choicest dishes.

After the feast Sinbad addressed Hindbad by the title of 'brother,' and
asked his name and profession. Hindbad answered him faithfully. Sinbad
wished to know what it was he had said in the street, and this also
Hindbad told him. Then Sinbad pointed out how foolish the porter's anger
and envy had been, since he did not really know whether this wealth had
not been won worthily by toil and hardship; and when Hindbad began to
see that he had spoken without thought, Sinbad went on to give some
account of his adventures in seven voyages that he had made on different
seas. We shall not narrate the whole of these adventures during the
various voyages, but shall only take two of them, one of which has
passed into a proverb.

When Sinbad was a young man, he spent the fortune he inherited from his
father foolishly. But there came a day, happily while he was still
young, when he saw his folly, and determined to use what was left of his
fortune in a better manner. As a first step in this direction, he sought
the advice of some merchants who traded by sea, with the result that he
embarked with several of them in a vessel which they had fitted out at
their united expense. It was a lovely day when they set sail, but before
long the wind fell, and they were becalmed off a small island. The
captain ordered the sails to be furled, and gave permission for those
who wished to go ashore. Amongst those who took advantage of the
permission was Sinbad himself. He and his comrades sat down to lunch on
one of the greenest parts of the island, and had just begun their meal,
when the island suddenly trembled, and they felt a great shock. They at
first supposed that it was an earthquake, but in this they were
mistaken, for the island turned out to be nothing more nor less than a
huge whale! The most active of the party jumped into the boat, while
others threw themselves into the water to swim to the ship. Sinbad
himself was still on the 'island' when it plunged into the sea. He had
only time, as he sank, to catch hold of a piece of wood which had been
brought to make a fire with. A breeze had sprung up, and the captain of
the ship set sail, leaving Sinbad, whom he had possibly not missed, to
the mercy of the waves.

At last a great wave dashed Sinbad, nearly exhausted, on to an island
which, this time, he found to be really good firm earth. The men of the
island were kind to him, and told him that had he been a day later he
wou