The Story of the Fisherman and the Jinni
- Date of account
- Nineteenth-century translations of an older Arabic storytelling tradition
- Location
- A coastal setting identified variably in Arabian Nights translations
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The Arabian Nights tale commonly called “The Story of the Fisherman and the Jinni” describes a fisherman who releases a jinni from a sealed copper vessel and negotiates for his life. Nineteenth-century English translations, especially Edward Lane’s and Richard Burton’s, helped establish the tale as a comparative example of apparition, material containment, and dangerous spirit encounter. It is not an eyewitness report and its geography varies among textual traditions and translations. The lead is strongest for studying how jinn narratives were edited, translated, and categorized by European orientalists.
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