The Fisherman and the Genie
Also known as Machhuara aur Jinn
- 3 minute read
- Ages 8-12
- Alif Laila Stories
A poor fisherman had a rule: he cast his net four times a day and no more, and whatever came up, he took home.
One morning the first cast brought up a dead donkey. The second brought a jar full of sand. The third brought stones and broken pots.
He said his prayers and cast the fourth and last time.
The bottle
What came up was a heavy copper bottle with a lead seal stamped on the neck.
He turned it over. Something moved inside it. He worked the seal loose with his knife.
Smoke came out.
It poured out and out and rose above him and gathered itself together, and standing on the shore was a jinn whose head was level with the clouds.
"Fisherman," it said. "Choose how you will die."
The jinn's story
"Why?" said the fisherman. "I let you out."
"Listen," said the jinn. "I was sealed in that bottle and thrown into the sea by Solomon himself. For the first hundred years I swore that whoever freed me would be made rich for life. Nobody came.
For the second hundred years I swore I would open all the treasures of the earth to him. Nobody came.
For the third hundred years I swore I would make him a king and grant him three wishes every day. Nobody came.
And after that I grew angry, and I swore that whoever freed me would die, and I would only let him choose the manner of it. And here you are. So choose."
The fisherman sat down on the sand.
He was not going to out-fight it and he was not going to out-argue it. So he thought about what a creature that size could not do.
One question
"I will choose," he said. "But answer me one thing first, on your honour. I want to know something and then I will die content."
"Ask."
"Were you really in that bottle?"
"Of course I was."
The fisherman looked at the bottle, then up at the jinn, then back at the bottle.
"No," he said. "Your hand would not go in it. Your foot would not. I am not a clever man but I am not a fool either. You were never in that bottle and you are telling me a story."
The jinn was insulted.
It roared, and dissolved into smoke, and the whole enormous column of it wound down and down and poured back through the neck of the bottle until every last thread had gone in.
The fisherman leaned over and pushed the lead seal back into place.
"Let me out!" came a voice from inside.
"No," said the fisherman.
"I will make you rich!"
"You said that already," said the fisherman, "about eleven hundred years ago."
And he carried the bottle to the edge of the rocks and dropped it into deep water.
Moral of the story
Anger held long enough turns on whoever comes near it. And a small clever question can undo a very large threat.
Questions and answers
- What was the fisherman's rule about casting his net?
He cast his net exactly four times a day and no more, and accepted whatever it brought up.
- What did the fisherman find on his fourth cast?
He found a heavy copper bottle sealed at the neck with a lead stopper.
- Why did the jinn want to kill the man who freed him?
After being trapped for centuries with nobody coming, his gratitude turned to rage and he swore to kill whoever finally released him.
- How did the fisherman trick the jinn?
He said he did not believe such a huge creature could ever have fitted inside the bottle, and the insulted jinn went back in to prove it.
- What did the fisherman do at the end?
He resealed the bottle and threw it back into deep water, refusing every offer the jinn shouted from inside.
Word meanings
- cast
- To throw out a net or fishing line into the water.
- seal
- Something that closes an opening tightly so nothing escapes.
- jinn
- A powerful spirit in Arabic and Islamic tradition, often called a genie in English.
- dissolved
- Broke apart and disappeared into something else.
Questions about The Fisherman and the Genie
What is the moral of The Fisherman and the Genie?
The moral is that cleverness can defeat overwhelming power, and that anger nursed for too long ends up harming the innocent.
Is a jinn the same as a genie?
Genie is the English word for jinn, a spirit in Arabic tradition. In Alif Laila jinn are powerful, dangerous and not always friendly.
Why did the jinn go back into the bottle?
His pride was hurt. He could not bear to be called a liar, so he proved he had been inside, which was exactly what the fisherman wanted.
What is this story called in Hindi and Urdu?
It is usually known as Machhuara aur Jinn, meaning 'the fisherman and the jinn'.