Ali Baba and the 40 thieves

The story came from in Baghdad during the Abbasid era. Ali Baba and his elder brother Cassim were the sons of a merchant. After the death of their father, the greedy Cassim married a wealthy woman and became well-to-do, building on their father's business - but Ali Baba married a poor woman and settled into the trade of a woodcutter.

One day Ali Baba was at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he overheard that 40 thieves had beer visiting their treasure store. The treasure was in a cave, the mouth of which was sealed by magic. It opened on the words "Open, Simsim", and sealed itself on the words "Close, Simsim". When the thieves had gone, Ali Baba entered the cave himself, and took some of the treasure home. Ali Baba borrowed his sister-in-law's scales to weigh this new wealth of gold coins. Unknown to Ali, she put a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali was using them for, as she was curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she found a gold coin sticking to the scales and told her husband about Ali Baba's rich and greedy brother, Cassim. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba was forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim went to the cave and entered with the magic words, but in his greed and excitement over the treasures forgot the magic words to get back out again. The thieves found him there, and killed him. When his brother did not come back, Ali Baba went to the cave to look for him, and found the body, quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the entrance of the cave to discourage any similar attempts in the future.

Ali Baba brought the body home, where he entrusted Morgiana, a clever slave-girl in Cassim's household, with the task of making others believe that Cassim had died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchased medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Cassim was gravely ill. Then, she found an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she paid, blindfolded, and led to Cassim's house.

There, overnight, the tailor stitched the pieces of Cassims' body back together, so that no one would be suspicious. Ali and his family gave Cassim a proper burial without anyone asking awkward questions.

The thieves, finding the body gone, realised that yet another person must have known their secret, and set out to track him down.

One of the thieves went down to the town and came across Baba Mustafa, who said that he had just sewn a dead man's body back together. Realising that the dead man must have been the thieves' victim, the thief asked Baba Mustafa to lead the way to the house where the deed was performed.

The tailor was blindfolded again, and in this state he retraced his steps and found the house.

The thief marked the door with a symbol. The plan was for the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house.

However, the thief had been seen by Morgiana and she, loyal to her master, foiled his plan by marking all the houses in the neighborhood with a similar marking.

When the 40 thieves returned that night, they could not identify the correct house and the head thief killed the lesser thief.

The next day, another thief revisited Baba Mustafa and tried again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's front door.

Again Morgiana foiled the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps. The second thief was killed for his stupidity as well. At last, the head thief looked for himself. This time, he memorised every detail he could of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.

The chief of the thieves pretended to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven hiding the other remaining thieves.

When Ali Baba was asleep, the thieves planed to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovered and foiled the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader came to rouse his men, he discovered that they were dead, and escaped.

To exact revenge, after some time the thief established himself as a merchant, befriended Ali Baba's son (who is now in charge of the late Cassim's business), and was invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house.

The thief was recognised by Morgiana, who performed a dance with a dagger for the diners and plunged it into the heart of the thief when he was off his guard.

Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he found out the thief who tried to kill him, he gave Morgiana her freedom and married her to his son. Ali Baba was then left as the only one knowing the secret of the treasure in the cave and how to access it.

Thus, the story ends happily for everyone except the 40 thieves and Cassim.

-Internet