Reading Notes: Sindbad Part B

Sindbad has some explaining to do: Image

The Seventh Voyage

This story is unique among Sinbad's adventures due to the fact that he did not embark on it willingly. In fact, loss of agency seems to be the theme of this voyage, as none of the things that happen to Sindbad are things that he can control, as he is not only sent on this trip against his will, he is then sold as a slave and forced to hunt elephants for their ivory by his master. This also makes this story unique from the other Sindbad voyages as it seems to be the only adventure where Sindbad actually kills something, even if it is in the act of hunting.

And boy does he make up for lost time. Sindbad kills at least 60 elephants by himself and even when he's cornered by the other elephants (who apparently have a history of murdering slaves), Sindbad is still inexplicably able to make it out of the situation alive, and even ends up with his freedom and more money than he had at the beginning of the voyage. I think it would be fun to retell the story where Sindbad doesn't get off that easily.

The first retelling that comes to mind is telling the story in a modern setting where Sindbad is sued by multiple animal rights groups for his rampant decimation of endangered elephants. Much like a story idea that I had in an earlier reading notes post, this story could be told from the point of view of a news broadcast covering the case itself, or it could be told from Sindbad's defense lawyer who has been stuck with his case. The other possibility is telling the story from the point of view of the elephants, and how they plan to fight back against this new "monster" that has been hunting their kind.

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