Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/351

335 had come forth and fallen into the net; wherefore he fled from him, crying out and saying, ‘Mercy, mercy, O Afrit of Solomon!’ But the creature called out to him from within the net and said, ‘Come hither, O fisherman, and flee not from me; for I am a human being like thyself. Release me, so thou mayst get a recompense for me [of God].’

So the fisherman took heart and coming up to him, said to him, ‘Art thou not an Afrit of the Jinn?’ ‘Nay,’ replied the other, ‘I am a mortal and a believer in God and His Apostle.’ ‘Who threw thee into the sea?’ asked the fisherman; and he answered, ‘I am of the children of the sea and was going about therein, when thou castest the net over me. We are people who obey God’s commandments and show loving-kindness unto the creatures of the Most High, and but that I fear and dread to be of the disobedient, I had rent thy net; but I accept that which God hath decreed unto me; wherefore thou art become my owner and I thy captive. Wilt thou then set me free for the love of God the Most High and make a covenant with me and become my friend? I will come to thee every day in this place, and do thou come to me and bring me a gift of the fruits of the land. For with you are grapes and figs and melons and peaches and pomegranates and what not else, and all thou bringest me will be acceptable unto me. Moreover, with us are coral and pearls and chrysolites and emeralds and rubies and other precious stones, and I will fill thee the basket, wherein thou bringest me the fruit, with precious stones of the jewels of the sea. What sayst thou to this, O my brother?’

Quoth the fisherman, ‘Be the first chapter of the Koran between thee and me upon this.’ So they recited the Fatiheh, [in token of their agreement], and the fisherman