ES-SINDIBAD OF THE SEA 117

man, how didst thou arrive at this place, which
is a great mountain, with a great city behind
it? All my life I have been accustomed to
navigate this sea, and to pass by this mountain;
but have never seen anything there except the
wild beasts and the birds.’ I answered him,
“T am a merchant. I was in a great ship, and
it was wrecked, and all my merchandise, con-
sisting of these stuffs and clothes which thou
seest, was submerged; but I placed it upon a
great plank, one of the planks of the ship, and
destiny and fortune aided me, so that I landed
upon this mountain, where I waited for some
one to pass by and take me with him.” And
I acquainted them not with the events that had
befallen me in the city, or in the cavern; fear-
ing that there might be with them in the ship
some one from that city. Then I took forth
and presented to the owner of the ship a con-
siderable portion of my property, saying to him,
‘‘O my master, thou hast been the means of my
escape from this mountain: therefore receive
from me this as a recompense for the favour
which thou hast done to me.” But he would
not accept it from me; and he said to me, “ We
take nothing from any one; and when we be-
hold a shipwrecked person on the shore of the