The genie, enraged at these expressions, did all he could to get
out of the vessel again, but it was not possible for him to do
it; for the impression of Solomon's seal prevented him; so,
perceiving that the fisherman had got the advantage of him, he
thought fit to dissemble his anger. Fisherman, says he, in a
pleasant tone, take heed you do not what you say; for what I
spoke before was only by way of jest, and you are to take it no
otherwise. O genie! replies the fisherman, thou who wast but a
moment ago the greatest of all genies, and now art the least of
them, thy crafty discourse will signify nothing to thee, but to
the sea thou shalt return: If thou hadst staid in the sea so long
as thou hast told me, thou mayst very well stay there till the
day of judgment. I begged thee, in God's name, not to take away
my life, and thou didst reject my prayers; I am obliged to treat
you in the same manner.
The genie omitted nothing that could prevail upon the fisherman:
Open the vessel, says he, give me my liberty, I pray thee, and I
promise to satisfy thee to thy own content. Thou art a mere
traitor, replies the fisherman, I should deserve to lose my life,
if I be such a fool as to trust thee; thou wilt not fail to treat
me in the same manner as a certain Grecian king treated the
physician Douban. It is a story I have a mind to tell thee,
therefore listen to it.
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