the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to his mouth and, by moistening it, he easily turned over the first leaf, and inlike way the second, and the third, each leaf opening with much trouble; and when he had un stuck six leaves he looked over them and, finding nothing written thereon, said, "O physician, there
is no writing here!" Duban re plied, "Turn over yet more;" and he turned over three others in the same way. Now the book was poisoned; and before long the venom penetrated his system, and he fell into strong convulsions and he cried out, "The poison hath done its work!" Whereupon the Sage Duban's head began to improvise:--
There be rulers who have ruled with a foul tyrannic sway *
But they soon became as though they had never, never been: Just, they had won justice: they oppressed and were oppress *
By Fortune, who requited them with ban and bane and teen: So they faded like the morn, and the tongue of things repeats *
"Take this far that, nor vent upon Fortune's ways thy spleen."
No sooner had the head ceased speaking than the King rolled over
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dead. Now I would have thee know, O Ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the Sage Duban, Allah would have spared him, but he refused so to do and decreed to do him dead, wherefore Allah slew him; and thou too, O Ifrit, if thou hadst spared me, Allah would have spared thee. And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say: then quoth Dunyazad, "O my
sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful; how sweet,
and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is this compared with what I could tell thee this coming night, if I live and the King spare me?" Said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not slay
her until I hear the rest of her story, for truly it is
wondrous." They rested that night in mutual embrace until dawn: then the King went forth to his Darbar; the Wazirs and troops came in and the audience hall was crowded; so the King gave
orders and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade the rest of that day, when the court broke up, and King Shahryar entered his palace,
When it was the Sixth Night,
Her sister, Dunyazad, said to her,"Pray finish for us thy story;" and she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." "Say on," quoth the King. And she continued:--It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "If
thou hadst spared me I would have spared thee, but nothing would satisfy thee save my death; so now I will do thee die by jailing
thee in this jar and I will hurl thee into this sea." Then the
Marid roared aloud and cried, "Allah upon thee, O Fisher man, don't! Spare me, and pardon my past doings; and, as I have been
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tyrannous, so be thou generous, for it is said among sayings that go current:--O thou who doest good to him who hath done thee evil, suffice for the ill doer his ill deeds, and do not deal
with me as did Umamah to 'Atikah."[FN#101] Asked the Fisherman, "And what was their case?" and the Ifrit answered, "This is not
the time for story telling and I in this prison; but set me free and I will tell thee the tale." Quoth the Fisherman, "Leave this language: there is no help but that thou be thrown back into the sea nor is there any way for thy getting out of it for ever and
ever. Vainly I placed myself under thy protection,[FN#102] and I humbled my self to thee with weeping, while thou soughtest only to slay me, who had done thee no injury deserving this at thy hands; nay, so far from injuring thee by any evil act, I worked
thee nought but weal in releasing thee from that jail of thine.
Now I knew thee to be an evil doer when thou diddest to me what thou didst, and know, that when I have cast thee back into the
sea, I will warn whomsoever may fish thee up of what hath befallen me with thee, and I will advise him to toss thee back again; so shalt thou abide here under these waters till the End of Time shall make an end of thee." But the Ifrit cried aloud, "Set me free; this is a noble occasion for generosity and I make
covenant with thee and vow never to do thee hurt and harm; nay, I will help thee to what shall put thee out of want." The Fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions, not to trouble him as before, but on the contrary to do him service; and, after making firm the plight and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah Most Highest he opened the cucurbit. Thereupon the pillar of smoke rose up till all of it was fully out; then it thickened and once
more became an Ifrit of hideous presence, who forthright ad
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ministered a kick to the bottle and sent it flying into the sea.
The Fisherman, seeing how the cucurbit was treated and making sure of his own death, piddled in his clothes and said to
himself, "This promiseth badly;" but he fortified his heart, and
cried, "O Ifrit, Allah hath said[FN#103]: - Perform your
covenant; for the performance of your covenant shall be inquired into hereafter. Thou hast made a vow to me and hast sworn an oath not to play me false lest Allah play thee false, for verily he is
a jealous God who respiteth the sinner, but letteth him not escape. I say to thee as said the Sage Duban to King Yunan, "Spare me so Allah may spare thee!" The Ifrit burst into laughter and stalked away, saying to the Fisherman, "Follow me;" and the man paced after him at a safe distance (for he was not assured of escape) till they had passed round the suburbs of the city.
Thence they struck into the uncultivated grounds, and crossing them descended into a broad wilderness, and lo! in the midst of it stood a mountain tarn. The Ifrit waded in to the middle and again cried, "Follow me;" and when this was done he took his stand in the centre and bade the man cast his net and catch his
fish. The Fisherman looked into the water and was much astonished to see therein vari coloured fishes, white and red, blue and
yellow; however he cast his net and, hauling it in, saw that he had netted four fishes, one of each colour. Thereat he rejoiced greatly and more when the Ifrit said to him, "Carry these to the Sultan and set them in his presence; then he will give thee what shall make thee a wealthy man; and now accept my excuse, for by Allah at this time I wot none other way of benefiting thee, inasmuch I have lain in this sea eighteen hundred years and have
not seen the face of the world save within this hour. But I would
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not have thee fish here save once a day." The Ifrit then gave him
God speed, saying, Allah grant we meet again;"[FN#104] and struck the earth with one foot, whereupon the ground clove asunder and swallowed him up. The Fisherman, much marvelling at what had happened to him with the Ifrit, took the fish and made for the
city; and as soon as he reached home he filled an earthen bowl with water and therein threw the fish which began to struggle and wriggle about. Then he bore off the bowl upon his head and repairing to the King's palace (even as the Ifrit had bidden him) laid the fish before the presence; and the King wondered with exceeding wonder
