"O fish of my pond, Are ye true to your bond?"
And immediately the four fishes lifted their heads from the frying fat and answered--
"Even so, the bond holds yet; Paid by thee, we pay the debt. With give and take is the reckoning met."
Thereupon the damsel upset the pan into the fire and retired through the wall in the same way that she had come, leaving the four fish all charred to a cinder.
[Illustration: Whereupon one upset the pan into the fire.]
The cook, beholding her labour thus brought to naught, began to weep and bewail herself, expecting no less than instant dismissal, and was still loud in her lamentations when the Vizier arrived to see if the fish were ready.
[Illustration: Recalling the fisherman by a swift messenger.]
On hearing her account of what had occurred, the Vizier was greatly astonished, but feared to bring so strange a report to the Sultan's ears while the cravings of the royal appetite were still unsatisfied; so recalling the fisherman by a swift messenger, he bade him procure in all haste four more fish of the same kind, promising to reward him according to the speed with which he accomplished the task. So spurred, and by the additional favour of fortune, the fisherman fulfilled his mission in an astonishingly short space of time; but no sooner was the second lot of fish placed upon the fire in the Vizier's presence than once again the wall opened, and the damsel, appearing as before, struck the frying-pan with her rod, and cried--
"O fish of my pond, Are ye true to your bond?"
And immediately the fish stood up on their tails in the frying fat and replied--
"Even so, the bond holds yet; Paid by thee, we pay the debt. With give and take is the reckoning met."
Whereupon she upset the pan into the fire and departed as she had come.
The Vizier, perceiving that so strange an event might no longer be kept from the royal knowledge, went and informed the Sultan of all that had occurred; and the monarch, as soon as he had heard the tale, now rendered more eager for the satisfaction of his eyes than he had previously been for the indulgence of his appetite, sent for the fisherman, and promised him yet another four hundred pieces of gold if he could within a given time procure four more fishes similar to those he had already brought on the previous occasions.