Week Six Reading Notes Part B - Sindbad

Source Story: "The Voyages of Sindbad" from Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

• "Fifth Voyage"
• Sindbad buys his own boat and sets sail with some other merchants. They come upon an island with a roc's nest, and, despite Sindbad's warnings, the merchants hack open the egg and eat the baby roc. The parent birds sink Sindbad's ship, and Sindbad is washed ashore on another island, where an old man tricks him into carrying him around all day and night on his shoulders to reach the best fruit.
• "Fifth Voyage (cont.)"
• Sindbad makes some wine while carrying the man around for days, and the man drinks the wine and becomes drunk enough that Sindbad is able to throw him off and escape. He comes upon a trading vessel, and the captain takes him and tells him that the old man was the Old Man of the Sea, and Sindbad is the only one who has ever survived him. They teach Sindbad how to trick monkeys into throwing down coconuts from the high trees, and then Sindbad amasses many treasures and returns home.
• "Sixth Voyage"
• Sindbad embarks again and a storm shipwrecks the crew on an island covered with the bones, shipwrecks, and treasures of innumerable seamen. He outlasts all his crew mates because he eats less than they do, then realizes that a river on the island goes underground through caves filled with gemstones. He builds a raft, collects a bunch of treasure, and sets off on the river into the caves.
• "Sixth Voyage (cont.)"
• After eating the last of his food and passing out, Sindbad awakes to find that some kind men have pulled him from the river and he is at last above ground. They take him to their king - the king of Serendib - and he relates his tale and enjoys many days there. Then the king gives him gifts and a message/gift to take back with him to the Caliph, and sends him on his way home.
• "Sixth Voyage (end)"
• Sindbad gives the gifts and message to the Caliph, who asks whether the king who sent them was really as rich and powerful as he says he is. Sindbad assures him that he is, then goes home with presents given him by the Caliph.
• "Seventh and Last Voyage"
• Though he has decided never to go sailing again, the Caliph demands that he return to the King of Serendib to return the gesture by giving him gifts. On his return voyage, his vessel is taken by pirates, who sell him into slavery. His new owner gives him a bow and arrow and tells him to kill and elephant, which he does, and they bury it to come back later for its tusks.
• "Seventh and Last Voyage (cont.)"
• Sindbad kills an elephant a day for two months, and then the elephants kidnap him and drop him off in their own elephant graveyard, which is full of elephant skeletons complete with tusks, so that he will stop killing them. His master is thrilled and admits that the elephants have killed tons of their slaves before, and Sindbad is the only one who has survived. He sets Sindbad free and gives him a fortune in thanks, and sends him back to Bagdad. The Caliph is happy to see him back and records all his adventures, and Sindbad stays in Bagdad forever.

Image of an elephant by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Week Six Storybook Lab

For this week's storybook lab, I am doing some research for my storybook project, which, as you probably know from my previous posts, is going to be over the lais of Marie de France! The following are some sources and brief notes on what is known about Marie de France herself, some of which I will likely include in author's notes in the storybook project itself, and some of which may influence my retellings as well.

• Firstly, a definition of a "lai" (or "lay/leich" depending on your language preference): Essentially, a lai is a poetic/musical form that was popular in the Medieval period, especially in France and Germany. It is a rhymed poem; certain rhyme schemes were common but overall the structure was in some ways less rigid (or, at least it seems, less rigidly adhered to) than many other poetic forms we might study today, such as a sonnet or a limerick. Marie de France's lais did not utilize the traditional musical setting, and differed in that they told stories, much like fables. (I gleaned this information here)
• Marie de France, from Britannica: She was the earliest known female French poet, which is pretty cool. Not much is known about her, however, though her title "de France" indicates that she was likely a Frenchwoman residing in England.
• Marie de France, from encyclopedia.com: She is believed to have written between the years 1160 and 1210. Her reasons for coming to England remain a mystery, but could have been for marriage or her career (she was extremely well-connected in England's literary world!). She was quite well-educated, and well-respected in the royal courts of England. She was also extremely well-known for her fables, but it was her lais that earned her the respect of her contemporaries, and which are considered her greatest masterpiece. (A side note from my own personal knowledge from what I've learned in my classes: The lais deal with something called "courtly love" (amour courtois, in French!), which was a popular philosophy in her time. Courtly love had several rules, but perhaps the most important - and, I think, the one which most influenced her lais - was that being married was not considered an acceptable reason to forsake true love if it came along. I believe there has been some contention as to whether Marie upholds this idea, but the subject of infidelity is unquestionably one which she hoped to explore in her writing, as ten of her twelve lais include it.)
• Marie de France, from New World Encyclopedia: This source states that she is believed to have been born in Normandy, France, and to have moved to England after her childhood. Additionally, it mentions that some have proposed that Marie may have been the illegitimate half-sister of King Henry II, which is a rumor I have seen mentioned elsewhere as well, and which would seemingly fit well with some other aspects of my research: her move to England and her astoundingly good connections there, her presence in the royal court, and her interest in infidelity as a subject matter. That said, there is not, to my knowledge, any evidence to support this, and so I will file it under numerous other unsupported rumors I have come across as to her life (I have also heard that others believe she was a nun or abbess! Quite the difference, no?). There are only five known manuscripts existing that include her lais, and only one of them includes all twelve. Her lais range from 118-1184 lines long, and they are told in octosyllabic rhyming couplets. She also wrote 103 fables. This source includes a list of famous Marie's from that time who could have possibly been her, including the king's half-sister and multiple abbesses, but, of course, no one knows for sure. So we simply call her Marie de France, after a line she wrote: "Marie ai nun, si sui de France," which translates from Old French to mean, "My name is Marie, I am from France."
  
  
  

Painting of the main characters in Marie de France's lai, "Chevrefoil"(which translates to "honeysuckle") by Edmund Blair Leighton

Week Six Reading Notes Part A - Sindbad

Source Story: "The Voyages of Sindbad" from Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

• "First Voyage"
• Sindbad tells of how he was on board a merchant ship and, with others, stopped to explore an island. The island turned out to be the back of a sleeping whale, and when the whale dove under he was left behind accidentally by his fleeing shipmates, only to float to another island, where he finds some men caring for the horses of that island's king.
• "First Voyage (cont.)"
• The king takes him in and takes care of him, then his old ship shows up and aims to sell his possessions and give the money to his family, thinking he is dead. After he convinces the captain that he is Sindbad, the captain gives him back his things. He gives gifts to the king and receives some in return, then trades out his stuff and continues to trade successfully all the way home, where he sees his family.
• "Second Voyage"
• Sindbad sails with another merchant ship but finds himself forgotten on a deserted island, where he finds the nest of a gigantic bird. He ties himself to the bird's foot and it flies him to an island, where he disembarks, that turns out to be filled with huge diamonds and huge snakes.
• "Second Voyage (cont.)"
• Sindbad realizes that there are merchants throwing down chunks of meat in hopes that diamonds will stick to them and be carried up by eagles, so he collects a bunch of huge diamonds and ties a chunk of meat to his back. An eagle carries him up, and he is saved from the eagle's nest by the merchants. The merchant who owns that nest takes only one of his diamonds for helping him. Then he goes to an island with giant camphor trees, and sees an elephant and rhino fight each other only to be carried off by a roc. He returns to Bagdad and gives money to the poor.
• "Third Voyage"
• Sailing again, Sindbad and his crew are attacked by hairy dwarves, who steal their ship and drive them onto an island. There they find a cyclops, who roasts and eats their captain, then goes to sleep.
• "Third Voyage (cont.)"
• Sindbad and several others stab the cyclops in the eye, blinding him, after making rafts for escape if need be. Instead of dying, the cyclops returns with a horde of other cyclopes, who sink all the rafts except the one on which Sindbad and two other men are riding. They end up on another island, where a giant snake eats both of Sindbad's companions.
• "Third Voyage (end)"
• Sindbad builds a shelter to keep the snake away, then gets the attention of a passing ship, which rescues him. He discovers that the captain of the ship from his second voyage is there, along with Sindbad's own merchandise, because they believed him to be dead. His stuff is returned to him and he trades successfully, then goes home and gives money to the poor.
• "Fourth Voyage"
• Sindbad and his crew are shipwrecked onto an island full of cannibals, who capture them. Sindbad sees that they are feeding his crewmates to fatten them up and eat them, so he refuses food and becomes too lean to eat, then escapes. He finds some men and returns with them to the city where their king lives, and teaches them how to make and use saddles and bridles, so he becomes rich and important in their city.
• "Fourth Voyage (cont.)"
• The king asks Sindbad to marry a beautiful woman he has picked out and to stay in that country forever. Sindbad marries her but still plans to escape, when he discovers that a law in this country dictates that, if one spouse dies, the living spouse must be buried with them. Soon, Sindbad's wife gets sick and dies, and he is buried in a massive tomb with her and a little food and water.
• "Fourth Voyage (end)"
• Sindbad survives off his food and water until someone else is buried alive, who he kills so he can have their food and they will have a faster death. He does this several times before he notices a small animal in the cavern and follows it through a narrow passageway onto the beach. He goes back in and collects the riches from the floor of the cavern, then hails down a passing ship and goes home to Bagdad.

Illustration of Sindbad's encounter with the giant by H. J. Ford