The boat rocked and reeled on the stormy seas as Sinda and his crew tried their best to dampen the impact. It proved to no avail, seeing as seconds later a screeching howl indicated the instantaneous deterioration of their not-so-faithful ship. Clinging to the wreckage, Sinda yelled for his crew to do the same. The stores eventually calmed and the current swept the crew away, praying for life as their fates lay at the mercy of the sea.
There were about fifteen crew members that managed to survive, but the shipwreck proved to be the least of their perils. After days they ended up landing on an uninhabited island that was hostile and unwelcoming. Coming onshore they were just grateful for dry land underneath their soles. After resting and consuming what was left of their stores, the crew now explored their new home. Every direction gave them sight of jagged ebony that made it near impossible to walk at a favorable pace, and no one had ever seen anything like it.
Rumble. Rumble.
The crew trembled. "What is going on that the earth itself mocks us with laughter?" Sinda thought to himself. At that instant, steaming red liquid shot out of a remote orifice in the mountain. It flowed in every direction, consuming any vegetation that dared spring up since the last eruption. The crew sprinted for safety, but found no place that served as a respite from the hungry red lava. Sinda spotted a colossal boulder and screamed for his crew to run to safety. Only eight of the men made it in time.
The eruption endured, and the crew was trapped.
The wreck caused the crew to lose all of ther food stores, save that which was in the pockets of the men, and those were minimal at best. The lava kept flowing, the men kept waiting. Starvation came and took another of the men.
Sinda knew that he had to make a plan if he and his crew were to be spared. He began to study the rock around his, noticing the makeup of it was rather platy and resistant to destruction from the lava. He then studied the flow streams of the lava, and calculated a careful path back to the edge of the island where they first landed. He knew it was a long shot, but what else could he do? He picked up a rock off the ground and carefully began chipping away at the edges of the boulder until pieces the size of a plate chipped off. He was chipping off plates one-by-one, and after giving six to each of the men he was chipping away at his own plate. He hit a little too hard, and just as the last plate came off the boulder cracked and began to disintegrate.
"GO!" yelled Sinda.
The crew had no choice but threw the plates down and began their surfing career. Luckily, the lava wasn't flowing too fast, so most of the crew could maintain their balance. One man, however, was not so lucky, and fell into the burning lava. At his amazement, Sinda and the five remaining crew members made it back to the ship wreckage, quickly grabbing ahold and flinging themselves into the water. They didn't realize that the island that offered safety from the sea would bring even greater peril.
The crew was back at sea, and to their astonishment a ship came by within the first few hours of being afloat. Hospitable crew it was, to take in Sinda and his mates. Upon arriving home, Sinda swore he would never dare such a task again.
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Author's Note: This story is based on Sindbad's
Third Voyage from The Arabian Nights' Entertainment by Andrew Lang illustrated by H.J. Ford in 1898. In the original story, Sindbad and his crew, much like Sinda, get shipwrecked onto an island. Their enemy in the original story is a giant that eats one of their crew members every night. Sindbad comes up with a plan to escape the giant’s lair and a few of his crew manage to escape to the rafts in the sea.
The two stories aren’t exactly the same, but I will be honest, I didn't know how to rewrite any of Sindbad's voyage and still maintain that sense of adventure that are in the original stories. I tried to keep a few things the same, such as the dangerous shipwreck and escaping just in the nick of time. I also decided to leave it in a dangerous, adventurous setting. Changing the main threat from a predator like a giant to a more natural force makes this story unique. The picture of the lava has now significance other than the fact that it looks menacing!
I also found that in many of Sindbad’s voyages, he just so happens to come across favorable situations- so I made this happen at the end of my story as well by them happening to come across a ship to take them so safety.
