Jinni (The Fisherman and the Jinni)

The Djinn is the chief antagonist of the Arabic fairy tale, The Fisherman And The Djinn - which was made popular in the famous collection of Arabian folklore known as A Thousand And One Arabian Nights.

Legend
The Djinn was imprisoned in a bottle for centuries and had grown insane as a result, making a promise to kill whoever released him - granting them only the choice to choose the manner by which they would die: however when the murderous djinn was released by an unwary fisherman he was outsmarted by the quick-thinking fisherman - who taunted the djinn by claiming that he couldn't fit back into the bottle again, the djinn (being a prideful spirit) at once returned to the bottle to prove the fisherman wrong and was sealed back inside.

After this the fisherman tossed the bottle back into the sea and the djinn was never heard of again - presumably he is still floating somewhere in the ocean or has been released by another unwitting victim.

(note: this is only one variation of the story - their are many variations, with varying lengths of faithfulness to the original, if anyone knows the original tale please add it to this profile as this version likely misses some of the story's plot.)