Ali Baba was a wood-cutter and every day he would go to the woods to work to earn a few coins.
But, one day he saw a group of men loaded with large packages, whose leader would stand in front of a rock and say, “Open Sesame!” and the great rock would open, letting them in.
When the men left, Ali Baba tried his luck and said to the rock, “Open Sesame!” The rock split in two and he went into the cave.
“Oh! How marvellous!” cried Ali Baba. The cave was full of fantastic treasures.
“Surely it’s the hide-out of some thieves. I’ll take home some handfuls of gold,” he thought.
His wife, when she saw the coins, wanted to weigh them, so she went to borrow a scale from her neighbour, Kasim.
Kasim got suspicious and thought, “Why would someone borrow a scale from him in the dead of night?” His restlessness made him investigate the matter, and that’s when Kasim saw so much gold and heard the story. He thought, “I will go to the cave without telling Ali Baba, and I will take the treasure.” …and so he did.
He arrived at the rock with several mules and said, “Open Sesame!” The rock instantly made way for Kasim, letting him in so that he could load all the treasure. However, with all the excitement, he forgot the magic words that would allow him to exit the cave, and the rock didn’t open, leaving him stuck inside.
The forty thieves found him there.
“What are you doing here?” the leader asked him and Kasim had no choice but to repeat what Ali Baba had told him.
“We will lock you in the cave so that you can’t take our treasure or tell anyone else about it, “said the leader.
Kasim’s wife was very restless because he was taking so long.
“Don’t worry,” said Ali Baba. “He must be occupied.”
Meanwhile, one of the thieves discovered where Ali Baba, the wood-cutter, lived.
The thieves made a plan. “We will buy forty skins and we will fill one with oil. Then all of you will hide in the other skins,” said the leader.
“We will give Ali Baba what he deserves, “they said.
At sunset, forty mules with forty skins arrived at Ali Baba’s house led by the leader of the thieves.
“Could you give me a bed for the night?” he asked, and the wood-cutter answered that he could. He was not at all suspicious.
They left the mules and the skins on the patio.
The hidden thieves awaited midnight so they could kill Ali Baba and all his family.
But Morgiana, the servant of Ali Baba, didn’t have any oil left.
“I shall take a little oil from the skins of the merchant,” she thought. So she went out to the patio and when she was about to open a skin, she heard a voice which came out of one of them, “It’s nearly time to attack! Get ready!”.
She went into the house and told Ali Baba what she had heard. The wood-cutter realized that they were in danger.
“Ask the neighbours for some oil and heat it, “he said….and the kind Morgiana did so.
Then they poured some boiling oil into each of the skins. The hidden thieves ran away, shouting from the pain.
Their leader also ran away as his plan had been discovered.
“Because of your loyalty to me, I’Il let you marry my son,” said Ali Baba to Morgiana,”and so you will be free.”
Later they took some horses to the cave which opened with the magic words “Open Sesame,” and they loaded all the thieves’ treasure.
Since that day, Ali Baba, his wife, his son and the loyal Morgiana, lived rich and happy, spending their fortune wisely and helping the poor. Nothing was ever again heard of the forty thieves.
