Fairy Tales, Their Origin and Meaning; With Some Account of Dwellers in FairylandBunce, John Thackray
History
Fairy Tales, Their Origin and Meaning; With Some Account of Dwellers in Fairyland
Bunce, John Thackray
Fairy tales -- History and criticism
When he was thrown into the sea the Genie made three vows--each in a
period of a hundred years. I swore, he says, that "if any man delivered
me within the first hundred years, I would make him rich, even after his
death. In the second hundred years I swore that if any one set me free
I would discover to him all the treasures of the earth; still no help
came. In the third period, I swore to make my deliverer a most powerful
monarch, to be always at his command, and to grant him every day any
three requests he chose to make. Then, being still a prisoner, I swore
that I would without mercy kill any man who set me free, and that the
only favour I would grant him should be the manner of his death." And so
the Genie proposed to kill the fisherman. Now the fisherman did not
like the idea of being killed; and he and the Genie had a long discourse
about it; but the Genie would have his own way, and the poor fisherman
was going to be killed, when he thought of a trick he might play upon
the Genie. He knew two things--first that the Jinns are obliged to
answer questions put to them in the name of Allah, or God; and also that
though very powerful, they are very stupid, and do not see when they are
being led into a pitfall. So he said, "I consent to die; but before
I choose the manner of my death, I conjure thee, by the great name of
Allah, which is graven upon the seal of the prophet Solomon, the son of
David, to answer me truly a question I am going to put to thee."
Then the Genie trembled, and said, "Ask, but make haste."
Now when he knew that the Genie would speak the truth, the Fisherman
said, "Darest thou swear by the great name of Allah that thou really
wert in that vase?"
"I swear it, by the great name of Allah," said the Genie.
But the Fisherman said he would not believe it, unless he saw it with
his own eyes. Then, being too stupid to perceive the meaning of the
Fisherman, the Genie fell into the trap. Immediately the form of the
Genie began to change into smoke, and to spread itself as before over
the shore and the sea, and then gathering itself together, it began to
enter the vase, and continued to do so, with a slow and even motion,
until nothing remained outside. Then, out of the vase there issued the
voice of the Genie, saying, "Now, thou unbeliever, art thou convinced
that I am in the vase?"
But instead of answering, the Fisherman quickly took up the leaden
cover, and put it on the vase; and then he cried out, "O, Genie! it is
now thy turn to ask pardon, and to choose the sort of death thou wilt
have; or I will again cast thee into the sea, and I will build upon the
shore a house where I will live, to warn all fishermen against a Genie
so wicked as thou art."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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