--- 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: 2 part_count: 5 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-fisherman-and-the-genie?part=2" 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 ## The Story of the Greek King and the Physician Douban In the country of Zouman, in Persia, there lived a Greek king. This king had leprosy, and none of his doctors had been able to cure him. Then a very clever physician, or doctor, came to his court. He was very learned in all languages, and knew a great deal about herbs and medicines. As soon as he was told of the king's illness he put on his best robe and presented himself before the king. "Your Majesty," he said, "I know that no physician has been able to cure your majesty, but if you will follow my instructions, I promise to cure you without making you take medicine or applying anything to your skin." The king listened to this proposal. "If you are clever enough to do this," he said, "I promise to make you and your descendants rich for ever." The physician went to his house and made a polo club. He hollowed out its handle and put the drug he wished to use inside it. Then he made a ball, and the next day he took these things to the king. The physician asked the king to play polo, a game played on horseback. The king mounted his horse and went to the playing ground. There the physician approached him with the club he had made, saying, "Take this, Your Majesty, and strike the ball until your hand and whole body feel warm. When the remedy that is in the handle of the club is warmed by your hand it will spread throughout your body. Then you must return to your palace, bathe, and go to sleep, and when you awake tomorrow morning you will be cured." The king took the club and urged his horse after the ball which he had thrown. He struck it, and then it was hit back by the courtiers who were playing with him. When he felt very hot, he stopped playing. He returned to the palace, took a bath and did everything the physician had told him. When he got up the next day he found, to his great joy and astonishment, that he was completely cured. When he entered the hall where he received visitors, all his courtiers were eager to see whether the wonderful cure had worked. They were overwhelmed with joy. The physician Douban entered the hall and bowed low to the ground. When the king saw him, he called him over and made him sit by his side, showing him every mark of honour. That evening he gave him a long and rich robe of state, and presented him with two thousand gold coins called sequins. The following day he continued to load him with favours. Now the king had a grand-vizir, his chief minister, who was greedy, envious and a very bad man. He grew extremely jealous of the physician, and determined to bring about his ruin. In order to do this he asked to speak in private with the king, saying that he had something very important to tell him. "What is it?" asked the king. "Your Majesty," answered the grand-vizir, "it is very dangerous for a monarch to trust a man whose loyalty has not been proved. How do you know this physician is not a traitor who has come to assassinate you?" "I am sure," said the king, "that this man is the most faithful and virtuous of men. If he wished to take my life, why did he cure me? Stop speaking against him. I see what this is: you are jealous of him. But do not think you can turn me against him. I remember well what a vizir said to King Sindbad, his master, to stop him from putting his own son, the prince, to death." The Greek king’s words made the vizir curious. "Your Majesty," he said, "please be so kind as to tell me what the vizir said to King Sindbad." "This vizir," he replied, "told King Sindbad that one should not believe everything a stepmother says, and told him this story." ## Modernization notes - mother-in-law → stepmother: Mother-in-law formerly also meant stepmother (American Heritage Dictionary). In the Sindbad story frame, the accusation concerns the king’s son and his stepmother, as the Galland text makes explicit. The modern word clarifies this family relationship; the generalisation remains the speaker’s own. ## 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 ## 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. 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