The First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor: Payne vs. Dixon

“In midmost ocean the seeker of pearls must plunge And so attaineth to wealth and lordship and might;       And he sans travail who seeketh eminence His life in the quest of vanity wasteth quite.”

This line of poetry is in Payne’s version of The First Voyage of Sinbad, but not in the version translated by Dixon. John Payne was a British poet in the 1880’s, the Victorian Era. During this time, high society artists and writers reintroduced classical as well as gothic styles, like that of Shakespeare. Payne most likely incorporated this line of poetry in that tradition.

“We set sail, and steered our course towards the East Indies, through the Persian Gulf, which is formed by the coasts of Arabia Felix on the right, and by those of Persia on the left, and, according to common opinion, is seventy leagues across at the broadest part. The eastern sea, as well as that of the Indies, is very spacious: it is bounded on one side by the coasts of Abyssinia, and is 4,500 leagues in length to the isles of Vakvak. At first I was troubled with sea-sickness, but speedily recovered my health, and was not afterwards troubled with that disease.”

This descriptive passage appears in the Dixon version, but is not found in the Payne version. While Dixon may have not been a poet, it is possible that she was a travel writer, and added the geographical descriptions for authenticity. Dixon may also have added this element to this story to describe a place that the reader may never get to see, depending on occupation and economic situation.

“…. I sank with the others, but G-d the Most High preserved me from drowning and threw in my way a great wooden tub of those that had served the ship’s company for washing. I gripped it for dear life and bestriding it, paddled with my feet, whilst the waves sported with me right and left. Meanwhile the captain made sail and departed with those who had reached the ship, regardless of the drowning men, and I followed the vessel with my eyes, till she disappeared from sight and I looked for nothing but death.

In this plight, the darkness closed in upon me and the winds and waves bore me on all that night and the next day, till the tub brought to with me under the lee of a lofty island, with trees overhanging the water.”

“…Meanwhile, the captain, having received those on board who were in the sloop, and taken up some of those that swam, resolved to use the favourable gale that had just risen, and hoisting his sails, pursued his voyage, so that it was impossible for me to regain the ship. Thus was I exposed to the mercy of the waves, and struggled for my life all the rest of the day and the following night. Next morning I found my strength gone, and despaired of saving my life, when happily a wave threw me against an island.”

In Payne’s version, it is said that the captain of the ship didn’t try to save anyone, while Dixon’s version depicts the captain slightly more heroically in his effort to save the merchants that didn’t make it to the ship. It should also be noted that in Payne’s version, Sinbad attributes his survival to an act of G-d, while Dixon describes Sinbad’s survival as an act of nature. During the Victorian Era, there were several religious groups that opposed the Church of England. This movement was known as the nonconformist conscience, and began in lower-middle class areas of England. Nonconformists had values such as religious freedom, equality, and rationality. Since Dixon was a very well educated writer – two qualities not commonly held by women at the time – it can be inferred that Dixon was a nonconformist that had a more naturalistic view of religion and the ways of the world. To analyze further, John Payne may have used this passage to propagate the Church of England. Supporters of the Church of England used art and literature as tools to counteract movements away from the church. In Payne’s translation, a man left Sinbad to die, and the Most High is the one who came and saved him. While this doesn’t directly counter Dixon’s version of the story, as Payne’s version was written earlier, it does counter certain ideals illustrated in Dixon’s version that coincide with the nonconformist conscience.

‘’Know,’ answered he, ‘that I am one of several who are stationed in different parts of the island, and we are of the grooms of King Mihrjan and under our hand are all his horses. Every month, at the new moon, we bring hither the best of the King’s mares, that have never been covered, and tether them on the sea-shore and hide ourselves in this place under the ground, so that none may see us. Presently, the stallions of the sea scent the mares and come up out of the water and seeing no one, leap the mares and cover them. When they have done their will of them, they try to drag them away with them, but cannot, by reason of the tether; so they cry out at them and set on them with hoofs and teeth, which we hearing, know that the stallions have dismounted; so we run out and shout at them, whereupon they are affrighted and return to the sea. Then the mares conceive by them and bear colts and fillies worth a treasury of money, whose like is not to be found on the face of the earth. This is the time of the coming forth of the sea-horses; and so it please G-d the Most High…”

This explanation for why the grooms are on the island appears in Payne’s translation as well as others, but is not mentioned in Dixon’s version. Since these two translations are some of the earliest to be produced, one cannot be sure whether Payne added that part in, or Dixon left it out. On the one hand, Payne may have used this section to pay homage to the classical style of writing, which uses events in stories to explain the natural world. On the other hand, this explanation may have appeared in the literal translation of this story, as mythology and folklore were common practices in ancient cultures outside of Greece, as well. Dixon may have decided to leave this part out of her interpretation in support of her nonconformist ideals, as this is not a rational explanation for how seahorses came to be.

At the end of this passage, Payne also makes mention of the Most High again, stating that the events that occur on the island please G-d. While this passage may seem inappropriate or offensive to a typical English Christian at the time, Payne settles any discomfort by assuring the reader that in this context, the scenario described is okay with G-d. This reaffirms the idea that Payne wrote his stories in accordance to what would be deemed acceptable by the Church of England.

In conclusion, while these two writers interpreted the same story in the same era, there were unique elements in each that reflected the different ideals of the authors and the audiences they were trying to appeal to. It can be inferred that one version was written for high society followers of the Church, while the other was meant for the middle class with liberal religious views.