The Story of the Fisherman with the Efreet
Source
The poor fisherman casts his net three times and got only junk.
He cast his net again and got a jar. He opens the jar and an efreet comes out and tells him that he will kill him!
Notes:
- Suleiman is King Solomon from the Bible.
- Daoud is King David.
ON THE FIRST NIGHT
Sheherazade started again the story of the Fisherman with the Efreet:
It came to me, O fortunate King, that there was a fisherman, a man very advanced in age, married, father of three children, and very poor in his condition.
He used to cast his net four times a day, nothing more. Now, one day among the days, at noon, he went to the seaside, put down his basket, cast his net, and waited until the net went to rest at the bottom of the water. So he gathered the threads and found the net very heavy, and could not pull it to him. He then brought the end to the ground and tied it to a stake driven into the ground. Then he undressed, plunged into the water around the net, and did not stop struggling until he got it out. He rejoiced, dressed again, and approaching the net, he found a dead donkey there. At this sight, he was grieved, and said: “There is no power and strength except in Allah the Highest, the Almighty!" Then he said, "But verily, this gift from Allah is amazing!" And he recited this verse:
O diver! you roll in the darkness of night and perdition, blindly! Go, stop the hard work; for Fortune does not like movement!
Then he withdrew the net, expressed the water from it, and when he had finished expressing it, he stretched out the net. Then he went down into the water and said, “In the name of Allah!" and cast the net again into the water, and waited till the net had touched the bottom; he then tried to pull it out, but he noticed that the net was very heavy and stuck even more to the bottom than the first time. So he thought it was some big fish. He then tied the net to the ground, undressed, dived, and did so much that he pulled it out; and, having carried it to the shore, he found there an enormous jar filled with mud and sand. At this sight, he lamented and recited a few verses:
O vicissitudes of fate, enough! And take pity on humans!
How sad! On earth, there is no reward equal to merit and worthy of action.
Sometimes, I leave my house to, naively, seek Fortune. And I am told that Fortune died long ago.
Misery! Is it thus, O Fortune, that you relegate the wise to the shadows to let the fools rule the world?
Then he threw the jar away from him, twisted the net, cleaned it, asked Allah's forgiveness for his rebellion, and returned to the sea a third time; he threw the net, waited until the net had reached the bottom and, having drawn it up, he found there broken pots and broken glasses. Seeing this he recited another line from a poet:
O Poet, the wind of fortune will never blow on your side! Are you ignorant and naive, that neither your reed quill nor the harmonious lines of writing will ever enrich you?
And raising his head to heaven, he exclaimed, “Allah! You know it! I cast my net only four times. Now, behold, I have already thrown it away three times!" After that, he once again called on the name of Allah and cast his net into the sea, and waited until it rested at the bottom. And this time, despite all his efforts, he was unable to remove the net, which clung even more to the rocks at the bottom. So he exclaimed, "There is no strength and power except with Allah!" Then he undressed, dived all around the net, and began to maneuver until he had freed it and brought it ashore. He opened it and found there, this time, a large vase of yellow copper, full and intact; its mouth was sealed with lead, bearing the imprint of the seal of our lord Suleiman (King Solomon), son of Daoud (King David). At this sight, the fisherman rejoiced very much, and said to himself: “Here is something that I will sell in the souk of the boilermakers because it is well worth at least ten gold dinars!" He then tried to shake the vase, but he found it too heavy, and he said to himself: “I absolutely must open it and see its contents, which I will put in my bag; and then I will sell the vase at the souk." He then took his knife and began to maneuver until he had unsealed the seal; he then overturned the vase and shook it to pour its contents on the ground. But nothing came out of the vase, except a smoke that rose up to the azure of the sky and unrolled on the surface of the ground. And the fisherman was prodigiously astonished. Then the smoke came out entirely, condensed, shook, and became an efreet whose head touched the clouds and whose feet dragged in the dust. The head of this efreet was like a cupola, its hands like pitchforks, its feet like masts, its mouth like a cave, its teeth like pebbles, its nose like a jug, its eyes like two torches; her hair was messy and powdery. At the sight of this efreet, the fisherman was terrified, his muscles trembled, his teeth clenched violently, his saliva dried, and his eyes were blinded by the light.
When the efreet saw the fisherman, he exclaimed: "There is no god but Allah, and Suleiman is the prophet of Allah!" and, addressing the fisherman, he said to him: “And you, O great Suleiman, Prophet of Allah, do not kill me, for never again will I disobey you and mutiny against your orders!" So the fisherman said to him: “O rebellious and daring giant, you dare to say that Suleiman is the prophet of Allah! Besides, Suleiman has been dead for 1800 years already, and we are at the end of time! So what is this story? And what are you talking about here? And what is the cause of your entry into this vessel?" At these words, the efreet said to the fisherman: “There is no other God but Allah! Let me bring you good news, O fisherman!" The fisherman said, "And what are you going to tell me?" He answered: “Your death! And at this very hour, and in the most terrible way!" The fisherman replied: “For this news, you deserve, O lieutenant of the efreets, that heaven withdraws its protection from you! And may he keep you away from us! Why do you want me dead? And what have I done to deserve death? I delivered you from the vase, I saved you from this long stay in the sea and I brought you back to earth!" Then the efreet said: "Weigh and choose the kind of death you prefer and the way you like best to be killed!" The fisherman said, "What is my crime to deserve such punishment?" The efreet said, “Listen to my story, O fisherman." The fisherman says: “Speak! and shorten your discourse, for with impatience my soul is about to come out of my foot! The efreet says:
“Know that I am a rebellious genie! I had mutinied against Suleiman, son of Daoud. My name is Sakhr El-Genni! And Suleiman sent to me his vizier Assef, son of Barkhia, who took me away, despite my efforts, and led me into the hands of Suleiman. And my nose at that time became very humble. On seeing me, Suleiman made his conjuration to Allah and enjoined me to embrace his religion and to enter under his obedience. But I refused. So he had this vessel brought and imprisoned me in it. Then he sealed it with lead and imprinted the name of the Most High on it. Then he gave his orders to the faithful genies, who lifted me up on their shoulders and threw me in the middle of the sea. I stayed a hundred years at the bottom of the water, and I said in my heart: “I will eternally enrich the one who will deliver me! But a hundred years passed and no one delivered me. When I entered the second hundred-year period, I said to myself: "I will discover and give the treasures of the earth to him who will deliver me!" But no one delivered me. And four hundred years passed, and I said to myself: "I will grant three things to the one who will deliver me!" But no one delivered me! So I flew into terrible anger, and I said in my soul: "Now I will kill whoever delivers me, but I will grant him the choice of his death!" It was then that you, O fisherman, came to deliver me. And I granted you to choose your kind of death!
— At this point in her narration, Scheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.