The Fourth Voyage of Sinbad

He was beside himself with grief. I said to him:

"Do not mourn for your wife, who has now found the mercy of Allah. The Lord will surely give you a better one in her place, and your life shall be happy, prosperous, and long, God Willing!”

But the man could not be comforted. “You are a stranger here," he said. “You do not yet know all our ways. This very day they bury my wife, they will bury me with her in the same tomb. It is our custom that if a man dies first, his wife is buried with him, and if a wife dies first the husband is buried with her.”

And then I understood why my neighbour could not be consoled. The women of the house dressed the wretched man’s wife in her finest clothes, and decked her in her richest jewellery, with gold and diamonds. Later that day, soldiers took husband and wife on their last journey to the tomb. They set aside a great stone, and first lowered her down into it. Then they placed a rope of palm fibers under the husband's armpits, they let him down into the cavern, and with him a great pitcher of fresh water and seven pieces of bread.

I asked the people who were gathered around: “And if the wife of a foreigner like myself were to die among you, would you do the same to him as you have done to this man?”

And they replied that assuredly, the would do just the same to me, for it was the custom of the place.

I feared greatly when I heard those words, but I remained in my comfortable house with my agreeable wife. Then a few months later, she sickened and took to her bed. I prayed to Allah who is merciful for her to get better soon, but her illness took a turn for the worse, and she passed away.

As soon as the doctor let it be known that my wife was gone to the next world, soldiers came to fetch both her and me. I cried out:

"Almighty Allah never made it lawful to bury the living with the dead!" They took no notice of my protests, but tied me up by force and let me down into the cavern, with a large jug of water and seven loaves of bread, according to their custom.

At the bottom of that dark pit, I said to myself:

“What curse was upon me to take a wife in this city? There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! As often as I escape from one calamity, I fall into a worse.”

I looked around at the grim tomb and its grimmer contents. Even in this terrible place, the will to live was strong inside my heart. I resolved to eat and drink as little as possible to prolong my life.

And so I lived in the darkness among the bodies not knowing how many days and nights had passed. Groping in the dark I found collars and necklaces of pearls and jewels and trinkets of gold and silver set with precious stones and other ornaments and valuables that were worn by the deceased. I gathered this fortune and piled them into my turban. But what use was this fortune to me me here, below ground in the tomb.

But it was not my fate to die there. For eventually I heard a rustling and a scurrying. I realised that some animal, perhaps a fox or a dog, had found its way down into this grim place. And if it could get in, it must surely be able to get out. I followed its sound, crawling and wriggling on my belly like a worm. I made my way through a tunnel until eventually I saw a chink of light. This gave me strength to crawl faster. The hole was just big enough for a skinny man such as myself to get through. And then I found myself on the shore of the sea. I gulped in the fresh air and covered my eyes from the blazing sun. I gradually opened them, adjusting to the light. When I could see once again I spotted a ship at sea. I took a piece of a white shroud I had with me, and tying it to a stick, ran along the seashore making signals therewith and calling to the people in the ship, until they noticed me, and hearing my shouts, sent a boat to fetch me.

The captain and crew received me kindly and listened in awe of my return from the land of the dead. I travelled with them to Basrah via the islands of Bell, Kala and Hind. When I reached home I had once again added to my wealth, thanks to the rich ornaments of the dead that I had brought with me. I gave freely to beggars, widows and orphans, and still had plenty left over for a life of ease. Then I gave myself up to pleasure and enjoyment, returning to my old merry mode of life.