What comes to mind when you hear the name Sinbad? Most people would answer Sinbad the comedian, a very entertaining stand-up comedian and actor.
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Sinbad is a comedian, but he is also a sailor from Basra, a city in modern-day Iraq, who lived, so the legend goes, during the Abbasid Caliphate,around the year 800. Sinbad was a sailor who inherited a great fortune when his parents passed away. As with most people who come into easy money, he pissed it away. After Sinbad had used most of his money, he decided to sell everything that he had left. Sinbad then decided to become a merchant. He found a crew who were sailing to different countries to make trades and he joined them. While on these journeys Sinbad’s poor luck and sometimes careless mind got him into all kinds of trouble. Sinbad used his quick thinking to overcome these different troubles.                                             
  




The stories of Sinbad’s Journeys were originally told in Arabic. The story collection entitled One Thousand and One Nights is where the Voyages of Sinbad are found, along with other famous stories such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Andrew Lang adopted the voyages into his book entitled Arabian Nights, which contains famous stories from the larger One Thousand and One Nights.


Sinbad had seven voyages that he sailed on. I have used bits and pieces of all seven of Sinbad's journeys. I have combined the most interesting parts of each of the voyages to come up with four stories. In the first story called Sinbad: Left Behind, Sinbad’s ship docks on an island to gather food. Sinbad wanders off from the crew and falls asleep. Just as he wakes up, Sinbad sees the ship sailing off into the sunset.  You will have to read the complete first story to see what happens.  The second story that I have chosen to tell is called Sinbad: Giant Snakes. In this story Sinbad once again becomes stuck on an island. While exploring the island, Sinbad lets his curiosity get the best of him and wanders off away from the ship. He is too far away to get back to the ship before it leaves and the ship leaves without him. This time he encounters a nest of giant snakes. The way that Sinbad escapes the snakes makes the story well worth reading. The third story I have chosen to tell is Sinbad: The Giant Egg. This story is more of a less dangerous situation that Sinbad escapes.Sinbad finds himself in the middle of an Easter egg hunt with children all around. The last story that I have told is called Sinbad: Giant Whale. In this story Sinbad finds himself again separated from the rest of his crew. The way that Sinbad becomes separated is well worth reading about. This story has a bit of a different ending. Sinbad decided to stay where he ended up.

Now it is time to meet the storyteller.

Hello, class. My name is Bob Barker. I am Tommy’s dad. Mrs. Julie has invited me to the class once a week to talk to you. I am a historian who has spent the last twenty years of my life studying Sinbad the Sailor. Have you heard of Sinbad the Sailor?  During the next four weeks I am going to be telling you four exciting stories about Sinbad and the wild and crazy adventures that he encounters on his journeys. The stories are very funny and some are even hard to believe. You all have to be sure and come to class because you will not want to miss the stories.