The Fisherman

Once upon a time, there was a very poor fisherman who had barely enough to support himself and his wife and three children. Every morning, he cast his net four times to catch fish.
One day, he threw his net and caught a dead ass in it. He repaired his net and threw it again. But all that came up was a large basket of gravel and slime. He washed the net and flung it into the sea a third time. But this time too, he collected only stones, shells and mud.
Feeling miserable, he cast the net for the last time and caught a sealed heavy vessel of yellow copper. He shook it but there was no sound from within.
‘I’ll sell the vessel and buy corn,’ thought the fisherman, ‘But let me see what’s inside it first.’
When he opened it, thick black smoke emerged and from it appeared a huge genie! The fisherman was extremely terrified.

“Who are you?” asked the fisherman, “How did you get into the vessel?” “Speak politely, dirty man!” ordered the genie, “Or, I will kill you!” “I set you free, and you want to kill me!” exclaimed the fisherman, “Why?”
“If you are polite, you may choose the manner in which you wish to die,” said the genie, “But you will definitely die!”
The genie explained that he had rebelled against the King of the genie who, as a punishment, imprisoned him in the copper vessel and flung it into the sea.
“In the first years of my captivity, I thought I would give a lot of riches to the one who set me free, but no one came. Then I thought I would make him a monarch, but this too did not work, for no one set me free!”

The imprisoned genie grew bitter and angry.
“I finally decided to kill whoever sets me free!” declared the genie.
He refused to hear the fisherman’s pleas. Finally, the fisherman asked, “Tell me, sir, before you kill me; how did you fit into this tiny vessel?”
The genie transformed into smoke, “That’s easy! I’ll show you!” He crept into the vessel and quickly the fisherman sealed the mouth of the vessel.
The genie shouted to be let out, but the fisherman refused. Finally, he let him out when he promised him many fish, to be presented to the Sultan. The Sultan rewarded the fisherman who was never poor again.

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