--- title: "The Fisherman and the Genie" story_id: "8c2b8df6-9295-421a-a845-ab2fdd709704" text_id: "5f892565-3072-4a52-bc4f-6a4fc5a54044" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 5 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Fisherman and the Genie > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie) Version: Modernized This tale comes from the Arabian Nights, a collection with Arab and Persian roots. An old fisherman pulls a sealed pot from the sea. He hopes to find something valuable inside, but when he opens it, a huge genie appears and threatens to kill him. The fisherman must use his wits to survive. His encounter begins an adventure with strange coloured fish and an enchanted kingdom. Along the way, characters tell stories to warn one another about trust and cruelty. **Content warning:** This tale contains enslavement, threats of death and being eaten, severe punishment, killings, poisoning and a talking severed head. A young man in despair wishes to die. Your Majesty, 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 fishing very early each day. He made it a rule never to cast his nets more than four times a day. One morning he set out by moonlight and came to the seashore. He undressed and cast his nets. As he drew them towards the shore, he felt a great weight. He thought he had caught a large fish, and he felt very pleased. But a moment afterwards, he was bitterly disappointed to find only a dead donkey in his nets instead of a fish. Annoyed by such a poor catch, he mended the nets, which the donkey’s body had torn in several places. Then he cast 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 play these tricks on me, a poor fisherman, who can hardly support his family!" With these words, he threw away the rubbish and washed the dirt from his nets. Then he cast 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, but he found a yellow pot. It was so heavy that it seemed full of something. He noticed that it was closed with a lead seal bearing a stamped mark. He was delighted. "I will sell it to the craftsman who casts metal," 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. Judging by the stamped 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 while he was looking at it closely, such a thick smoke came out that he had to step back a pace or two. The smoke rose to the clouds and spread over the sea and shore, forming a thick mist. The fisherman was astonished. When all the smoke was out of the jar, it gathered into a thick mass. In it appeared a genie, twice as large as the largest giant. At the sight of such a terrible-looking monster, the fisherman wanted to run away. But he trembled so much with fright that he could not move a step. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/9419ad20-46bd-4d54-a7fd-1e7e32483892) "Great king of the genies," cried the monster, "I will never again disobey you!" At these words the fisherman took courage. "What is this you are saying, great genie? Tell me your story and how you came to be shut up in that vase." At this, the genie looked at the fisherman haughtily. "Speak to me more politely," he said, "before I kill you." "Alas! why should you kill me?" cried the fisherman. "I have just freed you; have you already forgotten that?" "No," answered the genie; "but that will not prevent me from killing you. I will grant you only one favour: you may choose how you die." "But what have I done to you?" asked the fisherman. "I cannot treat you in any other way," said the genie, "and if you want to know why, listen to my story. "I rebelled against the king of the genies. To punish me, he shut me up in this copper vase. He stamped his seal on the lead cover. Its magic was enough to keep me from escaping. Then he had the vase thrown into the sea. During the first hundred years of my captivity, I vowed to make anyone who freed me rich even after his death. But that century passed, and no one freed me. In the second century I vowed that I would give all the treasures in the world to whoever freed me; but he never came. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/f9f94077-9f6a-4b55-8987-b264604398f1) "In the third century, I promised to make him a king, to be always near him, and to grant him three wishes every day. But that century passed like the first two, and I remained trapped just as before. At last I grew angry at being held captive so long. I vowed to kill anyone who released me at once, and only let him choose how to die. So you see, as you have freed me today, choose in what way you will die." The fisherman was very unhappy. "What an unlucky man I am to have freed you! I implore you to spare my life." "I have told you," said the genie, "that it is impossible. Choose quickly; you are wasting time." The fisherman began to devise a plot. "Since I must die," he said, "before I choose the manner of my death, I beg you on your honour to tell me if you really were in that vase." "Yes, I was," answered the genie. "I really cannot believe it," said the fisherman. "That vase could not hold even one of your feet. How could your whole body fit inside? I cannot believe it unless I see you do the thing." Then the genie began to turn into smoke. As before, it spread over the sea and shore. It then gathered together and flowed slowly and steadily back into the vase until none was left outside. Then a voice came from the vase which said to the fisherman, "Well, unbelieving fisherman, here I am in the vase; do you believe me now?" Instead of answering, the fisherman took the lead lid and quickly shut it over the vase. "Now, O genie," he cried, "ask my forgiveness, and choose how you will die! But no, it will be better if I throw you into the sea I pulled you from. I will build a house on the shore to warn fishermen who cast their nets here. They must not pull up a wicked genie like you, who vows to kill the man who frees him." At these words the genie did all he could to get out, but he could not, because of the enchantment of the lid. Then he tried to get out by cunning. "If you will take off the cover," he said, "I will repay you." "No," answered the fisherman, "if I put myself in your hands, I am afraid you will treat me as a certain Greek king treated the doctor Douban. Listen, and I will tell you." ## Parts - [1](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown) - [2](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown&part=2) — The Story of the Greek King and the Physician Douban - [3](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown&part=3) — The Story of the Husband and the Parrot - [4](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown&part=4) — The Story of the Vizir Who Was Punished - [5](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown&part=5) — The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text The Arabian Nights Entertainments, 1898, Longmans, Green and Co. - editor: Andrew Lang ## Illustration [Edmund Dulac](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/9419ad20-46bd-4d54-a7fd-1e7e32483892) — Stories from the Arabian Nights, 1907, Hodder & Stoughton, London [Edmund Dulac](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/f9f94077-9f6a-4b55-8987-b264604398f1) — Stories from the Arabian Nights, 1907, Hodder & Stoughton, London ## Reading music Mijana Bassam Jalgha (oud) Hassane Slaibi (flute) Remix ⟷ Culture (production) [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown) - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)