Thousand & One Nights: Eighth Night: The Fishermen & The Demon

After the prologue by Shahrazad, Dinarzad and her team begins the story telling. Slaves and slave girls act the part of characters.

Dinarzad:

I heard, O happy King, that the third old man told the Demon a story that was even stranger and more amazing than the first two. The demon was very much amazed, and granted one third of his claim on the merchant for his guilt. Then the demon released the merchant and went away. The merchant expressed his thanks to each of the old men, and they in turn congratulated him, and went away. The merchant returned to his home to join his wives and children.

Shahrazad announced that her sister Dinarzad would tell the fascinating story of the fishermen, in the presence of the ailing King:

There was a very old fisherman, who had a wife and three daughters. They were very poor that they did not have enough for the day. One day, at the call of morning prayer he went out with his net. He reached the outskirts of the city and walked towards the seashore.  The moon was still up, and the ocean shined like a sheet of gold. He set down his basket, rolled up his shirt, and waded to his waist in the water. He cast his net, and waited for it to sink.  Then he gathered the rope and started to pull. He pulled little by little. The net was getting heavier, he thought. However, he pulled, but it was getting more heavier and did not give in. He was unable to pull further. He climbed ashore and drove a stake into the ground, tied the end of rope to the stake. Then he took off the clothes, and dove into the water, and went around the net, shaking it and tugging at it, until he managed to pull it ashore. Feeling extremely happy, he put on his clothes, and went back to the net. But when he opened it, he found inside a dead donkey. He felt sad and depressed, and said to himself, "There is no power, and no strength, save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent," adding, "indeed this is a strange catch!" Then he began to recite the following verses:

O you who brave the danger in dark,

Reduce your toil, for gain is not work.

Look at the fisherman who labours,

As the stars in the night twinkle, 

And deeply wades into raging sea, 

Steadily gazing at the swelling net,

Till he returns, with his mighty catch, 

A fish whose mouth is cut by hook, 

Sells it to a man who sleeps in night,

Safe from the  cold,

And blessed with every wish.

Praise the lord who blesses and not 

Break of dawn, and the story telling ends.

End of the Section