The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon

In this story the fisherman found a jar which contained the demon. The demon, being furious as he had been trapped in the jar for thousands of years, let his anger influence his decision on what was to happen to whoever freed him. Originally, the Demon wanted to reward whoever freed him but every hundred years that passed and no one fished him from the sea, he became more and more enraged. The Demon knew that he had enough power to make his savior’s life a miserable one or a wonderful one. When the fisherman finally set the demon free, the demon decided that he would reward him by allowing the fisherman to choose his way of dying. The fisherman pleaded with the demon to let him live, but after countless tries he came up with a plan to trick the demon. He challenged the demon’s ego by telling him it was not possible that he was stuck in the jar and asked the demon to show him. The demon, wanting to prove himself, went back in the jar. The lesson portrayed through this story is to not let your power and ego influence your choices.

The Tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban

The lesson in this story is to trust your instinct and know how to filter other people’s opinion. King Yunan says, “I think that you have said what you said because you envy him”, realizing that the vizier was only thinking about himself. Deep down the King knew he shouldn’t execute the sage because he had grown to admire and trust the sage, stemming from the sages great wisdom. The vizier’s strong jealousy over the sage greatly influenced the king to the point where he second guesses himself about executing the sage. The vizier practically makes the king come to the conclusion that the only way to avoid being killed by the sage is to kill the sage first. The king witnessed the sage’s powers first hand when the sage cured him without have to drink anything or put any ointments on. The king should have trusted his instinct that told him to trust the sage, who repeatedly told him “..spare me, and God will spare you; destroy me, and God will destroy you”.