Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/352

336 loosed the merman from the net and said to him, ‘What is thy name?’ ‘My name is Abdallah of the sea,’ answered he; ‘and if thou come hither and see me not, do thou call out and say, “Where art thou, O Abdallah, O merman?” And I will be with thee presently. But thou, what is thy name?’ ‘My name also is Abdallah,’ answered the fisherman. Quoth the other, ‘Thou art Abdallah of the land and I am Abdallah of the sea; but abide here till I go and fetch thee a present.’ And the fisherman said, ‘I hear and obey.’

Then the merman went down into the sea [and disappeared]; whereupon the fisherman repented him of having released him and said in himself, ‘How know I that he will come back to me? Indeed, he beguiled me, so that I released him, and now he will laugh at me. Had I kept him, I might have made a show of him for the diversion of the people of the city and taken money from all the folk and entered with him the houses of the great.’ And he repented him of having let him go and said, ‘Thou hast let thy prey go from thy hand.’ But, as he was thus bemoaning his credulity, behold, the merman returned to him, with his hands full of pearls and coral and emeralds and rubies and other jewels, and said to him, ‘Take these, O my brother, and excuse me, for I had no basket that I might fill it for thee.’

The fisherman rejoiced and took the jewels from the merman, who said to him, ‘Come hither every day, before sunrise,’ and taking leave of him, went down into the sea; whilst the other returned to the city, rejoicing, and stayed not till he came to the baker’s shop and said to him, ‘O my brother, good luck is come to us [at last]; so do thou reckon with me.’ ‘There needs no reckoning,’ answered the baker. ‘If thou have aught, give it me; and if not, take thy bread and spending-money and begone, against good betide thee.’ ‘O my friend,’ rejoined the fisherman,