extraction.islamicate_folklore.arabian_nights.fisherman_genius_vessel_trick
---
record_id: extraction.islamicate_folklore.arabian_nights.fisherman_genius_vessel_trick
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
passage_locator:
label: 'The Story of the Fisherman: sealed jar, murderous genius, and return to
the vessel'
start: 775
end: 903
translation: Andrew Lang, The Arabian Nights Entertainments
notes: Covers the fisherman's failed casts, the opening of the sealed vessel, the
genius's threat, and the trick that forces the spirit back into confinement.
canonical_text:
summary: An impoverished fisherman hauls up a lead-sealed jar from the sea, releases
a rebel genius who vows to kill his liberator, and survives by challenging the
spirit to prove it ever fit inside the vessel, then sealing it back in.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The fisherman is introduced as old and poor, supporting a wife and three children,
and limiting himself to four casts a day.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: His first three casts produce only an ass carcass, a rubbish-filled basket,
and then stones, shells, and mud.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: On the fourth cast he draws up a yellow pot sealed with lead and marked by
an impressed seal.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: When the fisherman opens the vessel, smoke pours out, fills sea and shore,
and gathers into a giant genius.
category: transformation
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The genius tells the fisherman that freeing him will not save him, because
he has resolved to kill his deliverer.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The genius explains that he rebelled against the king of the genii, was sealed
in the vessel and cast into the sea, and after centuries of captivity changed
promises of reward into a vow of murder.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The fisherman pretends disbelief that so large a being could ever have fit
inside the jar.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: To prove the claim, the genius becomes smoke again and re-enters the vessel.
category: transformation
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The fisherman reseals the jar, threatens to cast it back into the sea, and
refuses the genius's later promise of repayment.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: fisherman
description: Poor old householder who survives the genius through suspicion and
verbal cunning.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: genius
description: Rebellious supernatural being released from the sealed vessel who turns
on his liberator.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: king of the genii
description: Sovereign authority who punished the genius by sealing him in the vessel
and casting it into the sea.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: desperate_provider
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The fisherman is old, poor, responsible for a family, and working under a
strict four-cast limit to support them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: trickster_survivor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He survives by making the genius demonstrate an impossible claim and then
resealing the vessel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:3
label: imprisoned_rebel_spirit
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The genius says he rebelled, was shut in the vessel by royal punishment,
and remained there for centuries.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: murderous_liberated_being
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Once released, the genius declares that the fisherman must die and may only
choose the manner of death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: sealing_sovereign
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The king of the genii is the punishing authority whose seal and enchantment
keep the genius confined.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sealed yellow jar
literal_form: The heavy yellow vessel fastened with lead and marked by an impressed
seal.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: sym:2
label: smoke-body transformation
literal_form: The smoke that rises from the jar, spreads over sea and shore, and
condenses into or out of the genius.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: enchanted leaden lid
literal_form: The lead cover whose seal and enchantment keep the genius from escaping
once it is shut again.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Four casts and the jar
summary: After three worthless hauls, the fisherman brings up a sealed yellow vessel
on his fourth and final cast.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Genius released and murderous vow declared
summary: Opening the jar releases a giant genius who explains his long imprisonment
and announces that the fisherman must die.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Proof challenge and resealing
summary: The fisherman feigns disbelief, the genius compresses himself back into
smoke and the jar, and the fisherman immediately seals the vessel shut again.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Refusal of renewed bargain
summary: Still trapped, the genius promises repayment, but the fisherman refuses
and cites another cautionary tale before continuing.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: sealed_spirit_vessel
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: A supernatural being is confined in a lead-sealed vessel under a royal seal
and released only when a human opens it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The passage does not explain the full wider tradition of bottle or ring
confinement; this record stays with the local jar episode.
- id: motif:2
label: liberator_threatened_by_captive
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The fisherman frees the genius, but the spirit's vow turns the act of rescue
into a death sentence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The threat grows from the genius's personal oath after long captivity,
not from a general law governing all such beings.
- id: motif:3
label: wit_overwhelms_supernatural_force
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The fisherman survives by verbal cunning, making the stronger being prove
a claim and thereby trapping itself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The scene is a trick of proof and timing rather than a contest of riddles
or formal wisdom.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: This passage is a strong comparison candidate for stories in which a released
supernatural captive is forced back into confinement by human cunning.
claim_level: same_function
target: cross-cultural spirit-confinement and trickster-survival records
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
limitations: The claim is functional only and does not assert direct relation to
other jar, bottle, ring, or vessel traditions.
- id: claim:2
claim: The fisherman's trick can be compared with episodes where a weaker human
defeats a stronger foe by making the foe demonstrate an implausible claim.
claim_level: same_function
target: wit-over-strength and proof-trap comparison records
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison tracks narrative strategy, not a fixed one-to-one motif
lineage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 775-783
quote_or_summary: The old poor fisherman, supporting a wife and three children,
makes his first cast and hauls up only the carcass of an ass.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 785-800
quote_or_summary: His second and third casts fail, and the fourth brings up a heavy
yellow pot instead of a fish.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 801-817
quote_or_summary: The pot is sealed with lead; when opened, it releases smoke that
rises, spreads over sea and shore, and condenses into a giant genius.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 821-837
quote_or_summary: The genius first addresses the king of the genii, then tells the
fisherman he will kill him and allow only the choice of death's manner.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 844-859
quote_or_summary: The genius says that royal punishment sealed him in the vessel,
that centuries passed without rescue, and that anger finally turned promised rewards
into a vow to kill his liberator.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 867-876
quote_or_summary: The fisherman devises a plot and claims he cannot believe so huge
a being ever fit inside the vase.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 878-883
quote_or_summary: The genius turns again to smoke and goes back into the vase until
a voice calls out from inside.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 885-892
quote_or_summary: The fisherman shuts the lead cover on the vase and threatens to
cast it into the sea again and warn future fishermen.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 894-903
quote_or_summary: Unable to escape because of the enchantment, the genius tries
cunning and promises repayment, but the fisherman refuses and introduces another
cautionary story.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The sealed vessel, threat, and reversal are explicit in the passage; comparative
classification beyond this local episode remains draft-level.
reviewer_status:
status: draft
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Needs review for taxonomy alignment and for possible linkage to other spirit-confinement
records.
extracted_by: Codex
extracted_at: '2026-04-27'
notes: Worker A extraction focused on sealed-spirit vessel confinement and the fisherman's
wit-over-power reversal.