The Old Genie Hottabych

THE STRANGE SAILING SHIP

Several passengers were talking leisurely as they leaned on the rail of the excursion ship “Kolkhida,” sailing from Odessa to Batumi . Powerful diesel engines hummed far below, in the depths of the ship. The water whispered dreamily as it lapped against the steep sides, and high above, over the spar deck, the ship’s wireless piped anxiously.

“You know, it’s really a shame that the large sailing ships of yore, those white-winged beauties, are a thing of the past. How happy I would be to find myself on a real frigate… Just to enjoy the sight of those billowing white sails, to listen to the creaking of the mighty yet graceful masts, to watch in amazement as, at the captain’s command, the crew scrambles up the rigging! If I could only see a real sailing ship! I mean a real genuine one! Nowadays even a bark has to have a motor, you know, even though — mark my words — it’s considered a sailboat!”

“A motor-sailboat,” a man wearing the uniform of the Merchant Marine added. They fell silent. All except the sailor went over to the left side to watch a school of tireless dolphins splash and cavort in the warm noonday sea. Dolphins were nothing new to the sailor. He stretched out in a deck chair and picked up a magazine lazily. Soon the sun made him drowsy. He closed the magazine and fanned himself with it.

Then something attracted his attention. He stopped fanning himself, jumped to his feet and rushed to the railing. Far off, near the very horizon, he saw a beautiful but terribly old-fashioned sailing ship skimming over the waves. It seemed like something from a fairy tale.

“Everybody! Everybody hurry over here!” he shouted. “Look at that sailing ship! Isn’t it ancient! Oh, and something’s wrong with its mainmast! It doesn’t have a mainmast! Why, it just isn’t there! My goodness! Just look! The sails are all billowed out the wrong way! According to every law of nature, the foremast should have been blown overboard long ago! It’s really a miracle!”

However, by the time the other passengers heeded his words and returned to the starboard side, the unknown vessel had disappeared from sight. We say “unknown,” because the sailor was ready to swear that the wonderful sailing ship was not registered at any Soviet port on the Black Sea . This is true. In fact, it wasn’t registered at any foreign port, either; it wasn’t registered any place, for the simple reason that it had appeared in the world and was launched but a few short hours before.

The name of the vessel was the “Sweet Omar,” in honour of the unfortunate brother of our old friend, Hassan Abdurrakhman ibn Hottab.