Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves | Fairy tale
Ali Baba was a shopkeeper, having inherited his business from his father. He had an older brother named Cassim, who possessed a less agreeable nature and a strong desire for material possessions. Through his marriage to a wealthy woman, Cassim expanded his holdings and acquired more shops.
But Ali Baba married a kind woman who possessed little wealth. To earn a living, he worked as a woodcutter, a laborious job that yielded meager earnings.
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Deep in the woods, Ali Baba was gathering firewood one day when he overheard voices in the distance. Curious, he crept closer and climbed a tree to listen without being seen. To his astonishment, the men were a band of robbers! He watched as they brought stolen goods and concealed them inside a cave.
Then, a truly remarkable thing occurred. One of the robbers uttered a magical phrase, and instantly, the cave entrance swung open! The words he spoke were, “Open, sesame!” After they had finished inside, the same robber spoke the words again, and the cave door sealed itself shut.
Intrigued by the thought of the riches within the cave, Ali Baba decided to find out just how vast the treasure was. He went to his brother Cassim and asked Cassim’s clever helper, Morgana, if he could borrow a measuring cup. However, Morgana suspected Ali Baba’s true intentions. With a bit of cunning, she coated the inside of the cup with a sticky substance, anticipating that whatever Ali Baba measured would leave a trace. She knew he possessed nothing of significant weight.
When Ali Baba returned the cup, Morgana carefully examined it. To her surprise, she found a tiny fragment of gold clinging to the sticky residue! Without hesitation, she rushed to Cassim and recounted everything that had happened.
Upon hearing about the gold, Cassim’s greed consumed him. Determined to have the treasure for himself, he secretly followed Ali Baba to the hidden cave one day. He watched as his brother entered and later emerged. Once Ali Baba was gone, Cassim eagerly went inside. The sight of the immense wealth overwhelmed him! He began frantically filling his bag, his eyes darting around, searching for the most exquisite pieces of gold.
When his bag was finally full, he turned to leave, but a wave of panic washed over him. He had forgotten the magical phrase! “Open, bean?” he tried, but the door remained sealed. “Open, pea?” he guessed again, his frustration growing. The correct words eluded him. Defeated and disheartened, Cassim sank to the ground, resigned to wait for someone to open the cave.
After some time, Cassim heard the approaching voices of the robbers returning to replenish their hoard. To their surprise, they found Cassim inside! Enraged, they seized him and treated him cruelly.
When Cassim failed to return home, a worried Morgana went to Ali Baba’s house. She informed him that Cassim had gone to the cave. Realizing his brother was in grave danger, Ali Baba immediately went to the cave and discovered Cassim’s lifeless body. He brought him home and, with Morgana’s help, instructed his wife to spread the word that Cassim had suddenly fallen ill and died.
Upon their return, the robbers were suspicious when they didn’t find Cassim. They deduced that someone else had discovered their secret. Consequently, they dispatched one of their men to the nearby town. The robber learned that a man named Cassim had died that very day, confirming that he was the intruder they had encountered in the cave. To identify the correct house, the robber discreetly marked Ali Baba’s door, intending for the other robbers to target that house and silence Ali Baba before their secret was further exposed.
Observant Morgana noticed the mark on Ali Baba’s door. Thinking quickly, she cleverly placed the same mark on every other door in the town! When the robbers arrived and saw their identifying mark on countless houses, they were bewildered and furious. In their confusion, they turned their anger on the robber who had originally marked Ali Baba’s door, punishing him for the apparent mistake.
The following day, a different robber was sent to locate Ali Baba’s house. This time, he placed a distinctive stone in front of the door. Once again, the resourceful Morgana anticipated their plan. She replicated the robber’s tactic, placing similar stones in front of all the other houses in the neighborhood. When the remaining robbers arrived and found stones before every dwelling, they were utterly confounded and enraged. Blaming the second robber for their failure, they subjected him to the same harsh treatment as the first.
The leader of the robbers was far from pleased with his men’s repeated failures. Determined to take matters into his own hands, he devised a cunning plan. He went to Ali Baba’s house disguised as an oil merchant, feigning exhaustion and requesting shelter for the night. He asked if he and his numerous large jars of oil could stay until morning. Unbeknownst to Ali Baba, these weren’t ordinary oil jars; the other robbers were secretly concealed inside them, lying in wait to harm him.
That evening, as Morgana was preparing supper, her sharp eyes noticed the robbers concealed within the oil jars! Realizing the imminent danger to Ali Baba, she knew she had to act swiftly. With remarkable presence of mind, she heated a large quantity of oil until it was scalding hot and then poured it into each of the jars where the robbers were hiding.
Later, the robbers’ leader went to check on his men. To his horror, he discovered that they had all been severely burned and were in no condition to assist him. Enraged and desperate, he turned his attention to Ali Baba, attempting to attack him directly. However, the quick-thinking Morgana intervened, bravely confronting the boss robber and injuring him as well! Ali Baba, witnessing these extraordinary events, was astonished and questioned Morgana about what had transpired. Calmly, she recounted the entire sequence of events, revealing the robbers’ treacherous plot and her courageous actions.
Overjoyed and deeply grateful that Morgana had saved his life, Ali Baba rewarded her extraordinary bravery by granting her, his wife, and their child their freedom. Generous by nature, they shared the vast treasure with the less fortunate people in their town. Ali Baba was now a wealthy man! He no longer needed to toil away cutting wood and lived a life filled with happiness and contentment.
Moral: The story of Ali Baba illustrates that greed and dishonesty lead to ruin, while cleverness, kindness, and honesty can bring about safety and prosperity.
Kidsstorybird
Disclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Kidsstorybird.