Sindbad's Old Man of The Sea. 



By W. George Maxwell. 



It was in the fifth voyage of Sindbad the Sailor, after 

 the shipwreck caused by the bereaved and vengeful roc, that 

 he found himself upon an island where he met "-an old man, 

 " a comely person, who was clad from the waist downwards 

 " with a covering made of the leaves of trees/' The old man 

 was sitting by the side of the stream sighing; and in answer 

 to Sindbad's questions made signs, by dumb show, that he 

 wished to be carried across the stream to some fruit trees on 

 the further side. Sindbad, in pity, took him up on his 

 shoulders, whereupon the old man twisted his legs " which 

 were like the hide of a buff aloe in blackness and roughness " 

 round Sindbad's neck. " I was frightened at him," " Sind- 

 " bad's narrative continues " and desired to throw him down 

 " from my shoulders ; but he pressed upon my neck with his 

 " feet, and squeezed my throat, so that the world became black 

 " before my face, and I was unconscious of my existence, fall- 

 " ing upon the ground in a fit like one dead. He then raised 

 " his legs, and beat me upon my back and my shoulders and 

 " I suffered violent pain ; wherefore I rose with him. He still 

 " kept his seat upon my shoulders, and I had become fatigued 

 " with bearing him ; and he made a sign to me that I should 

 " go in among the trees, to the best of the fruits. When I 

 " disobeyed him, he inflicted upon me, with his feet, blows 

 " more violent than those of whips ; and he ceased not to direct 

 " me with his hands to every place to which he desired to go, 

 " and to that place I went with him. If I loitered, or went 

 " leisurely, he beat me ; and I was as a captive to him. We 

 " went into the midst of the island, among the trees, and he 

 " descended not from my shoulders by night nor by day ; when 

 " he desired to sleep, he would wind his legs round my neck, 

 " and sleep a little, and then he would arise and beat me, 



R. A. Soc, No. 50, 1908. 



