The Fisherman And The Jinnee

The folk tales from “The Fisherman and the Jinnee” teach us many lessons about life throughout the story. The main lesson that they teach, however, is the lesson that the power of knowledge and critical thinking will always overcome the possession of power during situations in which two people are arguing.
This lesson is mainly taught in the first folk tale, in which the fisherman finds the gold pot and releases the jinnee. The jinnee, who was trapped for a very long time, decided that he was going to kill the person who released him, since he had the power to do so. The fisherman realizes that the jinnee will not hear his reasoning, and decides to outsmart the jinnee. The fisherman announces to the jinnee that he doesn’t believe it was possible for him to fit in the small pot, considering he was huge. To prove his power, the jinnee turns back into smoke and returns to the pot, where the fisherman traps him by resealing the opening. The jinnee is suddenly reduced to no power, and is desperate to try and regain the trust of the fisherman, who makes the jinnee promise to help him if he is set free. The jinnee agrees, and the fisherman lets him go. The jinnee leads the fisherman to a pond where the story continues.

This folk tale explains that those with common sense and quick thinking can always rise to power above those who take advantage of it, and will often manage it in a better, more efficient way.

The fisherman proved that his knowledge and critical thinking was more useful than the power of the jinnee, and he took advantage of his skills to benefit himself. This tale reminds us that in our everyday lives, developing critical thinking skills and quick decision making is much more important than gaining strength and power, and developing these skills will indirectly lead to increasing your own power and wealth, only in a much more stable

way.
The jinnee had the power that he was provided with, most likely at birth, and was used to controlling the other, weaker people around him. The fisherman was very humble and wise, however he was much weaker physically than the jinnee. During their encounter near the pond, the jinnee assumed that because of his size, the fisherman would not put up a struggle. This reveals the human nature to underestimate those who may not appear strong. We often make assumptions about others incorrectly, assuming that if a person is weak or lacking in one way, they will be weak and lacking in other ways as well. The story shows the obvious outcome of making these assumptions, which is the defeat of the assumed “stronger” character and the survival of the assumed “weaker” character.
The folk tales from The Fisherman and the Jinnee teach us many lessons about ourselves and how we treat others, and they bring out issues with those in power. These lessons, although they seem obvious in folk tales like these, are very hard to apply in real life situations. Many people struggle with the same issues today, proving that even lessons taught a very long time ago can still be used in today’s modern world.