ES-SINDIBAD OF THE SEA 89

eat and drink in abundance of that food and
oil, until he became fat and stout, when they
slaughtered him and roasted him, and served
him as meat to their King. But as to the com-
panions of the King, they ate the flesh of men
without. roasting or otherwise cooking it. So
when I saw them do thus, I was in the utmost
anguish on my own account and on account
of my companions. ‘The latter, by reason of the
excessive stupefaction of their minds, knew not
what was done unto them, and the people com-
mitted them to a person who took them every
day and went forth to pasture them on that
island like cattle.

But as for myself, I became, through the
violence of fear and hunger, infirm and wasted
in body, and my flesh dried upon my bones.
So when they saw me in this state, they left
me and forgot me, and not one of them re-
membered me, nor did I occur to their minds,
until I contrived a stratagem one day, and,
going forth from that place, walked along the
island to a distance. And I saw a herdsman
sitting upon something elevated in the midst
of the sea; and I certified myself of him, and,
lo, he was the man to whom they had com-
mitted my companions that he might pasture