A Baghdad merchant in "Sinbad the Sailor", one of the tales in the Arabian Nights. He goes on seven voyages to strange places where he has adventures and enriches himself in every one of them.
Illustration courtesy: Everdream.digitalart.org
Old Man of the Sea
in The Arabian Nights'stories featuring Sinbad's voyages around the world, an old man clung to the shoulders of Sindbad the Sailor for many days and nights.
In modern parlance it alludes to a burden, annoyance, care, or the like, from which it is extremely difficult to free oneself.
