Page 67 - @ccess3_Readers Book

He knelt upon the sand and studied the vase, and at last
he used his fishing knife to cut away the seal. He stuck a
finger inside and felt nothing. He turned it upside down,
and nothing fell out.

"Just my luck," he muttered. "I was a fool for wasting time."
But just at that moment a thick cloud of smoke rolled out
of the vase and swirled into the air, twisting and billowing
so that soon a smoky mist stretched out over sand and sea.
The fisherman stared in wonder as the mist began to twist
and twirl, taking the shape of a giant, a fiery spirit, the
fiercest creature he had ever seen. And then the spirit spoke,
and its voice was a kind of shriek. "King of the genii!" he
roared, "I shall never disobey you again!"

Hearing these words, the fisherman felt a bit of his courage
return, and so he stammered, "Genie, how did you come to
be shut up inside this vase?"

Now the genie growled, "Speak civilly to me before I kill you."

"What?" the fisherman cried. "Why would you kill the man
who set you free? Should you not reward me?"

Reader's Book 65