7. The Adventures of Sinbad the sailor - 002.

Chapter 3.

The greedy giant

Once more, Sinbad was delighted to be home, But the feeling didn't last long. This time, he traded a bag of jewels for silks and spices to sell.

His third journey went well and land was in sight when a bunch of short, ugly and very hairy men ambushed the ship. One by one, the hairy men threw the merchants overboard, then sailed away.

The miserable merchants were washed onto a beach.

They explored the new shore and found a courtyard filled with pots and firewood.

But the courtyard was owned by a greedy giants, who licked his lips when he saw his visitors.

Before they could blink, he roasted a fat merchant.

After supper, the giant fell asleep-across the only exit.

"Don't worry," whispered Sinbad. "When he leaves, we'll take his firewood and make a raft so we can escape."

At dawn, the giant woke up, heaved himself to his feet and left. The men hurried to the beach, where they tied the firewood together with vines.

As they pushed off from the shore, they heard a big splash.

The angry giant was pelting the raft with rocks. Seconds later, a rock smashed the raft to pieces.

Most of the men drowned, but Sinbad and two others were lucky. They survived by clinging onto a log. But by noon, they had fainted under the hot sun.

The next thing they knew, they had drifted onto a stony beach and a huge snake had wound itself around them. It eyed the three men, opened its mouth wide and swallowed Sinbad's two friends.

Sinbad didn't dare move until the snake had slithered off.

He gazed out to sea, praying for a ship to arrive... and one did! Better still, Sinbad recognized the captain from his second journey.

Within a week, Sinbad was back in Baghdad.