How many times do you have to be shipwrecked before you learn that sailing may not be for you?
- There seem to be a lot of islands within drift-able distance at any given point for Sindbad. I wonder if this is accurate for the area that he supposedly sails?
- Sindbad always makes a point to say that, on returning to Bagdad, he gives lots of money to the poor. Is this something to do with the custom or religion of the time?
- Sindbad's luck seems to only come in the extremes. Either it's extremely bad or extremely good.
- How can a river that flows directly from a mountain and away from the ocean have a cave that is strewn with ambergris?
- The dynamic of the man drawn to the sea but the sea that always seems to seek to kill the man is very interesting.
- The story of the Old Man of the Sea was interesting. I feel like I've heard the phrase "Old Man of the Sea" used in other myths or stories but I cannot recall exactly where.
- I think there is a Greek myth about a titan or god or something that a hero wrestles with. I think that titan or god was also referred to as the "Old Man of the Sea"?
- The influence of Greek mythology on the tales of Sindbad is fairly obvious earlier on, such as the cyclops, so this may be a similar retelling of a Greek myth.
- Though, unlike many Greek myths, Sindbad always seems to get his happy ending. Always ending up back home in Bagdad, richer than when he last left.
- The way that the Roc's destroyed Sindbad's ship by dropping boulders on it reminded me of how Polyphemus destroyed Odysseus's ship by tossing boulders at it.
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| Polyphemus and Odysseus |
- All these references to past myths and legends make me wonder what other stories or legends Sindbad might be referring to or retelling in his adventures that I haven't read yet.
Unit: The Voyages of Sindbad
From: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments
By: Andrew Lang
Illustrator: H.J. Ford
Photo Credits:
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