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Once upon
a time...
In a town in Persia there dwelt two brothers, one named
Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Cassim was married to a rich wife and
lived in plenty, while Ali Baba had to maintain his wife and
children by cutting wood in a neighbouring forest and selling it in
the town. One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, he saw a troop
of men on horseback, coming toward him in a cloud of dust. He was
afraid they were robbers, and climbed into a tree for safety. When
they came up to him and dismounted, he counted forty of them. They
unbridled their horses and tied them to trees. The finest man among
them, whom Ali Baba took to be their captain, went a little way
among some bushes, and said: "Open, Sesame!" so plainly that Ali
Baba heard him. A door opened in the rocks, and having made the
troop go in, he followed them, and the door shut again of itself.
They stayed some time inside, and Ali Baba, fearing they might come
out and catch him, was forced to sit patiently in the tree. At last
the door opened again, and the Forty Thieves came out. As the
Captain went in last he came out first, and made them all pass by
him; he then closed the door, saying: "Shut, Sesame!" Every man
bridled his horse and mounted, the Captain put himself at their
head, and they returned as they came.
Then Ali Baba climbed down and went to the door concealed among the
bushes, and said: "Open, Sesame!" and it flew open. Ali Baba, who
expected a dull, dismal place, was greatly surprised to find it
large and well lighted, hollowed by the hand of man in the form of a
vault, which received the light from an opening in the ceiling. He
saw rich bales of merchandise--silk, stuff-brocades, all piled
together, and gold and silver in heaps, and money in leather purses.
He went in and the door shut behind him. He did not look at the
silver, but brought out as many bags of gold as he thought his
asses, which were browsing outside, could carry, loaded them with
the bags, and hid it all with fagots. Using the words: "Shut,
Sesame!" he closed the door and went home.
Then he drove his asses into the yard, shut the gates, carried the
money-bags to his wife, and emptied them out before her. He bade her
keep the secret, and he would go and bury the gold. "Let me first
measure it," said his wife. "I will go borrow a measure of someone,
while you dig the hole." So she ran to the wife of Cassim and
borrowed a measure. Knowing Ali Baba's poverty, the sister was
curious to find out what sort of grain his wife wished to measure,
and artfully put some suet at the bottom of the measure. Ali Baba's
wife went home and set the measure on the heap of gold, and filled
it and emptied it often, to her great content. She then carried it
back to her sister, without noticing that a piece of gold was
sticking to it, which Cassim's wife perceived directly her back was
turned. She grew very curious, and said to Cassim when he came home:
"Cassim, your brother is richer than you. He does not count his
money, he measures it." He begged her to explain this riddle, which
she did by showing him the piece of money and telling him where she
found it. Then Cassim grew so envious that he could not sleep, and
went to his brother in the morning before sunrise. "Ali Baba," he
said, showing him the gold piece, "you pretend to be poor and yet
you measure gold." By this Ali Baba perceived that through his
wife's folly Cassim and his wife knew their secret, so he confessed
all and offered Cassim a share. "That I expect," said Cassim; "but I
must know where to find the treasure, otherwise I will discover all,
and you will lose all." Ali Baba, more out of kindness than fear,
told him of the cave, and the very words to use. Cassim left Ali
Baba, meaning to be beforehand with him and get the treasure for
himself. He rose early next morning, and set out with ten mules
loaded with great 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 now hastened to gather together as much of it as possible;
but when he was ready to go he could not remember what to say for
thinking of his great riches. Instead of "Sesame," he said: "Open,
Barley!" and the door remained fast. He named several different
sorts of grain, all but the right one, and the door still stuck
fast. He was so frightened at the danger he was in that he had as
much forgotten the word as if he had never heard it.
About noon the robbers returned to their cave, and saw Cassim's
mules roving about with great chests on their backs. This gave them
the alarm; they drew their sabres, and went to the door, which
opened on their Captain's saying: "Open, Sesame!" Cassim, who had
heard the trampling of their horses' feet, resolved to sell his life
dearly, so when the door opened he leaped out and threw the Captain
down. In vain, however, for the robbers with their sabres soon
killed him. On entering the cave they saw all the bags laid ready,
and could not imagine how anyone had got in without knowing their
secret. They cut Cassim's body into four quarters, and nailed them
up inside the cave, in order to frighten anyone who should venture
in, and went away in search of more treasure.
As night drew on Cassim's wife grew very uneasy, and ran to her
brother-in-law, and told him where her husband had gone. Ali Baba
did his best to comfort her, and set out to the forest in search of
Cassim. The first thing he saw on entering the cave was his dead
brother. Full of horror, he put the body on one of his asses, and
bags of gold on the other two, and, covering all with some fagots,
returned home. He drove the two asses laden 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 to be both brave and cunning.
Unloading the ass, he said to her: "This is the body of your master,
who has been murdered, but whom we must bury as though he had died
in his bed. I will speak with you again, but now tell your mistress
I am come." The wife of Cassim, on learning the fate of her husband,
broke out into cries and tears, but Ali Baba offered to take her to
live with him and his wife if she would promise to keep his counsel
and leave everything to Morgiana; whereupon she agreed, and dried
her eyes.
Morgiana, meanwhile, sought an apothecary and asked him for some
lozenges. "My poor master," she said, "can neither eat nor speak,
and no one knows what his distemper is." She carried home the
lozenges and returned next day weeping, and asked for an essence
only given to those just about to die. Thus, in the evening, no one
was surprised to hear the wretched shrieks and cries of Cassim's
wife and Morgiana, telling everyone that Cassim was dead. The day
after Morgiana went to an old cobbler near the gates of the town who
opened his stall early, put a piece of gold in his hand, and bade
him follow her with his needle and thread. Having bound his eyes
with a handkerchief, she took him to the room where the body lay,
pulled off the bandage, and bade him sew the quarters together,
after which she covered his eyes again and led him home. Then they
buried Cassim, and Morgiana his slave followed him to the grave,
weeping and tearing her hair, while Cassim's wife stayed at home
uttering lamentable cries. Next day she went to live with Ali Baba,
who gave Cassim's shop to his eldest son.
The Forty Thieves, on their return to the cave, were much astonished
to find Cassim's body gone and some of their money-bags. "We are
certainly discovered," said the Captain, "and shall be undone if we
cannot find out who it is that knows our secret. Two men must have
known it; we have killed one, we must now find the other. To this
end one of you who is bold and artful must go into the city dressed
as a traveller, and discover whom we have killed, and whether men
talk of the strange manner of his death. If the messenger fails he
must lose his life, lest we be betrayed." One of the thieves started
up and offered to do this, and after the rest had highly commended
him for his bravery he disguised himself, and happened to enter the
town at daybreak, just by Baba Mustapha's stall. The thief bade him
good-day, saying: "Honest man, how can you possibly see to stitch at
your age?" "Old as I am," replied the cobbler, "I have very good
eyes, and will you believe me when I tell you that I sewed a dead
body together in a place where I had less light than I have now."
The robber was overjoyed at his good fortune, and, giving him a
piece of gold, desired to be shown the house where he stitched up
the dead body. At first Mustapha refused, saying that he had been
blindfolded; but when the robber gave him another piece of gold he
began to think he might remember the turnings if blindfolded as
before. This means succeeded; the robber partly led him, and was
partly guided by him, right in front of Cassim's house, the door of
which the robber marked with a piece of chalk. Then, well pleased,
he bade farewell to Baba Mustapha and returned to the forest. By and
by Morgiana, going out, saw the mark the robber had made, quickly
guessed that some mischief was brewing, and fetching a piece of
chalk marked two or three doors on each side, without saying
anything to her master or mistress.
The thief, meantime, told his comrades of his discovery. The Captain
thanked him, and bade him show him the house he had marked. But when
they came to it they saw that five or six of the houses were chalked
in the same manner. The guide was so confounded that he knew not
what answer to make, and when they returned he was at once beheaded
for having failed. Another robber was dispatched, and, having won
over Baba Mustapha, marked the house in red chalk; but Morgiana
being again too clever for them, the second messenger was put to
death also. The Captain now resolved to go himself, but, wiser than
the others, he did not mark the house, but looked at it so closely
that he could not fail to remember it. He returned, and ordered his
men to go into the neighbouring 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, rubbing
the outside of the jars with oil from the full vessel. Then the
nineteen mules were loaded with thirty-seven robbers in jars, and
the jar of oil, and reached the town by dusk. The Captain stopped
his mules in front of Ali Baba's house, and said to Ali Baba, who
was sitting outside for coolness: "I have brought some oil from a
distance to sell at to-morrow's market, but it is now so late that I
know not where to pass the night, unless you will do me the favor to
take me in." Though Ali Baba had seen the Captain of the robbers in
the forest, he did not recognize him in the disguise of an oil
merchant. He bade him welcome, opened his gates for the mules to
enter, and went to Morgiana to bid her prepare a bed and supper for
his guest. He brought the stranger into his hall, and after they had
supped went again to speak to Morgiana in the kitchen, while the
Captain went into the yard under pretence of seeing after his mules,
but really to tell his men what to do. Beginning at the first jar
and ending at the last, he said to each man: "As soon as I throw
some stones from the window of the chamber where I lie, cut the jars
open with your knives and come out, and I will be with you in a
trice." He returned to the house, and Morgiana led him to his
chamber. She then told Abdallah, her fellow-slave, to set on the pot
to make some broth for her master, who had gone to bed. Meanwhile
her lamp went out, and she had no more oil in the house. "Do not be
uneasy," said Abdallah; "go into the yard and take some out of one
of those jars." Morgiana thanked him for his advice, took the oil
pot, and went into the yard. When she came to the first jar the
robber inside said softly: "Is it time?"
Any other slave but Morgiana, on finding a man in the jar instead of
the oil she wanted, would have screamed and made a noise; but she,
knowing the danger her master was in, bethought herself of a plan,
and answered quietly: "Not yet, but presently." She went to all the
jars, giving the same answer, till she came to the jar of oil. She
now saw that her master, thinking to entertain an oil merchant, had
let thirty-eight robbers into his house. She filled her oil pot,
went back to the kitchen, and, having lit her lamp, went again to
the oil jar and filled a large kettle full of oil. When it boiled
she went and poured enough oil into every jar to stifle 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.
In a quarter of an hour the Captain of the robbers awoke, got up,
and opened the window. As all seemed quiet, he threw down some
little pebbles which hit the jars. He listened, and as none of his
men seemed to stir he grew uneasy, and went down into the yard. On
going to the first jar and saying, "Are you asleep?" he smelt the
hot boiled oil, and knew at once that his plot to murder Ali Baba
and his household had been discovered. He found all the gang was
dead, and, missing the oil out of the last jar, became aware of the
manner of their death. He then forced the lock of a door leading
into a garden, and climbing over several walls made his escape.
Morgiana heard and saw all this, and, rejoicing at her success, went
to bed and fell asleep.
At daybreak Ali Baba arose, and, seeing the oil jars still there,
asked why the merchant had not gone with his mules. Morgiana bade
him look in the first jar and see if there was any oil. Seeing a
man, he started back in terror. "Have no fear," said Morgiana; "the
man cannot harm you: he is dead." Ali Baba, when he had recovered
somewhat from his astonishment, asked what had become of the
merchant. "Merchant!" said she, "he is no more a merchant than I
am!" and she told him the whole story, assuring him that it was a
plot of the robbers of the forest, of whom only three were left, and
that the white and red chalk marks had something to do with it. Ali
Baba at once gave Morgiana her freedom, saying that he owed her his
life. They then 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 frightful to
him without his lost companions, and firmly resolved to avenge them
by killing Ali Baba. He dressed himself carefully, and went into the
town, where he took lodgings in an inn. In the course of a great
many journeys to the forest he carried away many rich stuffs and
much fine linen, and set up a shop opposite that of Ali Baba's son.
He called himself Cogia Hassan, and as he was both civil and well
dressed he soon made friends with Ali Baba's son, and through him
with Ali Baba, whom he was continually asking to sup with him. Ali
Baba, wishing to return his kindness, invited him into his house and
received him smiling, thanking him for his kindness to his son. When
the merchant was about to take his leave Ali Baba stopped him,
saying: "Where are you going, sir, in such haste? Will you not stay
and sup with me?" The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason;
and, on Ali Baba's asking him what that was, he replied: "It is,
sir, that I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them." "If
that is all," said Ali Baba, "let me tell you that there shall be no
salt in either the meat or the bread that we eat to-night." He went
to give this order to Morgiana, who was much surprised. "Who is this
man," she said, "who eats no salt with his meat?" "He is an honest
man, Morgiana," returned her master; "therefore do as I bid you."
But she could not withstand a desire to see this strange man, so she
helped Abdallah to carry up the dishes, and saw in a moment that
Cogia Hassan was the robber Captain, and carried a dagger under his
garment. "I am not surprised," she said to herself, "that this
wicked man, who intends to kill my master, will eat no salt with
him; but I will hinder his plans."
She sent up the supper by Abdallah, while she made ready for one of
the boldest acts that could be thought on. When the dessert had been
served, Cogia Hassan was left alone with Ali Baba and his son, whom
he thought to make drunk and then to murder them. Morgiana,
meanwhile, put on a head-dress like a dancing-girl's, and clasped a
girdle round her waist, from which hung a dagger with a silver hilt,
and said to Abdallah: "Take your tabor, and let us go and divert our
master and his guest." Abdallah took his tabor and played before
Morgiana until they came to the door, where Abdallah stopped playing
and Morgiana made a low courtesy. "Come in, Morgiana," said Ali
Baba, "and let Cogia Hassan see what you can do"; and, turning to
Cogia Hassan, he said: "She's my slave and my housekeeper." Cogia
Hassan was by no means pleased, for he feared that his chance of
killing Ali Baba was gone for the present; but he pretended great
eagerness to see Morgiana, and Abdallah began to play and Morgiana
to dance. After she had performed several dances she drew her dagger
and made passes with it, sometimes pointing it at her own breast,
sometimes at her master's, as if it were part of the dance.
Suddenly, out of breath, she snatched the tabor from Abdallah with
her left hand, and, holding the dagger in her right hand, held out
the tabor to her master. Ali Baba and his son put a piece of gold
into it, and Cogia Hassan, seeing that she was coming to him, pulled
out his purse to make 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 preserve you, master, not to ruin you," answered
Morgiana. "See here," opening the false merchant's garment and
showing the dagger; "see what an enemy you have entertained!
Remember, he would eat no salt with you, and what more would you
have? Look at him! he is both the false oil merchant and the Captain
of the Forty Thieves."
Ali Baba was so grateful to Morgiana for thus saving his life that
he offered her to his son in marriage, who readily consented, and a
few days after the wedding was celebrated with greatest splendour.
At the end of a year Ali Baba, hearing nothing of the two remaining
robbers, judged they were dead, and set out to the cave. The door
opened on his saying: "Open Sesame!" He went in, and saw that nobody
had been there since the Captain left it. He brought away as much
gold as he could carry, and returned to town. He told his son the
secret of the cave, which his son handed down in his turn, so the
children and grandchildren of Ali Baba were rich to the end of their
lives.
Ali Baba and the Forty
Thieves
from the Blue Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
