Sinbad the Sailor

Story

A poor porter named Sinbad rests outside a merchant’s house and complains to God of the injustice in the world and the inequality between the rich and the poor. The merchant overhears and asks for the porter as they are both called Sinbad. What follows is a tale of seven voyages where the rich Sinbad narrates to the poor Sinbad how he became rich by fortune and fate…

Why we chose it

Sinbad is a great adventure story and one of the best known stories from the One Thousand and One Nights

Where it came from

One Thousand and One Nights is a big list of Middle Eastern folk tales written in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. The tales of Sinbad are late additions to the manuscript. People have traced the story’s influences noting Homer’s epics, the ‘Life of Alexander’ and the ‘Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor’.

Where it went next

The story influenced the short animation film Sinbad the Sailor (1935) directed by Ub Iwerks. The film version The Golden Voyage of Sinbad influenced the Marvel Comics series Worlds Unknown in 1974. Sinbad has also been turned into a character in the manga series The Labyrinth of Magic – Magi written by Ohtaka. The story was also parodied by The Simpsons comic through ‘Sinbart the Sailor’.

Associated stories

Sinbad the Sailor was added to One Thousand and One Nights later by Antoine Galland along with other famous stories from the collection including Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.