Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves – Part 1
(Tales from Arabian Nights)
A long time ago, there lived two brothers – Kassim and Ali Baba, in a certain far away kingdom of Persia. Kassim, the elder brother was very greedy and crooked. By unfair means he had earned a lot of money. Whereas Ali Baba was a poor woodcutter and could hardly meet his end.
One day as was his usual routine, Ali Baba was chopping wood in the forest. Suddenly he heard the hoofs of horses and voices of few men. Startled he turned around, curious to see who they would be.
Seeing so many men on horses, Ali Baba was sure that they could be thieves and getting scared he immediately climbed a tree. Perched on the top of the tree, he saw the men on the horses approaching fast. They stopped and alighted from their horses. He saw a bearded tall man, who looked like their leader, leading the crowd to a massive boulder. He shouted, ”Open Sesame.” Lo and behold! The boulder gave away. The men entered the hole.
Ali Baba counted the men as they entered. In totally they were forty men who carried with them something bundled in cloth. He did not move from his position. He was scared and curious too. He thought to himself, ”Who could be these people be? They seem to carrying heavy bundles with them. What could it be? Are thy robbers?”
Suddenly he saw the men walk out of the hole. The leader waited till all the men were out and said, “Close Sesame.” The boulder shut back to its original position behind him. Satisfied that no one was looking at them, they climbed their horses and disappeared.
Ali Baba waited for sometime and slowly climbed down the tree. He walked towards the boulder. He stood there for sometime and looked around. Seeing no one around, he softly said, “Open Sesame.” The boulder gave away into a well lit cave! Ali Baba was shocked and amazed. He walked inside the cave and turned around and said softly, “Close Sesame.” And the boulder shut behind him.
Excited he ran down the cave and reached a place where he saw a lot of jewelers, gold and precious stones. He stuffed an many treasures as he could in a bundle and ran to the entrance. He said, “Open Sesame” and “Close Sesame” again. He rode home quickly with these treasures.
On reaching at home, he took his horse straight into the stable. He picked up the bundle and closed the door firmly behind him. He called his wife and opened the bundle. He said, “Look my dear! I stole all these form thieves in the forest. Stealing from thieves is not wrong.” His wife was startled and speechless seeing so much gold. She exclaimed, “I would measure this. You did a place to bury the treasures. I will get a balance of measure this.” Saying so, she ran to Kassim’s house and borrowed the balance from his wife.
Kassim’s wife was very curious at what Ali Baba’s wife wanted to measure. Cunning that she was, she put a little glue on the edge of the balance before giving it.
The next day she saw startled to see a piece of gold stuck to the balance when Ali Baba’s wife returned it. She told her husband, “your brother is so rich, he measures Gold!.” Kassim, greedy that he was, ran to his brother’s place and got the whole information from him.
The next day, he set out for the forest with ten mules! On reaching the cave, he cried “Open Sesame.” Seeing the treasures inside, Kassim was so excited that he spent a lot of time bundling the gold.
Meanwhile the robbers returned with their loot and were surprised to see many mules standing outside the cave. Rushing inside, they were shocked to see Kassim ready to leave with bundles of their treasures. Furious, they pounced on him and sliced him into four quarters and nailed them up inside the cave.
Kassim’s wife worried, meanwhile rushed to Ali Baba and cried, “Please find out what happened to Kassim.” He went to the cave and saw his brother gruesomely murdered. He brought the pieces of body home. Kassim’s wife was petrified. Marjinah, the clever servant of kassim had a plan.
She told Ali Baba, “Sir, it would be advisable for no one to know master’s gruesome death. So we shall call Baba Mustafa, the cobbler to sew his body.”
The next day, Ali Baba blindfolded the old cobbler and brought him to his house. Baba Mustafa sewed the body of Kassim. Later Kassim’s body was buried. His wife and servants moved into Ali Baba’s house.
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