Written in 4th grade as a school assignment while we were reading One Thousand and One Nights (also called the Arabian Nights).
Now my friends, as you can imagine, I once again grew
restless and wished to traverse the sea.
Wishing to see other lands, I traveled
to a distant port in Persia, joined a merchant trading vessel, and set out for
the West Indies. Three days after we set out, a strong wind blew us to a
distant part of the sea. I advised the sailors to rejoice while they could, for
I knew that we were probably going to meet with trouble. How right I was! Our
captain soon came out from his cabin looking very sad indeed, and upon asking
what it was that troubled him, he revealed that we were in the exact spot where
the horrifying sea monster Eelailesny dwelled.
When the crew heard this, they
all began bemoaning the terrible fate that had befallen them. Only the captain
and I did not lament, for he was brave and I, though I had heard tales of this
horrible creature, had never actually learned the story. From what I picked up,
Eelailesny appeared to be a giant serpent, but with two heads.
At that exact
moment, a great tremor shook the boat as the first head of the sea monster
appeared. At once, all my comrades (including the captain) stared moaning and
sobbing like newborns. I alone kept my head. I tied myself to the mast with my
turban, and luckily the mast snapped off just at the moment the sea serpent
swallowed the boat whole.
I don’t know how long I drifted, but it must have
been at least 10 days because when I came to, I felt weak and giddy from lack
of food. Suddenly I began to spin. Spinning and spinning, I slowly started to
sink. Looking about me, I saw that I was headed towards a gigantic
whirlpool! Struggling got me nowhere, so weak and exhausted, I let myself sink.
After waiting for some time while I recovered my strength, I looked around and
saw that I was in an underground cavern. I examined it and found that it was as
desolate as an abandoned island, and that the only way out was the whirlpool.
Looking around, something on the back wall caught my eye. At first I thought it
was a jewel, but upon looking closer I saw that it was a small bird, about as
big as half my fist, on the wall. It had appeared to be a jewel because of its
amazingly colorful feathers that seemed to change color every minute!
Suddenly
the bird disappeared and looking around saw it halfway down a stone passage
concealed by two rocks. Moving the rocks aside, I followed the bird down the
passage and emerged out in the sunlight. The air around me was filled with a
very curious sound, and looking up I saw that the air was filled with tiny
birds, that looked just like the one I saw in the cavern, but all different
colors.
Feeling very tired, I lay down to rest, unknowingly falling asleep.
When I awoke, only three or four birds were left. Realizing that they might be
of great value, I procured some of them to sell and left to explore the island.
After walking for some time, I found a river that was ten feet deep and as many
wide. Looking across, I saw that the river was there to deter any passers by
from going in there because, in a cave on the other side, was a giant sleeping
spider who had come there obviously because of the birds, though I was puzzled
as to how it managed to catch enough of those tiny things to feed it.
Going
back to the cavern to spend the night, I tried to devise a plan to escape this
new peril. At first I thought that if I tempted it with some of the little
birds, it would leave me alone, but it would probably want me more, because I
was bigger. Thinking about this, I fell asleep.
Continued in Part Two
Continued in Part Two
Thoughts:
Repeated use of participial phrases to start sentences: "Feeling very tired,..." "Thinking about this..." - This construction tends to cause lots of problems.
The original document had no paragraph breaks.
On the other hand, I obviously had a wild imagination.
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