'Quit the shape of a man,' said he to me, 'and take on you that
of an ape.' He vanished immediately, and left me alone, transformed
into an ape, overwhelmed with sorrow in a strange country, and not
knowing whether I was near or far from my father's dominions.
I went down from the top of the mountain and came into a plain,
which took me a month's time to travel through, and then I came to
the seaside. It happened to be then a great calm, and I espied a
vessel about half a league from the shore. Unwilling to lose this
good opportunity, I broke off a large branch from a tree, which I
carried with me to the seaside, and set myself astride upon it,
with a stick in each hand to serve me for oars.
I launched out in this posture, and advanced near the ship. When I
was near enough to be known, the seamen and passengers that were
upon the deck thought it an extraordinary sight, and all of them
looked upon me with great astonishment. In the meantime I got
aboard, and laying hold of a rope, I jumped upon the deck, but
having lost my speech, I found myself in great perplexity; and
indeed the risk I ran then was nothing less than when I was at the
mercy of the genie.
The merchants, being both superstitious and scrupulous, believed I
should occasion some mischief to their voyage if they received me;
'therefore,' said one, 'I will knock him down with a handspike';
said another, 'I will shoot an arrow through him'; said a third,
'Let us throw him into the sea.
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