Hindbad had just gotten home from listening to Sindbad the Sailor's first voyage, and boy, was he astonished at what all Sindbad had gone through.  As he lay in bed he said his nightly prayer and went into another deep, beautiful sleep that one always longs to have.  One thing that Hindbad was always jealous of Sindbad for was the fact that he could never go on any of these exciting adventures; he could only go in his dreams.  As Hindbad fell into a deep sleep, he started to dream of his first voyage with Sindbad. 

They decided to take their first voyage together and, boy, was Hindbad excited. All week long they were preparing their crew for the voyage, for it was going to be a long and adventurous one.  As they set sail, it was a beautiful day, the winds were sharp, and the crew was really pumped up to finally be together and finally be in route to their first destination. 

As they made their first stop, they found a small island where they could drop anchor and everyone could eat their first meal of the day.  They landed on the island and unloaded everything that was needed to prepare for the meal.  They brought some wood off of the boat and started a fire so they could have a warm meal, something that everyone would enjoy.  As the fire started going, a violent and abrupt sensation started coming from the ground.  Before they could even blink, all the members of the crew were flying off of the island into the ocean.  The ship was totally destroyed.  There were pieces everywhere.  Under the surface of water, Hindbad opened his eyes and saw what looked to be massive legs and claws.  He thought to himself, “This can’t be a creature.  We were on an island.” He swam around the object to investigate more of what he thought was an island and it turned out to be a massive saltwater crocodile.  It was so big that it couldn’t swim, or hardly move.  All it could do was kick so rapidly and aggressively that if someone happened to be on the crocodile's back, they would be flung out deep into the ocean.  As Hindbad swam back up to the surface he tried to find Sindbad.  He was nowhere to be found.  There were several bodies of the crew floating around the top of the surface, but Hindbad did not see Sindbad among the dead.  Hindbad knew that Sindbad was tough and that if he could live after that violent kick by the crocodile, then Sindbad definitely could.  So Hindbad found a piece of wood from the wrecked ship and let the current of the deep sea take him wherever it would. 

After several hours of floating, and facing the dangers of the sea, Hindbad landed upon an island.  Luckily for him, this island wasn’t a crocodile and it wasn’t deserted.  He got to shore and saw horses and what looked to be a little town on top of the cliffs.  He took the horse up to the town, and got acquainted with the villagers.  He told them all about his story and found several merchants who were sailing to Baghdad.  Right as the ship got back into the port in Baghdad, Hindbad woke up from this exhilarating dream.  He looked around the dark room making sure he wasn’t wet, or beaten up by the crocodile.  He knew he was fine and went back to sleep, looking forward to the next day and listening to another one of Sindbad’s voyages.


Author's Note:
This story is basically like Sindbad’s first voyage, but it is Hindbad experiencing it rather than Sindbad, and it is experienced through a dream.  There were a few things that I did differently in this story.  In the original story, Sindbad and the sailors land on the back of a whale, not a crocodile.  I have an interest in crocodiles, and I thought that it would be fun to put a massive saltwater crocodile in my story.  For the most part, a lot of the details were pretty much the same.  The first voyage goes into detail about Sindbad being a merchant making money when he came back to Baghdad after his trip to the island.  Since Hindbad isn’t the brightest person, and doesn’t have money like Sindbad, I decided to just keep it to him getting to the island, meeting with the townspeople and the other merchants, and then getting back home where he belonged.  I think I set up the next story pretty well. 

Coverpage
Introduction
Second Dream - Killer Bees
Third Dream - Old Man

Bibliography: Story: Voyages of Sindbad
                  Author: Andrew Lang
      Year Published: 1898
                Website: First Voyage

Image Information:  Saltwater Crocodile

          2000 By Image Quest
          Photo By Scott Tuason