“The cloud will pass in a minute,” Hottabych promised. True enough, in a minute the sun began to shine once again. “See, it points somewheres between 2 and 3 p.m. That means it’s about 2:30.” As he was speaking, another cloud covered the sun.
“Don’t pay any attention to it,” Hottabych said. “I’ll clear the sky for you whenever you want to find out what time it is.”
“What about the autumn?” Volka asked.
“What about it?”
“What about the autumn and the winter, when the sky is covered with clouds for months on end?”
“I’ve already told you, O Volka, the sun will shine whenever you want it to. You have but to order me and everything will be as you wish.”
“But what if you’re not around?”
“I’ll always be near-by. All you have to do is call me.”
“But what about the evenings and nights?” Volka asked maliciously. “What about the night, when there’s no sun in the sky?”
“At night people must surrender themselves to sleep, and not look at their watches,” Hottabych snapped. He had to control himself not to teach the insolent youth a good lesson. “All right then, tell me whether you like that man’s watch. If you do, you shall have it.”
“What do you mean? It belongs to him. Don’t tell me you are going to…”
“Don’t worry, O Volka ibn Alyosha. I won’t touch a hair on his head. He’ll offer you the watch himself, for you are certainly worthy of receiving the most treasured gifts.”
“You’ll force him to and then he’ll…”
“And he’ll be overjoyed that I did not wipe him off the face of the Earth, or change him into a foul rat, or a cockroach hiding in a crack of a hovel, or the last beggar…”
“That’s real blackmail,” Volka said angrily. “Tricks like that send a man to jail, my friend. And you’ll well deserve it.”
“Send me to jail?!” the old man flared up. “Me?! Hassan Abdurrakhman ibn Hottab? And does he know, that most despicable of all passers-by, who J am? Ask the first Genie, or Ifrit, or Shaitan you see, and they’ll tell you, as they tremble from fear, that Hassan Abdurrakhman ibn Hottab is the chief of all Genie bodyguards.