Said The Fisherman

Saïd is a fisherman who has carefully saved up a small fortune to buy a coffeehouse. He imagines this to be the start of his upward climb in social status, until his savings mysteriously disappear. Convinced that this is the work of a jinni, he packs up his belongings and leaves with his wife, headed for a new start somewhere else. Along the way, Saïd gets ahead smoothly by cunning and thievery, yet his fortunes are just as easily reversed by a turn of luck or the trickery of others. After some rises and falls in his fortunes, Saïd is finally established as a merchant—but will his relentless greed cause his downfall? Marmaduke Pickthall (died 1936) was a major literary figure of the early 20th century. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, Said The Fisherman exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.