THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIUS. 39

dress tnem before him. She put them on the fire as she had
done the others on the preceding day. When they were dressed
on one side, she turned them, and immediately the wall of the
kitchen opened, and the same damsel appeared, with her myrtle
inher hand. She approached the vessel in which the fish were,
and striking one of them, addressed the same words to it she
had before done; when they all, raising their heads, made the

same answer. The damsel overturned the vessel with her rod .«

as she had done before, and went back through the opening in
the wall, where she had entered. The grand vizier witnessed
all that passed. “This is very surprising,” he cried, “and too
extraordinary to be kept secret from the sultan’s ears, I will my-
self go and inform him of this prodigy.” He immediately, there-
fore, went, and gave an exact relation of all that had passed.

The sultan was much astonished, and became very anxious to
see this wonder. For this purpose he again sent for the fisher-
man: “Friend,” said he to him, when he came, “canst thou
not bring me four more fish of different colours?” “If your
majesty,” answered the fisherman, “ will grant me three days, I
can promise to do so.” He obtained the time he wished, and
went again, for the third time, to the pond. He was not less
successful than before, and he caught four fish of different
colours the first time he threw his nets. He neglected not to
carry them directly to the sultan, who expressed the greater
pleasure at seeing them, as he did not expect them so soon;
and he ordered four hundred pieces of money to be given to the
fisherman.

As soon as the sultan had got the fish, he had them taken into
his own cabinet, together with the different things that were
necessary to dress them. Here he shut himself up with the
grand vizier, who began to cook them, and put them on the fire
in a proper vessel. As soon as they were done on one side, he
turned them on the other. The wall of the cabinet immediately
opened ; but, instead of the beautiful damsel, there appeared a
black, who was in the habit of a slave. This black was very
large and gigantic, and held a large green rod in his hand. He
advanced to the vessel, and touching one of the fish with his
rod, he cried out in a terrible tone, “ Fish, fish, art thou doing
thy duty?” At these words, the fish lifted up their heads, and
answered, “ Yes, yes, we are: if you reckon, we reckon: if you