So saying, he disappeared, to the great joy of the company.  The merchant did not fail to thank his friends, and then each went on his way.  The merchant returned to his wife and children, and passed the rest of his days happily with them.

“But, sire,” added Scheherazade, “however beautiful are the stories I have just told you, they cannot compare with the story of the Fisherman.”

The Story of the Fisherman

Sire, there was once upon a time a fisherman so old and so poor that he could scarcely manage to support his wife and three children.  He went every day to fish very early, and each day he made a rule not to throw his nets more than four times.  He started out one morning by moonlight and came to the sea-shore.  He undressed and threw his nets, and as he was drawing them towards the bank he felt a great weight.  He though he had caught a large fish, and he felt very pleased.  But a moment afterwards, seeing that instead of a fish he only had in his nets the carcase of an ass, he was much disappointed.

Vexed with having such a bad haul, when he had mended his nets, which the carcase of the ass had broken in several places, he threw them a second time.  In drawing them in he again felt a great weight, so that he thought they were full of fish.  But he only found a large basket full of rubbish.  He was much annoyed.

“O Fortune,” he cried, “do not trifle thus with me, a poor fisherman, who can hardly support his family!”

So saying, he threw away the rubbish, and after having washed his nets clean of the dirt, he threw them for the third time.  But he only drew in stones, shells, and mud.  He was almost in despair.

Then he threw his nets for the fourth time.  When he thought he had a fish he drew them in with a great deal of trouble.  There was no fish however, but he found a yellow pot, which by its weight seemed full of something, and he noticed that it was fastened and sealed with lead, with the impression of a seal.  He was delighted.  “I will sell it to the founder,” he said; “with the money I shall get for it I shall buy a measure of wheat.”

He examined the jar on all sides; he shook it to see if it would rattle.  But he heard nothing, and so, judging from the impression of the seal and the lid, he thought there must be something precious inside.  To find out, he took his knife, and with a little trouble he opened it.  He turned it upside down, but nothing came out, which surprised him very much.  He set it in front of him, and whilst he was looking at it attentively, such a thick smoke came out that he had to step back a pace or two.  This smoke rose up to the clouds, and stretching over the sea and the shore, formed a thick mist, which caused the fisherman much astonishment.  When all the smoke was out of the jar it gathered itself together, and became a thick mass in which appeared a genius, twice as large as the largest giant.  When he saw such a terrible-looking monster, the fisherman would like to have run away, but he trembled so with fright that he could not move a step.