Week 5 Story: The Valley of Diamonds

"Once there was a sailor named Sinbad who wished for adventure and riches. He had tasted the thrills of trekking across the sea once before, and he set out to journey the sea again. On this voyage, he had joined a crew of sailors to go to different lands. Their ship made a stop at an island, and Sinbad was more tired than you are from his journey."

"I'm not tired!" insisted John. He was all tucked up in bed after being slowly convinced over the last half hour that it really was his bed time. The more he fought going to bed, the more tired he really was. "I'm only in bed because you told me you'd tell me a story about pirates!"

I softly chuckled, "Well, Sindbad was not exactly a pirate. He was a sailor, and as I was saying, he took a nap. When he woke up, he saw that everyone had left. He quickly looked around everywhere he could, but when he got to the shore, he saw the ship sailing off into the distance. So now Sindbad had to think! How would he get off this island? He explored more of the island and found a massive egg. An egg as tall as this house! Can you imagine that? Soon the egg's parent came back to land on the egg. Since Sindbad was right next to the egg, he was luckily undetected by the giant bird. This bird was called a Roc. The Roc was at least twice as big as the egg! Thinking quickly, Sindbad used his turban to tie himself to the bird. Once morning came, the bird flew off the island with Sindbad attached.

The bird eventually landed in a valley that was glittering all over. Sindbad quickly untied himself from the bird's leg as the Roc started fighting a snake so huge that it could swallow a truck. Who do you think wins this fight, John? The bird or the snake?"

John squinted his eyes in concentration for a moment, and then looked up at me with wide eyes. "I think the snake will win! Snakes have big teeth. I'm sure he has big teeth since he can eat a whole truck!"

I smiled, "That's a good guess, John, but what happens is the Roc gets the upper hand and carries the snake out of the valley to eat for dinner." I smirked, "Mmm, don't you think a snake dinner would be tasty?"

John scrunched up his face in response. "No snake for me! I like chicken nuggets!"

"Well, John, Sindbad was now trapped in a valley with massive snakes! He looked around him and saw that the entire valley floor was covered in diamonds. These diamonds would have made him so rich if only he could get back to safety! Night was soon approaching, so Sindbad had to hole himself up in a cramped cave to stay safe from the snakes that came out at night. The snakes slithered and hissed all night, so Sindbad barely got a wink of sleep. But morning finally came, and he was able to walk along the valley without fear. He was admiring some diamonds that were as large as his head when a huge chunk of meat dropped beside him.

Sindbad remembered that merchants tried to get the diamonds by dropping meat in the valley with hopes that some diamonds would stick to the meat. How they get the meat back out of the valley depends on the Rocs retrieving the meat and taking the meat back to their nest. So using the same idea as before, Sindbad took his turban and tied himself to the meat with a large collection of diamonds. Before long, a Roc came by and picked up the meat with Sindbad and the diamonds along with it.

Sindbad was then dropped in a nest of massive chicks that were hungry, but the merchants kept watch on the nest and scared away the birds. The merchants soon realized Sindbad was in the nest and were upset that he had cut their profit. Luckily, he did have diamonds to offer the merchants, but they declined after hearing his wild story. After surviving birds of prey, gigantic snakes, and angry merchants, Sindbad the Sailor finally made his way safely home."

"I liked that story," remarked John with his eyes nearly closed. "I want to hear more about Sindbad the Sailor next t-...," and with that, John was asleep.

Author's Note: This is a retelling of the Second Voyage from the Voyages of Sindbad. This retelling was done as if I was telling this story to a child as a bedtime story. There are many fantastical details that can be used for the drama of a bedtime story. The original tale follows Sindbad on his journey out with a crew on a ship to an island. Unfortunately, Sinbad takes a nap on the island and is left behind. Luckily, he finds an egg much larger than him that is the egg of a Roc, a giant bird, that he uses to get off the island by tying himself to the Roc's leg. Once off the island, he ends up in a valley of diamonds and snakes. Merchants try to get the diamonds by dropping meat in the valley, so Sindbad ties himself to the meat to escape by a bird picking him up once again.

Bibliography

Second Voyage, The Voyages of Sindbad, Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898)

Image Information: Diamonds by Ptukhina Natasha, Wikimedia Commons