Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights) Volume 09 — Night 941 - 942

When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-first Night, She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the baker said to the fisherman, "Take whatso thou needest and I will have patience with thee till better luck betide thee, after the which thou shalt bring me fish for all thou owest me."

Said the fisherman, Almighty Allah reward thee, and requite thee for me with all good!"

Then he took the bread and the coins and went away, glad at heart, and buying what he could returned to his wife whom he found sitting up, soothing the children, who were weeping for hunger, and saying to them, "At once your father will be here with what ye may eat."

So he set the bread before them and they ate, whilst he told his wife what had befallen him, and she said, "Allah is bountiful."

[FN#236] On the morrow, he shouldered his net and went forth of his house, saying, "I beseech thee, O Lord, to vouchsafe me this day that which shall whiten my face with the baker!"

[FN#237] When he came to the sea- shore, he proceeded to cast his net and pull it in; but there came up no fish therein; and he ceased not to toil thus till ended day but he caught nothing.

Then he set out homewards, in great concern, and the way to his house lay past the baker's oven; so he said to himself, "How shall I go home?

But I will hasten my pace that the baker may not see me."

When he reached the shop, he saw a crowd about it and walked the faster, being ashamed to face his creditor; but the baker raised his eyes to him and cried out to him, saying, "Ho, fisherman!

Come and take thy bread and spending-money.

Meseems thou forgettest."

Quoth Abdullah, "By Allah, I had not forgotten; but I was ashamed to face thee, because I have caught no fish this day;" and quoth the baker, "Be not ashamed.

Said I not to thee, At thy leisure,[FN#238] till better luck betide thee?"

Then he gave him the bread and the ten Nusfs and he returned and told his wife, who said, "Allah is bountiful.

Better luck shall yet betide thee and thou shalt give the baker his due, Inshallah."

He ceased not doing on this wise forty days, betaking himself daily to the sea, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, and returning home without fish; and still he took bread and spending-money of the baker, who never once named the fish to him nor neglected him nor kept him waiting like the folk,[FN#239] but gave him the bread and the ten half-dirhams without delay.

Whenever the fisherman said to him, "O my brother, reckon with me," he would say, "Be off:[FN#240] this is no time for reckoning.

Wait till better luck betide thee, and then I will reckon with thee."

And the fisherman would bless him and go away thanking him.

On the one-and-fortieth day, he said to his wife, "I have a mind to tear up the net and be quit of this life."

She asked, "Why wilt thou do this?"

; and he answered, "Meseems there is an end of my getting my daily bread from the waters.

How long shall this last?

By Allah, I burn with shame before the baker and I will go no more to the sea, so I may not pass by his oven, for I have none other way home; and every time I pass he calleth me and giveth me the bread and the ten silvers.

How much longer shall I run in debt to him?"

The wife replied, "Alhamdolillah-- lauded be the Lord, the Most High, who hath inclined his heart to thee, so that he giveth thee our daily bread!

What dislikest thou in this?"

; and the husband rejoined, "I owe him now a mighty great sum of dirhams, and there is no doubt but that he will demand his due."

"Hath he vexed thee with words?"

"No, on the contrary, he still refuseth to reckon with me, saying, 'Wait till better luck betide thee.'

" "If he press thee, say to him, 'Wait till there come the good luck for which we hope, thou and I.' " "And when will the good luck come that we hope for?"

"Allah is bountiful."

"Sooth thou speakest!"

So saying he shouldered his net and went down to the sea-side, praying, "O Lord provide thou me, though but with one fish, that I may give it to the baker!"

And he cast his net into the sea and pulling it in, found it heavy; so he tugged at it till he was tired with sore travail.

But when he got it ashore, he found in it a dead donkey swollen and stinking; whereat his senses sickened and he freed it from the net, saying, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!

Indeed, I can no more!

I say to that wife of mine, 'There is no more provision for me in the waters; let me leave this craft.'

And she still answereth me, 'Allah is bountiful: good will presently betide thee.'

Is this dead ass the good whereof she speaketh?"

And he grieved with the sorest grief.

Then he turned to another place, so he might remove from the stench of the dead donkey, and cast his net there and waited a full hour: then he drew it in and found it heavy.

Thereupon quoth he, "Good; we are hauling up all the dead donkeys in the sea and ridding it of its rubbish.

[FN#241]" However he gave not over tugging at the net, till blood came from the palms of his hands, and when he got it ashore, he saw a man[FN#242] in it and took him for one of the Ifrits of the lord Solomon, whom he was wont to imprison in cucurbits of brass and cast him into the main, believing that the vessel had burst for length of years and that the Ifrit had come forth and fallen into the net;

wherefore he fled from him, crying out and saying, "Mercy, mercy, O Ifrit of Solomon!"

But the Adamite called out to him from within the net and said, "Come hither, O fisherman, and flee not from me; for I am human like thyself.

Release me, so thou mayst get a recompense for me of Allah."

Whenas he heard these words, the fisherman took heart and coming up to him, said to him, "Art thou not an Ifrit of the Jinn?"

; and replied the other, "No: I am a mortal and a believer in Allah and His Apostle."

Asked the fisherman, "Who threw thee into the sea?"

; and the other answered, "I am of the children of the sea, and was going about therein, when thou castest the net over me.

We are people who obey Allah's commandments and show loving-kindness unto the creatures of the Almighty, and but that I fear and dread to be of the disobedient, I had torn thy net; but I accept that which the Lord hath decreed unto me; wherefore by setting me free thou becomest my owner and I thy captive.

Wilt thou then set me free for the love[FN#243] of Almighty Allah and make a covenant with me and become my comrade?

I will come to thee every day in this place, and do thou come to me and bring me a gift of the fruits of the land.

For with you are grapes and figs and water-melons and peaches and pomegranates and so forth, and all thou bringest me will be acceptable unto me.

Moreover, with us are coral and pearls and chrysolites and emeralds and rubies and other gems, and I will fill thee the basket, wherein thou bringest me the fruit, with precious stones of the jewels of the sea.

[FN#244]

What sayst thou to this, O my brother?"

Quoth the fisherman, "Be the Opening Chapter of the Koran between thee and me upon this!"

So they recited together the Fátihah, and the fisherman loosed the Merman from the net and asked him, "What is thy name?"

He replied, "My name is Abdullah of the sea; and if thou come hither and see me not, call out and say, 'Where art thou, O Abdullah, O Merman?'

and I will be with thee."

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-second Night, She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah of the sea thus enjoined the other, "An thou come hither and see me not, call out and say, 'Where art thou, O Abdullah, O Merman?'

and I will be with thee forthwith.

But thou, what is thy name?"

Quoth the fisherman, "My name also is Abdullah;" and quoth the other, "Thou art Abdullah of the land and I am Abdullah of the Sea; but tarry here till I go and fetch thee a present."

And the fisherman repented him of having released him and said to himself, "How know I that he will come back to me?

Indeed, he beguiled me, so that I loosed him, and now he will laugh at me.

[FN#245] Had I kept him, I might have made a show of him for the diversion of the city-folk and taken silver from all men and gone with him to the houses of the great."

And he repented him of having set him free and said, "Thou hast let thy prey from thy hand away."

But, as he was thus bemoaning his folly in releasing the prisoner, behold, Abdullah the merman returned to him, with both hands full of pearls and coral and smaragds and rubies and other gems, and said to him, "Take these, O my brother, and excuse me; had I a fish-basket[FN#246] I would have filled it for thee."

Abdullah the fisherman rejoiced and took the jewels from the Merman who said to him, "Every day come hither, before sunrise," and farewelling him, went down into the sea; whilst the other returned to the city, rejoicing, and stayed not walking till he came to the baker's oven and said to him, "O my brother, good luck is come to us at last; so do thou reckon with me."

Answered the baker, "There needeth no reckoning.

An thou have aught, give it me: and if thou have naught, take thy bread and spending-money and begone, against weal betide thee."

Rejoined the fisherman, "O my friend, indeed weal hath betided me of Allah's bounty, and I owe thee much money; but take this."

So saying, he took for him a handful of the pearls and coral and rubies and other jewels he had with him (the handful being about half of the whole), and gave them to the baker, saying, "Give me some ready money to spend this day, till I sell these jewels."

So the baker gave him all the money he had in hand and all the bread in his basket and rejoiced in the jewels, saying, "I am thy slave and thy servant."

Then he set all the bread on his head and following the fisherman home, gave it to his wife and children, after which he repaired to the market and brought meat and greens and all manner fruit.

Moreover, he left his oven and abode with Abdullah all that day, busying himself in his service and fulfilling all his affairs.

Said the fisherman, "O my brother, thou weariest thyself;" and the baker replied, "This is my duty, for I am become thy servant and thou hast overwhelmed me with thy boons."

Rejoined the fisherman, "'Tis thou who wast my benefactor in the days of dearth and distress."

And the baker passed that night with him enjoying good cheer and became a faithful friend to him.

Then the fisherman told his wife what had befallen him with the Merman, whereat she rejoiced and said, "Keep thy secret, lest the government come down upon thee;" but he said, "Though I keep my secret from all men, yet will I not hide it from the baker."

On the morrow, he rose betimes and, shouldering a basket which he had filled in the evening with all manner fruits, repaired before sunrise to the sea-shore, and setting down the crate on the water-edge called out, "Where art thou, O Abdullah, O Merman?"

He answered, "Here am I, at thy service;" and came forth to him.

The fisherman gave him the fruit and he took it and plunging into the sea with it, was absent a full hour, after which time he came up, with the fish-basket full of all kinds of gems and jewels.

The fisherman set it on his head and went away; and, when he came to the oven, the baker said to him, "O my lord, I have baked thee forty bunns[FN#247] and have sent them to thy house; and now I will bake some firsts and as soon as all is done, I will bring it to thy house and go and fetch thee greens and meat."

Abdullah handed to him three handfuls of jewels out of the fish-basket and going home, set it down there.

Then he took a gem of price of each sort and going to the jewel-bazar, stopped at the Syndic's shop and said to him, "Buy these precious stones of me."

"Show them to me," said the Shaykh.

So he showed them to him and the jeweller said, "Hast thou aught beside these?"

; and Abdullah replied, "I have a basket-full at home."

The Syndic asked, "And where is thine house?"

and the fisherman answered, "In such a quarter";

whereupon the Shaykh took the jewels from him and said to his followers, "Lay hold of him, for he is the thief who stole the jewellery of the Queen, the wife of our Sultan."

And he bade beat him.

So they bastinadoed him and pinioned him; after which the Syndic and all the people of the jewel-market arose and set out for the palace, saying, "We have caught the thief."

Quoth one, "None robbed such an one but this villain," and quoth another, "'Twas none but he stole all that was in such an one's house;" and some said this and others said that.

All this while he was silent and spake not a word nor returned a reply, till they brought him before the King, to whom said the Syndic, "O King of the age, when the Queen's necklace was stolen, thou sentest to acquaint us of the theft, requiring of us the discovery of the culprit; wherefore I strove beyond the rest of the folk and have taken the thief for thee.

Here he standeth before thee, and these be the jewels we have recovered from him."

Thereupon the King said to the chief eunuch, "Carry these jewels for the Queen to see, and say to her, 'Are these thy property thou hast lost?'

" So the eunuch took the jewels and went in with them to the Queen, who seeing their lustre marvelled at them and sent to the King to say, "I have found my necklace in my own place and these jewels are not my property; nay, they are finer than those of my necklace.

So oppress not the man;"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.