70
Ali BaBa and the Forty Thieves
Two brothers lived in an old Eastern city: Qasim, a rich but selfish* and miser* man, and Ali Baba, a poor
and honest man.
Ali Baba lived happily with his wife, but he had to go to the forest to cut wood and put it on his horse
back and go to sell it in the city. One day when Ali Baba was cutting wood in the forest, he saw a cloud of
dust and heard sound of horses coming near the place where he was working. He hid among the
branches of a tree amdist the leaves; he saw forty thieves getting off their horses and carrying very
heavy bags.
He saw the chief of the thieves drawing near a rock, not far away from the tree where Ali Baba was
hiding, and crying: “open Sesame”.
72
Then the rock turned round itself, and an entrance of a deep rock was seen; the forty thieves entered
with their bags in view of the surprised* Ali Baba.
After a moment*, all the thieves went out of the cave that closed when their chief said: “Close Sesame”.
When the thieves were far away, Ali Baba left the tree and walked towards the rock and said: “Open
Sesame”. Then the cave opened and Ali Baba entered it saying to himself: “What wonderful* things it
has within!” the cave was full of treasures which the thieves piled* in.
Ali Baba loaded gold pieces on his donkey and covered them with some wood. When Ali
74
Baba reached* home, he told his wife what happened to him, and she wanted to know how much gold
was there in the cave: so she went to Qasim’s wife to borrow* a measure*. Qasim’s wife put some fat at
the bottom* of the measure to know her sister-in-law wanted to measure.
When Qasim’s wife got the measure back, she saw a piece of gold at its bottom. She told her husband
who* hastened to his brother’s house to ask him about that. Ali Baba was a good man and told his
brother about the place of the cave and what to say to open its door. Qasim mounted his hourse and
went to the cave leading some donkeys.
76
When Qasim reached the cave, he uttered* the magic words and soon the cave was open; he entered
and was greatly astonished* to see such great wealth! When he wanted to go out of the cave, after
loading* his donkeys, he forgot the magic words. After some moments, the thieves arrived and found
Qasim in the cave and killed him.
Night fell and Qasim’s wife was waiting for her husband anxiously*. Out of fear for her husband, she
visited Ali Baba who went to look for his brother. When he reached the cave, he found his brother dead;
he puts his corpse* on the back of his donkey and went to his brother’s house. When Qasim’s wife saw
the
78
Corpse of her husband, she bagan to weep.
Ali Baba said: “The thieves will kill us if they find the corpse of Qasim here”. Ali Baba told all the people
that his brother Qasim died a natural* death. His relatives received the people who consoled* them and
then they buried Qasim.
After that time, the thieves knew that the corpse of Qasim had disappeared and thought that an
unknown person had discovered their secret*. The chief of the thieves sent one of his men for
searching*; the thief knew that Ali Baba had stolen the treasure; so he put a mark on the house of Ali
Baba and returned to the cave.
80
When Ali Baba’s wife saw the mark on the door of her house, she put a similar* mark on all house doors.
When the thieves came to see the marked door of Ali Baba’s house, they were disappointed* because
they could not locate* Ali Baba’s house.
The chief of the thieves got forty big jars, put one of his thirty-nine men in each jar and filled the fortieth
jar with oil. He disguised* and asked Ali Baba to be his guest* at night. Ali Baba welcomed his guest and
his wife began to prepare soup. When she came to take some oil from the jar, she heard noise inside the
jars and then understood the danger there. She soon boiled the oil and poured it on the thieves, and
82
Made fire under the jars. She became certain that all the thieves were killed.
When the chief of the thieves called his men at night to carry out his evil plot* and kill Ali Baba, he got
no reply*. He uncovered the jars and became sure that all his men had been killed.
He said to himself: “I must escape soon. They discovered me. It is my end!”
When the chief of the thieves left Ali Baba’s house, the wife told her husband all that happened. He
thanked his wife very much and soon buried* the thirty nine dead thieves.