1001 Arabian Nights (Season 1 : Episode 7 - The Fisherman and the Jinni)

It is related, O auspicious King, that there was once a fisherman,

very old and poor, who was married and had three children.

He used to cast his net four times a day, never more often. Now once,

when he had gone to the shore at noon, he set down his basket and,

casting his net, waited for it to sink to the bottom. When it had done so

he twitched the cords and found it so heavy that he could not pull it in.

So, bringing the ends to shore, he made them fast to a wooden stake.

Then he undressed and, diving into the sea, laboured till he had hauledthe 

net ashore. Dressing himself again in high good humour he

examined the net and found that it contained a dead ass. Disgusted at this

sight, he exclaimed: ‘Be it as All&h wills!’ and added: ‘Yet it is a strange gift

that All&h has seen good to send me.’ Then he recited this verse:

Blind diver in the dark

Of night and loss,

Luck delights not in energy;

Cease, and be still.

After he had freed the net and squeezed the water out of it, he waded

into the sea and cast it again, invoking the name of All&h. When the

net had sunk to the bottom, he again tried to pull it ashore but this

time it was even heavier and harder to shift. Thinking that he had

caught some great fish, he fastened the ends to the stake, and,

undressing again, dived in and carried the net to shore. This time he

found a great earthen jar full of mud and sand. In his disappointment

at this sight, he proclaimed these verses:

I said I wished that fortune would die or fly away,

Who lets a man be virtuous and then keep back his pay.

I left my house to look for luck

(A search I now abandon);

She dropped the wise man in the muck

For all the fools to stand on,

And, having fixed this state of things,

She either died or sprouted wings.

Then he threw away the jar and cleaned his net, asking pardon from

All&h the while for his lack of submission to the divine will. And

finally, coming down to the sea, he cast for the third time and waited

for the net to sink. When he hauled in this time, the net was full of

broken pots and pieces of glass. Seeing this, he recited the stanza of a

certain poet:

Be not astonished that the golden wind

Blows the world forward, leaving you behind;

There are no d(n&rs in a rose-wood pen

For any but a merchant’s hand to find.

Then lifting his face to the sky, he cried: ‘Allah, Allah! Thou knowest

that I cast my net but four times in the day, and see! I have alreadycast it 

thrice.’ After this, he once more cast his net into the sea, again

invoking the name of All&h, and waited for it to sink. This time, in

spite of all his efforts, he could not move the net an inch, so hard was

it held against the rocks below the water. Again he undressed, crying:

‘Be it as Allah wills!’ and, diving for the fourth time, began to work

the net until he had freed it and brought it to shore. This time he

found in it a great jar of yellow copper, heavy and unhurt, its mouth

stopped with lead and sealed with the seal of the Lord Sulaiman, son

of Dead. Seeing this, the fisherman was delighted and said: ‘Here is

something that I can sell at the market of the coppersmiths. It must

be worth at least ten d(n&rs of gold.’ Then, after trying to shake the

jar and finding it too heavy, he continued: ‘First I had better open the

jar and hide whatever it contains in my basket; then I shall be able to

sell the thing itself to the coppersmiths.’ So he took his knife and

began to work the lead until he had removed it. Then he turned the

jar over and shook it, but nothing came out except a cloud of smoke,

which rose to the blue sky and also spread along the earth. Finally

the smoke, to the utter amazement of the fisherman, came clear of

the vase and, shaking and thickening, turned to an Ifr(t whose top

reached to the clouds while his feet were on the ground. The head of

this Ifr(t was like a dome, his hands like pitchforks, his legs like the

masts of a ship, and his mouth like a cave in which the teeth had the

appearance of great stones. His nostrils were like jugs, his eyes like

torches, and his hair was dusty and matted. At the appearance of this

being the fisherman was so frightened that his muscles quivered, his

teeth chattered together, and he stood with burning mouth and eyes

that could not see the light.

When the Jinn(, in his turn, saw the fisherman, he cried: ‘There is

no other God but Allah, and Sulaim&n is Allah’s prophet!’ Then,

speaking directly to the fisherman, he said: ‘O great Sulaim&n, O

thou prophet of Allah, slay me not. Never again will I be disobedient

or mutiny against thy just decrees.’ Then said the fisherman: ‘Darest

thou, O blasphemous giant, to call Sulaiman the prophet of Allah?

Sulaiman has been dead for eighteen hundred years and we have

come to the end of the world’s time. What tale is this? How did you

come to be in the jar?’ At these words the Jinn( altered his tone and

said: ‘There is no other God but Allah. I bring good news, O

fisherman!’ ‘What news is that?’ asked the poor man. And the Jinn(

answered: ‘News of your death, instant and most horrible.’ ‘Let All&hbe 

far from rewarding you for such news, Prince of the Afar(t! Why

do you wish my death and how have I deserved it? I delivered you

out of your jar, breaking your long imprisonment in the sea.’ But the

Ifr(t only answered: ‘Consider and choose the manner of death you

would prefer and the way that I shall kill you.’ ‘But what is my fault?

What is my fault?’ repeated the wretched fisherman. ‘Listen to my

story and you shall know,’ said the Ifr(t. ‘Speak then, and make your

tale a short one,’ said the fisherman, ‘for my soul is ready to run out

of my feet for very fear.’ So the Ifr(t began:

Know that I am Sakhr al-Jinn(, one of the rebel Afar(t who

mutinied against Sulaim&n, son of Da*d. There was a time when

Sulaim&n sent his Waz(r Asaf ibn Barakhy& against me, who

overpowered me in spite of all my strength and led me into the

presence of Sulaim&n. You may believe that at that moment I humbled

myself very very low. Sulaiman, seeing me, prayed to All&h and

conjured me both to take that faith and to promise him obedience.

When I refused, he had this jar brought before him and imprisoned

me within it. Then he sealed it with lead and impressed thereon the

Most High Name. Lastly, certain faithful Jinn took me upon their

shoulders at his order and cast me into the middle of the sea. I stayed

in the water for a hundred years and kept on saying: ‘I shall give

eternal riches to him who sets me free!’ But the hundred years

passed and no one set me free. So, when I was entering on the

second hundred years, I swore: ‘To him who sets me free will I both

show and give all the treasures upon earth!’ But no one freed me,

and four hundred years passed away, and I said: ‘To him who frees

me I will give the three wishes of his heart!’ But still no one set me

free. So I flew into a heat of passion in my jar and swore: ‘Now I will

kill the man who frees me, my only gift being the choice of the

death!’ And it is you, O fisherman, who have set me free; therefore I

let you choose the death you die.

Hearing the Ifr(t speak in this way, the fisherman could not help

exclaiming: ‘O All&h, the bad luck of it! It would have been left for

me to do this freeing! Spare me, O Jinn(, and All&h will spare you;

kill me, and be very sure that He will raise up one to slay you also.’

Then said the Ifr(t: ‘I shall kill you because you freed me. There is no

help for it.’ On this the fisherman exclaimed: ‘Prince of the Af&r(t

indeed! Is this how you repay good with evil? The proverb does not

lie which says:If you would know the taste of bitterness

Seek sorrow out and comfort her distress,

You need not feed a jackal cub to see

Just how ungrateful gratitude can be.’

But the Ifr(t said: ‘You have used words enough. Prepare to meet

your end.’ Then the fisherman reasoned with himself in this way:

‘Though I am a man and he is a Jinn(, yet All&h has given me my

share of brains. I think I see a trick, a stroke of subtlety, which may

undo him yet.’ Then aloud to the Ifr(t he said: ‘You are determined

that I shall die?’ And when the other said: ‘No doubt of that!’ the

fisherman solemnly addressed him thus: ‘I conjure you by the Most

High Name graved on the seal of Sulaim&n to answer me one

question truthfully!’ And when the Ifr(t, dashed by hearing the Most

High Name, promised that he would answer truthfully, the

fisherman asked: ‘How could this jar, which, as it is, scarcely could

hold a foot or hand of yours, have ever held the whole of you?’ ‘Can

it be that you doubt this thing?’ asked the Ifr(t. And the other

answered: ‘Never would I believe it unless I saw you with my own

eyes entering the jar!’

But at this point Shahraz&d saw the coming of morning and fell

silent.

And when the fourth night had come

SHE SAID:

It is related, O auspicious King, that, when the fisherman told the

Ifr(t that he would not believe the thing unless he saw it with his

own eyes, the Ifr(t began to shake and waver to and fro until he

became a smoke again. This smoke, after first sweeping to the sky,

began to condense and creep little by little into the jar until it had all

disappeared. Immediately the fisherman snatched up the leaden cap,

sealed with the seal of Sulaim&n, and stoppered the neck of the jar

with it. Then he called to the Ifr(t, saying: ‘You there! Consider and

choose the manner of death you would prefer, otherwise I am going

to throw you into the sea and build a house for myself upon the

shore of it. I will prevent anyone from fishing by saying: “An Ifr(t is in

the water there. If anyone pulls him out he will give them a choice of

deaths as a reward!” ’ When the Ifr(t heard the jeers of the fisherman,

he tried to get out, but could not; and he felt that he was fasteneddown again 

with the seal of Sulaim&n above him, that seal no Jinn(

might prevail against. Feeling also that the fisherman was carrying

him down to the sea, he called out: ‘No, no, no, I say!’ To which the

fisherman only answered: ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ So the Jinn( began to smooth

his words and asked humbly what was to be done with him. ‘I am

going to throw you into the sea!’ said the fisherman. ‘Eighteen hundred

years you have lain there, and I shall see to it that you lie there until

the Judgment Day. Did I not beg you to spare me that All&h might

spare you, not to slay me that All&h might slay you not? But you

spurned my prayer and used me wickedly. Therefore All&h has

delivered you into my hands and I have bested you.’ Then wailed the

Ifr(t: ‘Open the jar and I will heap benefits upon you!’ ‘You lie, O

thing of treachery!’ answered the fisherman. ‘It is between you and

me as it passed between the waz(r of King Y*n&n and Rayy&n the

doctor.’

‘What passed between the waz(r of King Y*n&n and Rayy&n the

doctor?’ asked the Ifr(t. ‘And what tale is this?’

We shall meet in the next Episode.