Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

In an ancient city lived two brothers, Cassim and Ali Baba.

Cassim owned a large shop, a spacious house, and a great deal of merchandise. He was very proud of his wealth and liked everyone to notice it.

Ali Baba lived more modestly. Every morning, he took ropes, an axe, and three donkeys and went into the forest to gather dry branches. He sold the firewood at the market and returned home to his family in the evening.

One day, while Ali Baba was gathering wood, the ground suddenly trembled with the pounding of hooves.

A cloud of dust rose in the distance.

“Riders,” he whispered.

There were many of them. Ali Baba quickly led his donkeys behind some bushes and hid himself among the thick leaves of a large tree.

Forty men rode up to a rocky hillside. Heavy bags hung from their horses. The riders silently dismounted, and their leader walked up to a solid wall of stone and called:

“Open, Sesame!”

Ali Baba nearly cried out in astonishment.

A doorway appeared in the rock.

One by one, the thieves went inside carrying their heavy bags. After some time, they came out again without them. The leader said:

“Close, Sesame!”

The doorway disappeared as though it had never existed.

When the riders were far away, Ali Baba waited a little longer, then cautiously approached the rock.

“Open, Sesame!” he said.

The stone moved apart.

Behind it was a great cave lit by openings high above. Inside lay carpets, fabrics, baskets of jewels, ancient chests, and sacks of coins.

Ali Baba understood that this was the thieves’ hiding place.

A chill ran through him.

“I must not stay long,” he told himself.

He took only a few small bags of coins, no more than he could carry away without attracting attention, hid them beneath the firewood on his donkeys, and left.

“Close, Sesame!”

When he returned home, Ali Baba told his wife everything.

“This money will last us a long time if we live wisely,” he said. “But no one must learn about the cave. It belongs to dangerous people.”

Yet secrets sometimes find their own way into the open.

Before long, Cassim noticed that his brother no longer had to count every tiny coin. He began asking questions. Ali Baba did not want to lie to his brother, and at last he told him about the cave.

Cassim’s eyes lit up.

“And you took only a few bags?” he exclaimed. “I’ll take ten mules and bring back as much as they can carry!”

“Don’t do it,” Ali Baba begged. “It is someone else’s hiding place, and those people are dangerous. Greed can cloud your judgment.”

But Cassim was no longer listening.

The next morning, he set out for the rock with an entire caravan.

“Open, Sesame!”

The doorway opened.

Cassim wandered among the treasures and could not stop himself.

“I’ll take this. And that. And this chest too. And that sack over there is mine as well!”

He became so carried away that when it was time to leave, the necessary word vanished from his mind.

“Open… Wheat? Barley? Millet?”

The doorway did not move.

At that moment, the thieves returned.

Cassim fell into their hands and never came home.

When Ali Baba understood what had happened, he grieved deeply. He helped his brother’s family and decided never to return to the cave except in the greatest need.

But the leader of the thieves quickly realized that someone else knew their secret.

“We must find that person,” he ordered.

An old craftsman in the city accidentally helped one of the thieves discover Ali Baba’s house. During the night, the leader came and made a small chalk mark on the door.

But Ali Baba’s household included Morgiana, a clever and observant young woman who helped him manage the home and its affairs.

In the morning, she noticed the mark.

“That was not here yesterday,” Morgiana said. “Someone marked our door deliberately.”

She took a piece of chalk and made the same mark on many neighboring houses.

When the thieves returned, they saw a whole street of doors marked in exactly the same way.

“Which one is it?” the leader demanded angrily.

No one knew.

They had to leave empty-handed.

Several days later, the leader found the house himself and prepared a new plan.

That evening, a merchant with a train of mules arrived at Ali Baba’s gate. Large jars were strapped to the animals.

“Good sir,” said the stranger, “I trade in oil. It is late, and the city gates will soon close. Please allow me to spend the night in your courtyard.”

Ali Baba was a hospitable man.

“Of course. Rest here. Your mules will have water and fodder too.”

But the visitor was the leader of the thieves.

And inside almost every large jar, instead of oil, a man was hiding.

During the night, Morgiana went into the courtyard to fetch oil for a lamp. As she passed one jar, she heard a quiet voice:

“Is it time?”

Morgiana understood everything at once, but answered just as quietly:

“Not yet.”

At the second jar, she heard the same question.

“Is it time?”

“Not yet.”

She went along the whole row.

Morgiana did not raise an alarm. She quietly woke Ali Baba and several trustworthy neighbors. Together, they secured the jar lids, locked the gates, and sent a boy to fetch the city guard.

By the time the thieves realized they had been discovered, it was too late. The guards surrounded the courtyard and took them into custody.

Only their leader managed to escape over the back wall.

“Morgiana, you saved everyone in this house,” Ali Baba said. “I will never forget it.”

Time passed.

A new wealthy merchant named Khoja Hassan appeared in the city. He opened a handsome shop near the business of Ali Baba’s son, was polite and generous, and soon became friendly with him.

One day, the son invited his new friend to dinner.

Morgiana brought in the dishes and recognized the guest at once.

It was the leader of the thieves, now without his traveling cloak and with his beard neatly trimmed.

She said nothing, but noticed a hidden dagger beneath his clothes.

After dinner, music began to play. Morgiana offered to perform a traditional festive dance with a scarf. She moved lightly around the room, drawing closer and closer to the guest.

At just the right moment, she sharply wrapped the scarf around his wrist. The hidden dagger fell to the floor.

“Guards!” she called.

Ali Baba and his son sprang to their feet.

The thief leader rushed for the door, but the people Morgiana had wisely summoned in advance were already waiting there.

He was arrested, and at last the danger was over.

Ali Baba gathered the family.

“Everyone should know who we owe our safety to,” he said. “Morgiana saved us twice, not through strength, but through intelligence and courage.”

From then on, she was treated not as a servant or helper, but as a beloved and equal member of the household.

In time, Morgiana and Ali Baba’s son, who had long respected one another, chose to marry.

And what of the cave?

Ali Baba returned to it one final time only after he was certain the band of thieves would never come back.

“Open, Sesame!”

The door opened.

He looked at the mountains of gold and remembered his brother.

Now Ali Baba understood that treasure can help a person, but it can also blind them.

He took enough of the wealth to provide security for his family and used some of it for good works in the city. He helped poor craftsmen, supported orphans, and repaired a well used by everyone in the neighborhood.

He entrusted the cave’s secret only to people he truly trusted.

And when his children asked which word opened the magical door, Ali Baba smiled.

“The word is easy to remember. What is much harder is remembering when to stop.”

For sometimes the most dangerous lock is not hanging on the door of a cave. It is fastened around our own greed.

For sometimes the most dangerous lock is not hanging on the door of a cave. It is fastened around our own greed.