The Bag

Book

I am currently working on with the help of the very talented Todd Kim a book of these prints that will include the stories. This book will include a few prints not shown on the blog. Parental warning: this book will not be for children.

Unfinished Sinbad

Death

There once was an extremely powerful monarch, who was wealthy and spendid beyond compare. He was a beautiful man who dressed in silk clothes. He had a stable of the swiftest Arabian steeds and the fiercest mamelukes around. He was incredibly vain and when death came to humbly ask him to accompany him, he blew death off. He told death to leave the premise or he would send his mamelukes and physicians to oust him. Death was not pleased by this and bided his time. He waited until the sultan was in full procession in front of all his people to kill him in the most humiliating and painfull fall from his horse.
The next day death had to take an impoverished religious man. The man only asked that he be allowed to pray before death took him. Death agreed to his wish and waited until the man was finished before taking him gently to the other side.

Kamar al Hazman

Kamar al Hazman was an inparticularly beautiful man and the only son of a very powerful sultan. All of the women of the palace adored him, but he was not interested in any of them. As he was a devoted scholar and didn't want to be sullied and distracted by the opposite sex. This disturbed his father immensly, as he was worried about the propagation of the line, and he had the son locked away until he agree to marry somebody. Well while he was locked up a passing jinnee happened to see him and was amazed by his beauty. Latter when he met with two of his friends he expounded upon how he had seen the most beautiful human in existence. One of his friends contradicted him and said "Fie, that's not possible the most beautiful human in the world lives over there and is a woman." An argument ensued, and it was agreed that they should just go check out both the humans together and let the third party of their group decide.
So they went out to the far orient to find Budr, the daughter of a powerful king with snow white skin and breasts like globes, they snatched her up and carried her over to where Kamar was sleeping. After much hemming and hawing the third party decided that they weren't sure who was the more beautiful of the two. So they decided to try waking one and leaving the other asleep. In that way they would be able to decide based upon the difference between their reactions. First they woke Kamar, his eyes opened wide and he proceeded to kiss and grope her trying to wake her up. Then the jinnees put him to sleep. They conversed a little, and then they woke up Budr, who proceed to stradle Kamar and tried desperately to wake him up. The jinnee then put Budr back to sleep, and came to the conclusion that they were equally beautiful. They took Budr back to her home far, far away.
When Kamar awoke he remembered Budr quite clearly, and was desperate to find her. He asked around and asked around, but no one knew who she was and everyone thought that he was insane. Similarly when Budr woke up she was desperate to find Kamar, and when her old serving woman tried to detain her in her search, she cut her in half with a sword. Subsequently her father had her chained in her room.
Things looked bleak for the pair, but Budr's brother believed his sister, and decided to go find him for her. Eventually he came to Kamar's city and he heard his story, and he realized that it must be Kamar. He contrived to get a message to Kamar and helped him escape from his palacial prison.
Kamar travelled over mountains and seas to get to Budr. When Budr realized who he was and that he was just right there out of her reach, she broke her chains. Her father agreed to their marriage and gave them a huge caravan for their journey back to Kamar's city. Things did not go quite so well on the journey back. Kamar got lost and ended up on a small remote island.
Budr when she realized that he was gone disguised herself as a man in order to protect herself, and made her way to the nearest city. Her disguise was quite good and fooled the local sultan, who decided to marry Budr to his daughter. Budr wasn't quite sure how to deal with this situation, but decided that the best thing to do was just go with the flow and marrry the girl. On their wedding night the princess was quite understanding about the fact that Budr was actually a woman, and they made do.
The Sultan quite liked Budr and entrusted him/her with a great deal of authority in his city, and she began to hear petitions. One day it just so happened that a rather bedraggled and newly escaped Kamar came to see her. He didn't recognize her, so she decided to mess with him a little bit. She started coming on to him, and told him that if he didn't sleep with him/her he would be thrown out and tortured. Budr argued that he was still young and had plenty of time to do penance for that sin, and demanded that he take off his pants. Poor Kamar was so horrified, but with tear filled eyes obligingly took off his pants. Budr told him what a fine good man he was and took off her pants, which calmed Kamar down dramatically, and he was elated when he realized it was none other than Budr.
Budr filled him in on the details of what was going on, and said that she quite liked the princess. In fact she told him that she wanted him to marry her, too. Things were straightened out and the three continued on their way to Kamar's home. They lived happily ever after until the great sunderer turned them all to dust.

The Final Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Second Sheik's Story