Sinbad the Gay Sailor - Being at home, as always, had its advantages but for me, there was something about being at sea that called to me, and so after being landlocked for a month, I whispered to Bazel, "The sunset always looks better upon the sea." I needed say nothing else. The next day Bazel had hired a crew and refitted our ship and by nightfall we had cast off into the night.Early the next morning I stood on the deck sailing into the wind when I saw a great creature rise from the sea. It was like no other I'd ever seen, having form and yet I could see though it, like a ghost upon a restless waves.It was midday when from the west the winds began to blow and the sky to darken. I thought this nothing more than a storm, a passing event that soon would pass and leave us but this was different and then, with notice, the ghostly thing rose from the sea.It raised a ghostly hand into the heavens causing a deluge of lightning and rain. It slammed its ghostly arm into the ocean and the waves retracted in revolt.It screeched into the heavens and hail fell upon my ship while great waves sprang from the depth of the ocean threatening to capsize my ship."Whom do you seek? Who are you?" I called into the wind, certain my voice would not be heard amidst of the tempest raging all about me."I seek Sinbad, the thief who's stolen my child and carried him into the sea!" the creature thundered."Child?" I cried incredulously. "What child do you seek? There is no child upon this ship!""I seek my son Sebastien, stolen by Sinbad of the Sea," the figure replied. The figure moaned and groaned and slammed its fists into the sea causing great waves to tower above me, and I believed all was lost.Then from below deck a small boy came running toward me. "I am Sebastien," he told me. "I am the son of the un-living, the dead, those gone before me, but I am alive. I am real like any boy, and I will not return to that thing."The ghostly figure wailed into the storm, "My child! My child!" The boy screamed back into the wind, angry that he was tethered to such a creature.The boy was far too young to be aboard my ship; he was too fair to be let loose among seasoned men of the sea, this half-naked boy too youthful for any that sailed with me.I called to the wind, telling the creature that if it granted us safe passage, I would bring the boy to the first island where the issue could be addressed safely. The creature agreed and descended into the sea like a whirlpool.I wasn't sure what to do with the boy, nor did I know how he'd gotten on my ship in the first place. Perhaps he had stowed away when we were preparing to depart.Bazel came to the mast as the winds departed along with the creature. I instructed him to take the boy to my cabin and await for me there. I called the men to the deck and told them we had a lad aboard not fit for the taking and that no man should touch this boy under pain of death.For the men this was a bad omen. Having an underage boy aboard ship could only bring trouble as youth do not always understand the makings of men at sea or the desires of the flesh.Some of the men wanted to sacrifice the boy, to throw him over the side and let the Fates and the gods of the wind decide what should happen to him. Others wanted to sacrifice him to the gods by burning him on the altar. I would allow none of that. I'd promised to take him to the nearest island and that was my last word on the matter.We sailed for five days before coming in sight of an island, and as we neared it the creature rose from the sea in sorrowful anguish. I felt sorry for the creature, for its sorrow was real and heart wrenching, but then too the boy's case was one to hear as well.Well-armed, my men brought the boy from my cabin, but as he stepped onto the deck he appeared changed somehow, I wasn't sure what it was until he stood fully in front of me naked: I could see that he'd aged to a lad of about fifteen.