The Clever Fisherman

Once upon a time, there lived a man who earned his living by catching fishes from the sea. He lived with his wife and four children. He found it very difficult to feed his family.

One day, he went to the sea for fishing. He cast the net into the sea trying to catch some fishes. He tried for a long time, but had no success. He did not give hopes and tried repeatedly. Once when he pulled out the net, he felt it very heavy.

The poor fisherman was very curious and full of joy. He thought that he had caught a big fish. When he took out his net, to his surprise, he found a big copper jar. The mouth of the jar was tightly closed. He found the name ‘ABDUL’ written on it. As he was not so happy to see the jar, he decided to sell the jar in the market to earn some money. However, before that he wanted to open the jar and see what was inside it. He opened the jar and tried to pour out the thing that was inside it.

As soon as he shook it to pour, a kind of smoke came out from the jar. It looked like a monster whose head almost touched the sky. The Jinn spoke in a rude voice. He told the fisherman to get ready for death and asked him to decide the manner in which he would like to die. The poor man started crying loudly.

The fisherman asked, “What have I done?” The Jinn said, “I am not the one who returns back good for good.” The Jinn also said that as a punishment he was shut and closed in the jar and thrown into the sea by the King of Jinns since he rebelled against him. He was inside the jar for over hundred years. When he was in the deep sea, he used to say to himself that he would give unlimited wealth as gift to one who releases him from the jar. As no one came forward to free him, he became very angry and then he promised that he would kill the man who releases him. The fisherman begged for mercy, but his efforts were in vain.

The fisherman realized that there was no use in begging for mercy. He decided to tackle the situation intelligently. The fisherman had heard that humans are far superior to Jinn in intelligence. After thinking for a while, he started puzzling the Jinn by saying, “What a big lie you have told me. If you are so determined to kill me, there is little I can do to save my life.” The Jinn became puzzled and asked, “What lie have I told?” The fisherman replied, “Unless I see you in the jar with my own eyes, I cannot believe that you were inside this jar for over hundred years.” “All right, see it with your own eyes.” Saying this, the Jinn changed himself into smoke and entered the jar. Without wasting any time, the fisherman closed the mouth of the jar and threw the jar back in to the sea. In this way, the cleaver fisherman succeeded in saving his life.