The Story of the Fisherman with the Efreet
After the story of the king and the doctor and a discussion with the efreet, the fisherman frees again the efreet.
And the efreet leads him to a lake where there is a lot of colorful fish.
Then the story involves the sultan, a vizier, a black female cook, and a young girl coming out of the kitchen wall!
ON THE SIXTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
It has come to me, O fortunate King, that when the fisherman said to the efreet: “If you had preserved me, I would have preserved you; but you only wanted my death, and I will kill you imprisoned in this vase, and I will throw you into this sea!" — then the efreet cried out and said: “By Allah upon you! O fisherman, do not! And preserve me generously, without scolding me too much for my action, because if I was criminal, you, be beneficent; and the well-known proverbs say:
O you who do good to the one who does evil, completely forgive the crime of the malefactor!
And you, O fisherman, do not do to me as Oumama did with Atika!" The fisherman said, "And what is their case?" The efreet replied: “It is not the time to tell their story, while I am in prison. When you get me out, I'll tell you about them!" The fisherman says: “Oh, no! I must absolutely throw you into the sea, without there being any way left for you to get out of it! When I implored you and had recourse to you, you only wished for my death without my having committed any fault towards you or any baseness whatsoever; and I have only done you well because I freed you from the dungeon. Also when you behaved like this with me, I understood that you were of an evil race of origin. Now know well that I will throw you into the sea only to warn of your case whoever would try to pull you out, and he will throw you out a second time, and then you will stay in this sea until the end of time to taste all kinds of torture!" The efreet replied: "Release me, for now is the time to tell you the story. Besides, I promise never to hurt you again, and I will be of great use to you in a matter that will enrich you forever." Then the fisherman took note of this promise that, if he delivered him, the efreet would never hurt him more, but would do him a favor. Then when he had firmly assured himself of his faith and his promise and had made him take an oath in the name of Allah Almighty, the fisherman opened the vessel. Then the smoke began to rise until it was completely out, and it became a frightful and ugly efreet. The efreet kicked the vase and threw it into the sea. When the fisherman saw the vase heading out to the sea, he was undoubtedly certain of his own perdition, urinated into his clothes, and said, “That is really not a good sign!" Then he tried to strengthen his heart, and said: “O efreet, Allah the Exalted has said: You must keep the oath, for you will be required to account for it! Now, you have promised me and sworn that you will not betray me. So if you betray me, Allah will punish you, because He is jealous! and, if patient, He is not forgetful; and I told you what the doctor Rouiane said to King Iounane: Preserve me and Allah will preserve you!" At these words, the efreet laughed, walked in front of him, and said, 'O fisherman, follow me!" And the fisherman began to walk behind without much belief in his salvation, and so they went completely out of the city and lost sight of it, and went up a mountain, and went down into a vast solitude in the midst of which was a lake. Then the efreet stopped and ordered the fisherman to cast down his net and to fish; and the fisherman looked into the water and saw white, red, blue, and yellow fish. At this sight, the fisherman marveled; then he cast down his net and having drawn it out, he saw four fish in it, each fish of a different color. At this sight, he rejoiced, and the efreet said to him: “Go with these fish to the sultan and offer them to him, and he will give you money. And now, by Allah! please accept my apologies, for now, I have forgotten good manners since the time I have been in the sea, already more than one thousand eight hundred years ago, without seeing the world on the surface of the earth! As for you, you will come every day to fish here, but only once! And now, may Allah keep you under his protection!" With that, the efreet kicked the earth with both feet, which split open and swallowed him up.
So the fisherman returned to town marveling at what had happened to him with the efreet; then he took the four fish and carried them to his house; then, having taken a terracotta pot, he filled it with water and placed the fish there, which began to wriggle in the water contained in the pot. Then, having loaded the pot on his head, he went to the king's palace, as the efreet had commanded him. When the fisherman went up to the king and offered him the fish, the king marveled to the height of wonder at the sight of these fish offered to him by the fisherman, for he had never seen fish of these qualities and species in his life. And he said, "Give those fish to the black woman, our cook!" Now, this slave had been offered to him as a gift, only three days before, by the king of Roum, and they had not yet had time to experiment with her cuisine. So the vizier ordered her to fry the fish, saying to the black woman: "O good woman, the king commands me to tell you this: I do not keep you as a treasure only simply for the good days — Now, show us today the proof of your art in cooking, and the goodness of your dishes; because the sultan has just received a man bearing gifts!" Having said this, the vizier returned after having made all his recommendations: and the king ordered him to give the fisherman four hundred dinars. The vizier having given them to him, the fisherman put them in the tail of his robe, and returned to his house, near his wife, very happy. Then he bought his children everything they could need. - And that's it for the fisherman for now!
As for the black female cook, she took the fish, cleaned it, and put it in the pan; then she let it cook well on one side and then turned it on the second side. But suddenly the kitchen wall parted, and let into the kitchen a young girl with a slender figure, with full and smooth cheeks, with perfect qualities, with eyelids painted with black kohl, with a gentle face, with a gracefully leaning body; she had on her head a scarf of blue silk, earrings in her ears, bracelets on her wrists, and on her fingers rings with precious gems. She held a bamboo stick in her hand. She approached and, pushing the stick into the frying pan, she said: “O fish, do you still keep your promise?" At this sight, the black female slave fainted; and the young girl repeated her question a second time and a third time. Then all the fish looked up from inside the pan and said: "Oh yes! Oh yes!" Then they intoned this stanza in chorus:
If you retrace your steps, we will imitate you;
If you fulfill your promise, we will fulfill ours;
But if you try to escape, we will insist until you do!
At these words, the young girl overturned the frying pan and left by the very place from which she had entered, and the wall of the kitchen was welded together again. When the slave awoke from her fainting spell, she saw that the four fish had burned and had become like black coal, and she said to herself: “Those poor fish! Barely on the attack, they are disbanded!" And while she continued to lament, behold, the vizier came up behind her above her head, and said to her: "Take the fish to the sultan!" And the slave began to weep and told the vizier the story and what followed; and the vizier was greatly astonished and said: “It is really a very strange story!" And he sent for the fisherman, and once the fisherman had been brought, he said to him: "You absolutely must come back to us with four fish like those you brought the first time!" And the fisherman went to the pond, cast down his net, and brought it back with four fish which he caught and brought to the vizier. And the vizier came in to take them to the black cook, saying to her: "Get up and fry them in my presence so that I can see what is going on in this affair!" And the black woman got up, got the fish ready, and put them in the pan on the fire. However, barely a few moments had passed when the wall split and the young girl appeared still dressed in her same clothes and still holding the wand in her hand. She stuck the chopstick into the pan and said: “O fish, o fish! do you still keep your old promise?" And the fishes all raised their heads and intoned this stanza in chorus:
If you retrace your steps, we will imitate you;
If you fulfill your oath, we will fulfill it;
But if you renege on your commitments, we will cry so much that you will compensate us!
— At this point in her narration, Scheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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