The Fisherman and the Jinn

                              The Fisherman and the Jinn

 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 hauled THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT 20 the 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: ‘All&h, All&h! Thou knowest that I cast my net but four times in the day, and see! I have already 21 THE TALE OF THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI cast 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 All&h 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 Sulaim&n, son of D&*d. 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 All&h, and Sulaim&n is All&h’s prophet!’ Then, speaking directly to the fisherman, he said: ‘O great Sulaim&n, O thou prophet of All&h, 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

 Sulaim&n the prophet of All&h? Sulaim&n 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 All&h. 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&h THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT 22 be far from rewarding you for such news, Prince of the Af&r(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 Af&r(t who mutinied against Sulaim&n, son of D&*d. There was a time when Sulaim&n sent his Waz(r As&f 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. Sulaim&n, 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: 23 THE TALE OF THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI 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 fastened THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT 24 down 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?’

HINDI-BOOKS