The Forty Thieves

In a town in Persia there once lived two brothers. One was named Cassim, and the other was Ali Baba. Cassim was married to a rich woman and had plenty of everything, but Ali Baba had to work hard to support his wife and children. He chopped wood in a forest near the town and sold it in the market.

One day, while Ali Baba was in the forest, he saw a group of men on horseback riding toward him in a cloud of dust. He was afraid they might be robbers, so he climbed up a tree to hide.

When the riders reached the tree, they dismounted, and Ali Baba counted forty of them. They untied their horses and tied them to the trees. The tallest man among them, whom Ali Baba thought was their leader, walked a little way into some bushes and said, "Open, Sesame!" so clearly that Ali Baba heard him.

A door opened in the rock. The men went inside, and the leader followed, and the door closed by itself. They stayed inside for a while, and Ali Baba had to sit still in the tree, afraid they might come out and catch him.

At last the door opened again, and the forty thieves came out. The leader came out first, then made all the others pass by him. He closed the door by saying, "Shut, Sesame!" Then each man bridled his horse and mounted.

The leader got on his horse, and they rode away the way they had come.

Then Ali Baba climbed down from the tree. He went to the door hidden among the bushes and said, "Open, Sesame!" The door flew open. Ali Baba had expected a dark, gloomy cave, but he was very surprised to find it large and well lit.

It was carved out of the rock by humans, like a vault, and light came through an opening in the ceiling. He saw rich bales of silk and brocade piled together, piles of gold and silver, and money in leather purses. He went inside, and the door shut behind him.

He did not look at the silver but took out as many bags of gold as he thought his donkeys, which were grazing outside, could carry. He loaded the bags onto the donkeys and covered them with sticks. Then he said, "Shut, Sesame!" and the door closed. He went home.

He drove the donkeys into the yard, closed the gates, carried the bags of money to his wife, and emptied them in front of her. He told her to keep it a secret, and he would go and bury the gold. "Let me first measure it," she said.

"I will go borrow a measuring cup from someone while you dig the hole." So she ran to Cassim's wife and borrowed a cup. Knowing how poor Ali Baba was, Cassim's wife was curious to find out what kind of grain his wife wanted to measure, so she secretly put some fat at the bottom of the cup.

Ali Baba's wife went home, put the cup on the pile of gold, and filled and emptied it many times. She was very happy. Then she took the cup back to her sister-in-law, not noticing that a gold coin had stuck to the bottom.

Cassim's wife saw it as soon as she turned around. She became very curious and said to Cassim when he came home, "Cassim, your brother is richer than you. He doesn't count his money; he measures it." He asked her to explain, and she showed him the gold coin and told him where she found it.

Cassim became so jealous that he could not sleep. He went to his brother early the next morning before sunrise. "Ali Baba," he said, showing him the gold coin, "you pretend to be poor, but you measure gold." Then Ali Baba realized that because of his wife's foolishness, Cassim and his wife knew their secret.

He confessed everything and offered Cassim a share. "I expect that," said Cassim, "but I must know where to find the treasure. Otherwise, I will tell everyone, and you will lose it all." Ali Baba, more out of kindness than fear, told him about the cave and the exact words to use.

Cassim left Ali Baba, meaning to get there first and take the treasure for himself.

He rose early the next morning and set out with ten mules loaded with large chests. He soon found the place and the door in the rock. He said, "Open, Sesame!" and the door opened and shut behind him.

He could have feasted his eyes all day on the treasures, but he hurried to gather as much as possible. When he was ready to leave, he could not remember what to say because he was so excited about his riches.

Instead of "Sesame," he said, "Open, Barley!" and the door stayed shut. He tried several other grains, but none were right, and the door remained stuck. He was so frightened by the danger that he forgot the word completely.

Around noon, the robbers returned to their cave. They saw Cassim's mules wandering around with large chests on their backs, and they knew something was wrong. They drew their swords and went to the door. The captain said, "Open, Sesame!" and the door opened.

Cassim, who had heard the horses' hooves, was determined to fight for his life. When the door opened, he leaped out and knocked the captain down. But he could not defeat them all, and the robbers soon killed him with their swords.

When they entered the cave, they saw the bags laid out and could not understand how anyone had gotten in without knowing their secret. They cut Cassim's body into four pieces and hung them up inside the cave to frighten anyone else who might come in.

Then they rode off to find more treasure.

As night fell, Cassim's wife became very worried and ran to her brother-in-law, telling him where her husband had gone. Ali Baba tried to comfort her and set out for the forest to look for Cassim. The first thing he saw when he entered the cave was his dead brother.

Horrified, he put the body on one of his donkeys and bags of gold on the other two. He covered everything with sticks and returned home. He drove the two donkeys loaded with gold into his own yard and led the other to Cassim's house.

The door was opened by the slave Morgiana, whom he knew was both brave and clever. He unloaded the donkey and said to her, "This is the body of your master, who has been murdered. We must bury him as if he died in his bed.

I will speak with you again, but now tell your mistress I am here." Cassim's wife, upon learning her husband's fate, burst into cries and tears, but Ali Baba offered to let her come live with him and his wife if she would promise to keep his secret and leave everything to Morgiana.

She agreed and dried her eyes.

Meanwhile, Morgiana went to a druggist and asked for some lozenges. "My poor master," she said, "can neither eat nor speak, and no one knows what is wrong with him." She took the lozenges home and returned the next day weeping, asking for a medicine given only to people near death.

That evening, no one was surprised to hear the cries of Cassim's wife and Morgiana, who told everyone that Cassim was dead. The next day, Morgiana went to an old cobbler near the town gates who opened his stall early.

She put a gold coin in his hand and told him to follow her with his needle and thread. She blindfolded him with a handkerchief and led him to the room where the body lay. She took off the blindfold and told him to sew the pieces together.

Then she blindfolded him again and led him home. Then they buried Cassim, and Morgiana followed the coffin, weeping and tearing her hair, while Cassim's wife stayed at home wailing loudly. The next day, she went to live with Ali Baba, who gave Cassim's shop to his oldest son.

The forty thieves, when they returned to the cave, were very surprised to find Cassim's body gone and some of their money bags missing. "We are discovered," said the captain, "and we will be ruined if we cannot find out who knows our secret. Two men must know it.

We have killed one, and we must find the other. One of you who is bold and clever must go into the city dressed as a traveler and find out whom we killed and whether anyone talks about the strange way he died.

If the messenger fails, he must lose his life, in case he betrays us." One of the thieves stepped forward and offered to do this. After the others praised his bravery, he disguised himself and happened to enter the town at dawn, right by Baba Mustapha's stall.

The thief greeted him, saying, "Good man, how can you see to stitch at your age?" "Old as I am," replied the cobbler, "I have very good eyes. Would you believe me if I told you that I sewed a dead body together in a place with even less light than I have now?" The robber was overjoyed at his good luck and gave him a gold coin, asking to be shown the house where he had stitched the body.

At first, Mustapha refused, saying he had been blindfolded. But when the robber gave him another gold coin, he began to think he might remember the turns if blindfolded again. This plan worked. The robber partly led him and was partly guided by him, and they ended up right in front of Cassim's house.

The robber marked the door with a piece of chalk. Then, very pleased, he said goodbye to Baba Mustapha and returned to the forest. But soon after, Morgiana went out and saw the mark the robber had made.

She quickly guessed that some trouble was brewing, fetched a piece of chalk, and marked two or three doors on each side without saying anything to her master or mistress.

The thief, meanwhile, told his comrades about his discovery. The captain thanked him and told him to show him the house he had marked. But when they arrived, they saw that five or six houses were marked in the same way.

The guide was so confused that he did not know what to say, and when they returned, he was immediately beheaded for failing. Another robber was sent. He also won over Baba Mustapha and marked the house with red chalk.

But Morgiana was too clever again, and the second messenger was also put to death. Now the captain decided to go himself. But he was wiser than the others. He did not mark the house; instead, he looked at it so carefully that he could not forget it.

He returned and ordered his men to go to nearby villages and buy nineteen mules and thirty-eight leather jars, all empty except one, which was full of oil. The captain put one of his men, fully armed, into each jar, rubbing the outside of the jars with oil from the full container.

Then the nineteen mules were loaded with thirty-seven robbers in jars and the jar of oil, and they reached the town at dusk. The captain stopped the mules in front of Ali Baba's house and said to Ali Baba, who was sitting outside to enjoy the cool evening, "I have brought some oil from far away to sell at tomorrow's market, but it is so late now that I do not know where to spend the night unless you will do me the favor of taking me in." Although Ali Baba had seen the captain of the robbers in the forest, he did not recognize him in his disguise as an oil merchant.

He welcomed him, opened the gates for the mules to enter, and went to tell Morgiana to prepare a bed and supper for the guest. He brought the stranger into his hall, and after they had eaten, he went again to speak with Morgiana in the kitchen, while the captain went into the yard under the pretense of checking on his mules, but really to tell his men what to do.

Starting with the first jar and ending with the last, he said to each man, "As soon as I throw some pebbles from the window of the room where I am sleeping, cut the jars open with your knives and come out.

I will join you in a moment." He then returned to the house, and Morgiana led him to his room. She told Abdallah, her fellow slave, to put a pot on to make some broth for her master, who had gone to bed.

Meanwhile, her lamp went out, and there was no more oil in the house. "Do not worry," said Abdallah. "Go into the yard and take some oil from one of those jars." Morgiana thanked him, took the oil pot, and went into the yard.

When she came to the first jar, the robber inside whispered, "Is it time?" Any other slave, upon finding a man in a jar instead of the oil she wanted, would have screamed and made noise.

But Morgiana, knowing how much danger her master was in, thought of a plan and answered calmly, "Not yet, but soon." She went to all the jars, giving the same answer, until she came to the jar of oil.

She now realized that her master, thinking he was entertaining an oil merchant, had let thirty-eight robbers into his house. She filled her oil pot, went back to the kitchen, lit her lamp, and went again to the oil jar. She filled a large kettle with oil and boiled it.

Then she went and poured enough boiling oil into each jar to suffocate and kill the robber inside. When this brave deed was done, she went back to the kitchen, put out the fire and the lamp, and waited to see what would happen.

A quarter of an hour later, the captain of the robbers woke up, got out of bed, and opened the window. Everything seemed quiet, so he threw down some little pebbles that hit the jars. He listened, but none of his men stirred. He became uneasy and went down into the yard.

He went to the first jar and said, "Are you asleep?" He smelled the hot, boiled oil and knew at once that his plan to murder Ali Baba and his family had been discovered. He found all his men dead, and when he saw that the last jar had lost its oil, he understood how they had died.

He then forced the lock of a door leading into a garden, climbed over several walls, and escaped. Morgiana heard and saw everything. Rejoicing at her success, she went to bed and fell asleep.

At daybreak, Ali Baba got up and saw the oil jars still there. He asked why the merchant had not left with his mules. Morgiana told him to look into the first jar and see if there was any oil. When he saw a man, he jumped back in terror.

"Do not be afraid," said Morgiana. "The man cannot harm you. He is dead." Ali Baba, when he recovered from his shock, asked what had become of the merchant. "Merchant!" she said. "He is no more a merchant than I am!" And she told him the whole story, assuring him that it was a plot by the robbers of the forest, of whom only three were now left, and that the white and red chalk marks had something to do with it.

Ali Baba at once set Morgiana free, saying that he owed her his life. Then they buried the bodies in Ali Baba's garden, while the mules were sold in the market by his slaves.

The captain returned to his lonely cave, which seemed frightening to him without his lost companions. He firmly resolved to avenge them by killing Ali Baba. He dressed carefully and went into the town, where he rented a room at an inn.

Over many trips to the forest, he brought back rich fabrics and fine linen and set up a shop across from the shop of Ali Baba's son. He called himself Cogia Hassan. He was polite and well dressed, and soon became friends with Ali Baba's son.

Through him, he met Ali Baba, whom he often invited to supper. Ali Baba, wanting to return his kindness, invited him into his house and received him with a smile, thanking him for his kindness to his son.

When the merchant was about to leave, Ali Baba stopped him and said, "Where are you going, sir, in such a hurry? Will you not stay and have supper with me?" The merchant refused, saying he had a reason.

When Ali Baba asked what it was, he replied, "Sir, I cannot eat any food that has salt in it." "If that is all," said Ali Baba, "let me tell you that there will be no salt in the meat or the bread we eat tonight." He went to give this order to Morgiana, who was very surprised.

"Who is this man," she said, "who does not eat salt with his meat?" "He is an honest man, Morgiana," replied her master. "Just do as I tell you." But she could not resist the desire to see this strange man.

She helped Abdallah bring up the dishes and saw at once that Cogia Hassan was the robber captain and that he carried a dagger under his clothes. "I am not surprised," she said to herself, "that this wicked man, who intends to kill my master, will not eat salt with him.

But I will stop his plan." She sent Abdallah up with the supper while she prepared for one of the bravest acts anyone could imagine. When the dessert was served, Cogia Hassan was left alone with Ali Baba and his son, whom he planned to make drunk and then murder.

Meanwhile, Morgiana put on a headdress like a dancer's, fastened a belt around her waist with a silver-hilted dagger hanging from it, and said to Abdallah, "Take your drum, and let us go and entertain our master and his guest." Abdallah took his drum and played while Morgiana danced until they reached the door.

There, Abdallah stopped playing, and Morgiana made a low bow. "Come in, Morgiana," said Ali Baba, "and let Cogia Hassan see what you can do." Turning to Cogia Hassan, he said, "She is my slave and my housekeeper." Cogia Hassan was not pleased at all, for he feared that his chance to kill Ali Baba was gone for now.

But he pretended to be very eager to see Morgiana. Abdallah began to play, and Morgiana danced. After she had performed several dances, she drew her dagger and made movements with it, sometimes pointing it at her own chest, sometimes at her master's, as if it were part of the dance.

Suddenly, out of breath, she snatched the drum from Abdallah with her left hand and, holding the dagger in her right hand, held out the drum to her master. Ali Baba and his son put a gold coin into it.

Then Cogia Hassan, seeing that she was coming to him, pulled out his purse to give her a present. But while he was putting his hand into it, Morgiana plunged the dagger into his heart.

"Unhappy girl!" cried Ali Baba and his son. "What have you done to ruin us?" "It was to save you, master, not to ruin you," answered Morgiana. "See here," she said, opening the false merchant's coat and showing the dagger. "See what an enemy you have entertained! Remember, he would not eat salt with you. What more proof do you need? Look at him! He is the false oil merchant and the captain of the forty thieves."

Ali Baba was so grateful to Morgiana for saving his life that he offered her to his son in marriage. His son gladly agreed, and a few days later, the wedding was celebrated with great splendor.

At the end of a year, Ali Baba had heard nothing of the two remaining robbers. He thought they were dead and decided to go to the cave. The door opened when he said, "Open, Sesame!" He went inside and saw that no one had been there since the captain left. He brought away as much gold as he could carry and returned to town. He told his son the secret of the cave, and his son passed it down in turn. So the children and grandchildren of Ali Baba were rich for the rest of their lives.