Reading Notes: The Story of the Fisherman, Part A

For this 6th week, I chose to focus on the Arabian Nights stories. In Part A, my favorite story was The Story of the Fisherman which came from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang. This story can be found at the Sacred Texts website.

I enjoyed this story because it didn't play out how I expected it to. When he released the genie from the lamp, I thought he would be granted wishes, simply because that's what I've heard in other stories. This one was different, and I like that it was unexpected. The fisherman did go through all the trouble to provide for his family, and he never received anything. I would like to change the story for that reason. I think he should be granted at least one wish before he dies. But, instead of dying, the genie will still be tricked back inside his lamp.

I would also like to introduce another character to the story. I think I would like to add one of the fisherman's children into the plot. His son will be the one to find the lamp, but the fisherman will be the one to break the seal. The son will also try to bargain with the genie, and maybe in the end he will be the one to end up saving his dad.

The genie seems to be very mean because he has been trapped for so long. The son will reason with the genie by promising him revenge on the King who shut him in the vase in the first place. He will try to make him see that killing an innocent, poor fisherman is not the right thing to do.

The story doesn't tell why the genie was forced into the lamp other than that he rebelled against the King. I would like to give a reason as to why he was punished so severely.

Fisherman 

Source: Wikimedia Commons