صفحة 139 من 1116

It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was a Fisher

man well stricken in years who had a wife and three children, and

withal was of poor condition. Now it was his custom to cast his

net every day four times, and no more. On a day he went forth

about noontide to the sea shore, where he laid down his basket;

and, tucking up his shirt and plunging into the water, made a

cast with his net and waited till it settled to the bottom. Then

he gathered the cords together and haled away at it, but found it

weighty; and however much he drew it landwards, he could not pull

it up; so he carried the ends ashore and drove a stake into the

ground and made the net fast to it. Then he stripped and dived

into the water all about the net, and left not off working hard

until he had brought it up. He rejoiced thereat and, donning his

clothes, went to the net, when he found in it a dead jackass

which had torn the meshes.