Saying these words, he struck his foot against the ground, which
opened, and when he had disappeared, it closed immediately.
The fisherman resolved to obey the genius exactly, so he did not cast
his nets a second time, but walked into the town to sell his fish at
the palace.
When the Sultan saw the fish he was much astonished. He looked at them
one after the other, and when he had admired them long enough, "Take
these fish," he said to his first vizir, "and given them to the clever
cook the Emperor of the Greeks sent me. I think they must be as good
as they are beautiful."
The vizir took them himself to the cook, saying, "Here are four fish
that have been brought to the Sultan. He wants you to cook them."
Then he went back to the Sultan, who told him to give the fisherman
four hundred gold pieces. The fisherman, who had never before
possessed such a large sum of money at once, could hardly believe his
good fortune. He at once relieved the needs of his family, and made
good use of it.
But now we must return to the kitchen, which we shall find in great
confusion. The cook, when she had cleaned the fish, put them in a pan
with some oil to fry them. When she thought them cooked enough on one
side she turned them on the other. But scarcely had she done so when
the walls of the kitchen opened, and there came out a young and
beautiful damsel. She was dressed in an Egyptian dress of flowered
satin, and she wore earrings, and a necklace of white pearls, and
bracelets of gold set with rubies, and she held a wand of myrtle in her
hand.