In the days when merchants crossed enchanted seas and strange islands rose beyond the maps of men, there lived in Baghdad a bold sailor named Sinbad. Though fortune often blessed him with riches, his restless heart would not permit him long to remain at home, and so he ventured again and again upon the ocean in search of marvels.

Many were the wonders and terrors that befell him. He sailed to islands that were not islands at all, but monstrous creatures sleeping upon the waves; he escaped from giants, storms, shipwrecks, and beasts unknown to ordinary men; and he wandered through lands where every treasure seemed guarded by some dreadful peril.

Upon one voyage, Sinbad came to a lonely and desolate valley enclosed by towering cliffs. There, scattered among the stones, lay diamonds of such size and brilliance that the very earth appeared strewn with fallen stars. Yet no man could easily gather them, for enormous and venomous serpents dwelt among the rocks, hiding by day and creeping forth when darkness came.

Remembering an old merchant’s tale, Sinbad discovered how men obtained the precious stones. Great pieces of meat were cast down into the valley, and the diamonds clung to them. Then mighty birds of prey seized the flesh and carried it to their nests, where clever merchants frightened the birds away and collected the jewels.

By courage, wit, and no small measure of good fortune, Sinbad escaped the valley with precious stones enough to make a king envious.

Thus did he return once more to Baghdad, richer than before and full of astonishing tales. Yet even after swearing that no treasure could tempt him back to sea, the call of distant horizons would, in time, awaken his adventurous heart again.