but his journeys see him explore through the Indian Ocean. Ma'aruf is of Cairo. The two stories are both full of fantasy but give a superb insight into the values and interests of the Arabic world in its golden period. The Penguin Epics version provides both stories in full as translated by NJ Dawood.

Of course Sindbad is not part of the original Sheherazade cycle but it is a deservedly well-known story of similar ilk and so its place alongside others in the 1001 Arabian Nights has poetic if not strictly historical merit.

Sindbad's is a raucous tale. He is a merchant from Baghdad, a place he calls the city of peace. His life is punctuated by a series of extraordinary adventures taking him far from home to various strange island destinations where he survives and becomes wealthier each time. Sindbad undertakes seven journeys, his trips being fantastical explorations of the Indian Ocean. Each trip begins in the ancient port of Basra which makes Sindbad's story a fantasy version of the journeys undertaken by thousands of Arab traders.

What is perhaps most distinct about Sindbad as well as Ma'aruf compared to the other Penguin Epics characters is that the ostentatiousness of wealth is both to be admired but is also something to be shared. The Arab Muslim world of Sinbad and Ma'aruf is not the austere vision of the modern Salafi but is instead a celebration of life and success. To be wealthy comes with the blessing of the almighty as well as a responsibility to dispense extensive charity and gifts. Gift giving and the kindness of strangers are repeated throughout Sindbad's voyages, cultural values to be cherished.

Sinbad ventures into seven strange locations. He encounters legendary monsters such as the Roc and the Old Man of the Sea. The encounter with the Old Man of the Sea in particular is slightly graphic. These and other great monsters are part of the mythos of the region, Sindbad's encounters with them preserving their existence in popular form. Encounters with strange beasts seem to conclude each time with Sindbad barely surviving and then only able to escape his location thanks to the good fortune of being spotted and rescued by a passing ship.

The repetition of Sindbad's good fortune is a little grating as once again he is the only survivor through chance and once again a ship passes with people on board Sindbad is familiar with. The survival is more enjoyable though as he dispenses some of his newly found wealth among the poor upon his return home each time before becoming bored and heading out again.

Fascinatingly, Sindbad is at times brutal. His fourth voyage in particular sees him killing repeatedly. His victims are already condemned to death thanks to the rite of killing off a spouse once the other partner dies. This is presumably a reference to the funeral pyres that once existed in South Asia and which form part of a culture of femicide. Sindbad's finding the culture still intact somewhere may be an historical relic of knowledge from an older time, or it may have been a reference to something that did not die out before the tales were composed.

The translation by N.J. Dawood is of course a translation of translations handed down over centuries. How closely it tracks to ancient sources is not especially knowable. It is a perfectly fine version in English. It reads like an English text rather than an Arabic text translated into English. Whether that's a good thing is a matter of personal preference though the extensive greeting and comradery reads a little awkwardly in English as does the using of English terms for Qur'anic references.

Sindbad's voyages make for fairly epic reading. They are a little repetitive at times but a lot of fun. They provide a fascinating insight into a long-standing seafaring culture.

There is a second story within the Penguin Epics edition. The second story is The Tale of Ma'aruf the Cobbler. A really interesting editorial decision to add a second similar story to the tale of Sindbad. Ma'aruf is a Cairo-based tradesman much put upon by his overbearing wife. It is a premise that could be anywhere, funny to see it set at the heart of the Arab world given how much that society has changed in the centuries since. The premise is only the setup though, it soon becomes the a fabulous tale of the importance of reputation.

Ma'aruf finds a genie who transports him to a far away land where he meets an old friend. The old friend convinces Ma'aruf to play the role of a fabulously wealthy trader. Ma'aruf obliges and takes his performance way beyond anything his friend could have conceived. Ma'aruf squanders wealth to such an extraordinary degree that others assume he must be rich beyond imagination. He continues to win the affections of others who believe in his presumed importance despite not showing anything of his own and running up huge lines of credit.

Ma'aruf's public displays of splendour win him the support of the King who in turn has Ma'aruf marry his daughter, the princess. Of course Ma'aruf is already married but in Arab culture that's not a problem. Mar'aruf does have an enemy in the form of the Visier. Visiers seem to have an easy place in the mind as spewing venom into a sovereign's ear. On this occasion the visier is entirely correct and Ma'aruf is not the man he claims to be. An amusing spin on a classic character.

Everything works out extremely well for Ma'aruf. He is rewarded beyond compare for his deception. It is the power of reputation, the ultimate expression of the bazaar haggler's ability to win much more than his goods deserve. Morally it is a fascinating story to have such a person succeed so gloriously. Of course his coming from such humble and put-upon roots and facing a bureaucracy in Cairo that had no issue with him but still presented eventually insurmountable challenge makes it ok.

Ma'aruf is not the best known of the 1001 Nights. It is though the concluding tale. It is in the main a positive and uplifting tale of splendour, something to end Sheherazade's nearly three year journey through storytelling.

The Tale of Ma'aruf is fun and a little bit frivolous. It is not quite of the order of Sindbad or some of the other Tales. It is still a nice read for the back half of this work. The translation reads easily in English. A good bonus to this book and an interesting read in its own right. ( )

Seven voyages. Seven missions. Only one man has survived them.

A poor man (Sindbad the Porter) meets a man who shares his name: a great sailor who welcomes him to his house and to his table. The former was amazed to be told of seven journeys to foreign lands, every one ending in shipwreck.

As he listens, the traveler describes a flight on a giant bird, battles with foes including giant serpents, brutal cannibals and the murderous Old Man of the Sea, and the discovery of diamonds.

Sindbad the Sailor has grown rich from his travels--but his path to fortune has been anything but easy...

This volume also includes "The Tale of Ma'aruf the Cobbler": both tales proving to be entertaining reads and never one to disappoint.

Book Details:

Title Vol. XX: The Voyages of Sindbad (Penguin Epics)
Author Anonymous (trans. by N.J. Dawood)
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )