This command was to me like a clap of thunder.  Though I had made a vow never to leave Bagdad, I saw that I must obey.  The Caliph was well pleased, and ordered me a sum of money ample for my needs.

In a few days I departed with the letter and present, and, after a safe voyage, reached the isle of Serendib.

“Sindbad,” said the king, when I was brought before him with great pomp, and had bowed to the earth, “you are welcome; I have many times thought of you.  I bless the day on which I see you once more.”

I thanked him for his kindness, and delivered the gifts from my august master.  The Caliph’s letter was as follows:—­

“Greeting, in the name of the Sovereign Guide of the Right Way, from the Servant of God, Haroun Al-Raschid, whom God hath set in the place of viceregent to his Prophet, after his ancestors of happy memory, to the potent and esteemed king of Serendib.

“We received your letter with joy, and send you this from our imperial residence, the garden of superior wits.  We hope when you look upon it you will perceive our good will, and be pleased with it.  Farewell.”

The Caliph’s present was a complete suit of cloth of gold, fifty robes of rich stuff, a hundred of white cloth, the finest of Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria; a vessel of agate, half a foot wide, on the bottom of which was carved a man with one knee on the ground, who held a bow and an arrow, ready to discharge at a lion.  He sent also a rich tablet, which, according to tradition, belonged to the great Solomon.

The king of Serendib was highly pleased.  Soon I obtained leave to depart, though not easily.  Dismissed with a large present, I sailed at once for Bagdad, but had not the good fortune to arrive there so soon as I had hoped.  God ordered it otherwise.

Three or four days after sailing, we were attacked by pirates.  Some of the crew were killed, and I, with others who did not resist, was taken to a remote island and sold.

I fell into the hands of a rich merchant, who treated me well, and dressed me handsomely as a slave.  In a few days he asked me if I knew any trade.  I told him I was a merchant, robbed of all I possessed.  “Tell me,” said he, “can you shoot with a bow?” I said it had been one of the exercises of my youth.  Then he gave me a bow and arrow, took me behind him on an elephant, and carried me to a thick forest.  Stopping before a great tree, he said, “Climb up that, and shoot at the elephants, of which there are many in this forest, as you see them pass by, and if any of them fall, come and give me notice.”  Then he left me, and returned to the town, and I remained upon the tree all night.

In the morning I shot one of the many elephants that passed under the tree, and when the others had left it dead, I went into the town and told my patron of my success, which pleased him greatly.  Then we returned, and dug a hole for the elephant, in which my patron meant to leave it until it was rotten, when he would take its teeth and trade with them.