Reading Notes: Sindbad, Part A

Ship's Wheel (Maximilian Weisbecker on Unsplash)

Out of the Voyages included in Part A of The Voyages of Sindbad, I thought the First Voyage might be the most interesting to adapt in a retelling.  The story begins when Sindbad, rich but squandering his wealth recklessly, decides to go on a voyage to the East Indies.  One day, they arrive at an island that is flat and just above the surface of the water, and the captain decides to give shore leave to anyone who wants it.  Sindbad and some of the other sailors disembark, but quickly realize that they are not on an island after all--they have woken a whale, which they were all standing on.  Sindbad and the rest are pitched into the sea until Sindbad washes ashore on a real island this time.  Once he begins exploring, he finds some of the island's inhabitants, who lead him to their leader, King Mihrage.  Sindbad stays on the island for some time before he sees a ship with a familiar captain, the very same captain from the boat he was shipwrecked from.  At first, the captain doesn't recognize Sindbad, but after he realizes, the captain is glad to be reunited with Sindbad.  All ends well for Sindbad, who is able to go home a rich man.

The most interesting part of this story to me was how the captain doesn't recognize Sindbad immediately.  I found the story isn't clear about why the captain can't recognize Sindbad, so I found myself imagining what state his appearance must be in to not be recognizable.  I suppose being shipwrecked on an island would change your appearance a lot.

Although there are several different directions that I could go with an adaptation, I thought a retelling of Sindbad's journey set in space instead of on Earth might be the most fun.  I've always enjoyed sci-fi stories, and I think that there in an interesting intersection between space stories and sea voyage stories (such as Star Trek, Disney's Treasure Planet, etc.).  Because of this already existing base of sea voyage-like stories in space, I don't think it would be too unreasonable to do the same with this Sindbad story.  He could end up stranded on an alien planet after he becomes separated from his space ship.  As a result, I would be able to be creative with the alien civilization that Sindbad encounters, and the technology that exists in this futuristic world.

Bibliography: "First Voyage."  The Voyages of Sindbad, The Arabian Nights.