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Shishu Sansaar | Arabian Nights Stories-1

Arabian Nights Stories-1

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Story No 2-4/5

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2-4 Story of the Fisherman (4 of 5) :
The Vazeer Who Was Punished

The Vazeer said - "Once upon a time, there was a King whose son was very fond of hunting. He often went for hunting, but the King had ordered his Vazeer to accompany him all the time. Once the huntsman roused a stag, and thinking that Vazeer was behind him, the Prince started chasing the stag. He came so far that he found himself alone. He stopped, looked around but didn't see the Vazeer. He had lost the way. While he was trying to find his way, he saw a beautiful woman crying bitterly, he stopped near her and asked her who she was, what she was doing there alone and if she needed help. She told him that she was the daughter of an Indian King. While she was riding, she fell asleep and fell down from the horse. The horse had run away and now she did not know what to do.

He asked her to sit behind him on his horse and as they were passing by a ruin, the woman dismounted and went in that building. The Prince also dismounted his horse and followed her. To his utmost surprise, he heard her saying to somebody, - "Rejoice my children, I have brought you a fat youth." The children asked - "Where is he, we want to eat him soon, we are hungry." As soon as the Prince heard this, he understood that he was in danger. That woman was not the daughter of any Indian King, but was an ogress, who had now brought him for her children to eat. He immediately rode back on his horse. At the same time that woman reappeared before him and said to him - "Don't be afraid, what do you want?" The Prince said - "I have lost my way and I am looking for the road." She said - "Go straight, you will find the road." The Prince was surprised to see the woman behaving like this.

Again to his surprise, he found his way, he came back home and told his father what had happened to him because of his Vazeer's carelessness. The King was very angry with his Vazeer and ordered to kill him by strangling." The Vazeer was thus killed.

To Return to the "Physician's" story, the Physician further told the story--......

The Vazeer said to the King - "In the same way if you will not care of the physician now you will repent. Who knows that this remedy might affect you adversely in future."

The King could not maintain his first decision, he agreed with the Vazeer and said to him - "Perhaps you are right. I will see what I can do." The Vazeer said - "The best thing is that send him in and as soon as he comes and cut his head immediately." The King sent him in and the physician came there immediately. The King said to him - "I have had sent you in to cut your head to free myself." The physician got astonished to hear that he had to die. He asked - "Your Majesty, May I know what my crime is?" The King said - "I have heard that you are a spy and have come to kill me, but I will kill you first." And he ordered his people to strike him. The physician fell on his feet and cried - "Spare my life and yours will be spared."

The fisherman stopped here and said to the Genie - "See, what had happened between them, is happening here between us. The King did not listen to him, and the executioner tied his eyes. All others sitting there also begged for his life but in vain. The physician begged him - "Your Majesty, At least you let me put my affairs in order. I will give my books to somebody who can make good use of them. There is one book among them which may be of interest to Your Majesty. It contains many curious things. The main one is, if you will turn to the sixth leaf, and read the third line on left-hand page, my head will answer all the questions you wish to ask."

The King got eager to see such a wonderful thing, so he put off his execution for next day and sent him to his house under a strict guard. The physician put his things in order and next day a great crowd gathered to see his death and the matters after it. The physician took a large book to the King. He had a large basin in his hand on which the covering of the book was spread. Presenting them both to the King he said - "When I am killed, keep my head in this basin on this covering. As soon as you will keep my head on it, the blood will stop flowing. Then open the book, ask your questions and my head will answer them. But, Your Majesty, I again implore to you that I am innocent."

The King said - "Your prayers are useless, and if I have to hear your head speak, you have to die." The head was so cleverly cut off that it fell off and into the basin and as soon as it fell into the basin, the blood stopped flowing. To the great surprise of the King, the eyes of the physician opened and said to the king - "Your Majesty, Open the book." The King opened the book, but the leaves were stuck to one another, so he put his finger in his mouth to wet it so that he could turn the pages and reached the sixth leaf, but there was nothing written on it. 

The King said - "Physician, There is nothing written on this page." The physician's head said - "Go on a few more pages." The king did so by licking his finger to help him turn the pages, till the poison that was on each page, took effect. His sight failed and he fell down from his throne. Just before a few minutes of King's falling, the physician's head said - "See, How cruelty and injustice are punished." Just after the King died, the head also died. This was story of the Vazeer and the Greek King."

To Return to the "Story of Fisherman", the Physician further told the story--....

The fisherman further said - "If the Greek King had spared the physician, he would not have died. The same thing applies to you, so I am going to throw you in the sea." The Genie said - "Please do not treat me as Immaa treated Itekaa." The fisherman asked - "How did Immaa treat Itekaa?" Genie said - "Do you think I am going to tell you that story while I am shut in this vessel? First you let me out then only I will tell you that story. You let me get out and I will make you rich."

This offer made the fisherman agreeable and he opened the mouth of the vessel. The Genie came out like before.  The first thing he did was to kick to vessel into the sea. The fisherman got scared but the Genie convinced him that he would not deceive him so he need not be scared. Then he said to him - "Come, Take your nets and follow me." The Genie led him to a flat place surrounded by four small hills. There was a large lake of clear clean water. He asked the fisherman to catch the fish from that lake. 

There were many fish there, so he thought to catch a large fish there, but he noticed that there were only four color fish - white, red, blue, and yellow. He caught four fish, one of each color. Since he had not seen such fish before he was very happy to se them. The Genie said - "Take these fish to your Sultaan, he will give you more money for them than you can even imagine. But be careful not to catch the fish more than once a day, otherwise harm may fall upon you." After saying this the Genie stomped his foot on the ground, the earth opened and he disappeared there.

The fisherman took the fish to the King. The King was very surprised to see such fish. He admired them for long then he gave them to his Vazeer and asked him to give them to his head cook to cook them. The Vazeer did that. The Vazeer came back to King and the King asked him to give 400 gold pieces to the fisherman. The fisherman had not seen so much money before. He was very happy to get that money. He went back to his home and fulfilled his daily needs.

The cook had not seen such fish, she was also surprised to see them.  She cleaned them, put them in a pan with oil and put the pan on fire. When they got cooked from one side, she turned them to be cooked from the other side. As soon as she turned them a wall of the kitchen opened and a beautiful woman came out of that wall wearing an Egyptian dress of flowered satin. She was holding a wand in her hand. She asked the fish - "Are you doing your duty?" They replied "Yes." She overturned the pan, the fish fell on the floor and the woman disappeared in the same wall. The cook got startled seeing all this. When she picked the fish from the floor, they were as black as charcoal. She started weeping.

After a while the Vazeer came to ask if the fish were ready; the cook told him the whole account of what had happened there. The Vazeer was very surprised to hear that. He called the fisherman and asked him to bring similar fish again. This time Vazeer thought that he would also witness those events if they really happened. So he asked the cook to cook them again in front of him. The cook cooked in the same way and the woman appeared from the same wall again and spoilt the fish. Now there was no limit of surprise of the Vazeer too. He went to the King and told him what had happened in the kitchen. 

The King also got surprised to hear all this - "How could it be?" Then he decided to see it all by himself. He called the fisherman again and asked him if he could those kinds of fish again for him. The fisherman told him to bring them again the next day. The next day he brought those four fish again. The King gave him 400 pices of gold, took them to his room and asked his cook to cook them again in the same way as she cooked them before. This time a black man appeared from a wall, carrying a black stick in his hand, asked the fish - "Fish, fish, are you doing your duty?" The fish answered "Yes" and overturned the pan which caused them to fall on the floor. The Black Man disappeared the way he came. The cook picked those fish and they were as black as charcoal.

The King thought that these fish are not ordinary fish, they signify some mystery. I will have to clear that. So he called the fisherman again and asked him where he caught those fish from? He said - "Your Majesty, I catch them from a lake surrounded by the four hills beyond the mountains." The King asked his Vazeer - "Do you know this lake?" The Vazeer said - "No, I have hunted many times around that mountain, but I have never heard about it." Then the King asked the Fisherman - "How far is it? Can you take us there?" "Yes, Your Majesty. It is only three hours journey." The King ordered his people and reached the lake. As fisherman described, the lake was there and the four color fish were swimming in it. The King asked to camp near the shore of the lake.

When night fell, the King said to his Vazeer - "I have decided to solve this mystery, so I am going alone. If anybody asks about me, tell him that I am sick and cannot see anybody. Do this everyday till I come back." The Vazeer tried to stop him but in vain. When all was quiet, he took off his royal robe, took his sword and set out for his journey alone.

Across the plains of one of the hills he saw a great building. Its gate was open so he entered the gate. Inside also the door was open, although he called many times "Is anybody here?", when nobody answered, he went inside the palace. The palace was beautifully decorated but there was nobody living there. He came to a court where a fountain was running and around it were four lions who were throwing sweet water from their mouths. As the water fell in the small pond it turned into most beautiful diamonds and rubies. The palace was surrounded by forests and lakes from three sides. Many birds were singing there and there was a net on the top so that the birds do not fly away.

At that time the King heard a moaning sound. The King went to look who was moaning and found a young man sitting on a throne looking very sad. He was dressed in expensive clothes. The King bowed to him in respect, the young man also bowed a little but did not rise. He said to the King - "I am sorry, I cannot rise from my seat." The King said - "I am sure you have a good reason not to rise. I came here hearing your moaning sound. How can I help you? Whose palace is this and why is it so quiet here?" The young man removed his robe and showed him that half of his body was of black marble. Seeing this the King was horrified and asked him to tell his story. The young man said - "Sure, I will."

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Created by Sushma Gupta on January 15, 2002
Contact:  sushmajee@yahoo.com
Modified on 09/19/13