Chapter 2, The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon.
The Fifth Night, The next night, Denarzad 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, Sarazad 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 Oh 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 budget.
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 fishermen saw him, he shook with terror.
His jaw froze and his mouth went dry.
But morning drew near, Sarazad, and she fell silent.
Dinarzad said to her sister, Sister, what an amazing story.
Sarazad replied, Tomorrow night, I will tell you something even more amazing, if I stay alive.
The Sixth Night.
The following night, Denarzad 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.
Sarazad replied, with greatest pleasure.
I heard, oh, 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 soon be 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.
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 promised myself whoever saves me, I will make him king and grant him fame.
Three wishes every day.
But that hundred years passed by.
And more years still.
And no one set me free.
Then I raged and growled and said to myself.
Whoever sets me free from now on.
I will let him choose himself.
The manner of his death.
Soon you came and set me free, so tell me how you wish to die.
When the fisherman heard what the demon said, he replied To God we belong and to him we were turned.
After all these years, with all my bad luck, I had to set you free.
Now, spare me and God will grant you his forgiveness, but destroy me and God will destroy you.
The demon replied again, Tell me how you wish to tell me.
Now the fisherman was certain he was going to die.
He wept, saying, Oh, my children, may we not be taken from each other.
Again he turned to the demon and said For God's sake, let me go as a reward for setting you free from this jar.
The demon replied, Your death is your reward for saving me.
Then the fisherman thought to himself, He is only a demon, while I am a human being.
I am smarter than him.
Then he asked, Will you promise to answer one question before you kill me?
The demon said, Ask.
But morning drew near so as odd, and she fell silent.
Denarzad said to her sister.
Sister, what a strange and amazing story.
Sarazad replied, This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow night.
The Seventh Night.
The following night, Denarzad said Please sister, tell us another of your amazing little tales.
The king added, Let it be the end of the story of the demon and the fisherman.
Sarazad replied, With the greatest pleasure.
I heard, O king, that the fisherman said to the demon By God, tell me whether you were really inside this jar.
The demon replied, By God, I was a prisoner in this jar.
The fisherman said, You are lying.
This jar is not even large enough for one of your hands.
How can it be large enough to fit your whole body?
The demon replied, Don't you believe I was inside?
The fisherman said, No, I don't.
So the demon shook himself and turned into smoke which rose, stretched over the sea, spread over the land, then gathered and began to enter the jar.
When the smoke disappeared, the demon shouted from within, Fisherman, do you believe me now?
The fisherman at once took the stopper and clamped it back onto the opening of the jar.
Then he cried out Now demon, tell me how you wish to die, for I will throw you into the sea.
Build a house right here on the shore and warn any fisherman who comes along about the demon, who will let him choose how he wishes to die.
The demon realized that the fisherman had tricked him.
Fisher!
Don't do this to me, he said.
I was only joking with you.
The fisherman replied, You are the dirtiest and meanest of all demons.
Then he started to roll the jar toward the sea.
The demon shouted, Don't!
Don't!
But the fisherman answered, Yes, yes.
Finally, in a soft voice, the demon asked, Fisherman, if you open this jar, I will make you rich.
The fisherman replied You are lying and I will punish you by throwing this jar to the bottom of the sea.
The demon cried out Fisherman, don't do it me free this time, and I pledge never to bother you or harm you, but to make you rich'.
When he heard this, the fisherman made the demon promise to God that if the fisherman released him and let him out, he would not harm him but make him rich.
After the demon made this promise, the fisherman opened the jar, and the smoke began to rise again.
When the demon emerged, he kicked the jar away, sending it flying into the middle of the sea.
When he saw this, the fisherman was sure he would soon be dead.
Still he cried out, Demon, you made a promise to God.
Do not betray me or God will destroy you.
The demon laughed when he heard what the fisherman said.
He replied Fisherman, follow me, and the fishermen followed him until they came to a mountain outside the city.
They climbed over to the other side of the mountain and came to a forest.
In the middle of the forest stood a lake surrounded by four hills.
The fishermen looked at the lake with wonder, for it was full of fish of many colors.
The demon told the fisherman to cast his net.
He did so then pulled back the net along with four fish one white, one red, one blue and one yellow.
The demon said to him Now take them to the king of your city, and he will give you enough to make you rich.
But don't fish here more than once a day.
The demon kicked the ground, and it opened up and swallowed him whole.
The fisherman, O king, did as he was told, and he sold the fish for a good sum of money.
Every day he went back to the mysterious lake, and every day he caught four fish one white, one red, one blue and one yellow and then sold them to the king.
After this, his wife and children never went through the day without food.
They were all quite happy, and the fisherman counted his blessings for the day he'd met the terrible demon.
But morning drew near Sarzad, and she fell silent.
Then Sarzad said to her sister, "'Sister, what a strange and amazing story!'
Sarazad replied This is nothing compared with the story I will tell you tomorrow, if I am still alive.
