2 The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon

CHAPTER 2 The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon THE FIFTH NIGHT The next night, Dinarzad said to her sister, "Please, sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely little tales." The king said, "Let it be the story of the fisherman." Scheherazade replied, "As you wish."

It is said that there was a very old fisherman who had a wife and three daughters. They were so poor that they did not even have enough food to get them through each day. This fisherman cast his net four times a day. One day, while the moon was still up and the morning was young, he went out with his net past the outskirts of the city to the seashore. Then he waded out into the water, cast his net, and waited for it to sink. He gathered the rope and started to pull, feeling it get heavier and heavier, until he was unable to pull it any farther. He took off his clothes and dove into the water, swimming under the net and shaking and pulling at it until he finally brought it to shore. Feeling quite happy, he went to open the net. But when he did, he found only a large, empty jar. The fisherman felt sad after all his work and said, "This is a strange catch!" The fisherman prayed, cleaned his net,

mended it, and set it out to dry. Then he waded back into the water and cast his net again. Once again the net got stuck, and once again the fisherman had to dive into the water to free it. When he pulled the net to shore and looked inside, tears filled his eyes. There was nothing in the net but a rotten old log. "This is the strangest day!" he cried. The fisherman again laid his net out to dry, and again prayed to God. When the net was dry, he cast it a third time and waited for it to sink. This time when he pulled the net up, he found nothing inside but broken bottles and stones. He wept at his bad luck. Then the fisherman raised his eyes to the heavens and said, "O Lord, you know that I cast my net only four times each day. I have already cast it three times, and there is only one more try left. Lord, let the sea help me!" He cast his net into the water a fourth time and watched it sink. When he pulled, the net didn't

move. He shook it and found that it was caught at the bottom. Once again, he dove into the water, and he worked a long time to shake the net free and drag it to shore. There was something heavy inside. When he opened the net, he saw a large brass jar with a stopper at the end. The fisherman was happy, saying to himself, "I will sell it at the market, for it must be worth a lot of money." He tried to move the jar, but it was so heavy that he was unable to budge it. He decided to remove the stopper and pour out the contents. Using his knife, he finally worked the stopper loose. Then he tilted the jar to the ground and shook it, but nothing came out. He was very surprised. After a while, though, a great cloud of smoke rose, getting bigger and bigger until it hid the daylight. For a long time, the smoke kept rising from the jar. Then it gathered and took shape, and there stood a demon with his feet on the

ground and his head in the clouds. He had a head like a fortress, a mouth like a cave, and great fangs for teeth. When the fisherman saw him, he shook with terror, his jaw froze, and his mouth went dry. But morning drew near Scheherazade, and she fell silent. Dinarzad said to her sister, "Sister, what an amazing story!" Scheherazade replied, "Tomorrow night I will tell you something even more amazing, if I stay alive." THE SIXTH NIGHT The following night, Dinarzad said, "Please, sister, tell us another one of your lovely stories." The king added, "Let it be the end of the story of the demon and the fisherman." Scheherazade replied, "With the greatest pleasure!"

I heard, O happy King, that the fisherman asked, "Demon, why are you in this jar?" The demon replied, "Be glad!" The fisherman asked "Glad of what?" The demon added, "Be glad that you will be soon put to death." The fisherman frowned at this and said, "Why do you wish to kill me when I have brought you back into this world?" The demon replied, "Make a wish!" The fisherman was happy again and said, "What will I wish for?" The demon replied, "Tell me how you wish to die." The fisherman asked, "Is this my reward for having freed you from the jar?" The demon replied, "Fisherman, listen to my story. I angered God and he put me in this brass jar and sealed it tight. Then he threw me into the sea. I stayed there for two hundred years, thinking, 'Whoever sets me free, I will make him rich.' But the two hundred years went by and no one set me free. When I entered the next hundred years, I