Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves Story Summary

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One day, Alibaba goes deep into the forest for some good quality wood. There, he chances upon a cave owned by a gang of 40 thieves. He watches from behind a tree and learns that the cave is magically protected. He hears the leader of the thieves say a magical word to open and close the cave.

Alibaba waits until the thieves leave the cave and then goes to it. He says, “Open Sesame”, the magic words that the leader says and the cave opens. Inside, Alibaba finds mounds of gold jewels, coins, and other precious artifacts. He is awed by the wealth but is careful enough not to leave a trace of his visit. He picks up a small bag of coins and leaves the cave. Once outside, he utters the magical words “Close Sesame” to close the cave.

Greedy Brother

Alibaba tells his wife about the cave and the thieves. They borrow weighing scales from Cassim to measure the wealth they have. Being sneaky, Cassim’s wife applies some wax under one of the scales to know what grain her brother-in-law has acquired. When the weighing scales are returned, she is shocked to see a gold coin stuck to the bottom.

After a lot of prodding by his wife, Cassim asks Alibaba about the money. He forces his brother into revealing the mystery behind the gold coins. Alibaba tells him everything, but after convincing Cassim not to reveal the secret to anyone, including his wife. Cassim agrees to it and goes to the cave, taking a donkey along, hoping to bring back as much wealth as possible.

He opens the door and gets excited at the sight of all the gold. He quickly fills his bags with as many gold coins and jewelry as possible. But in his excitement, he forgets the magical words to open and close the cave door. The thieves return and find Cassim in the cave. They kill him and hang him outside the cave door, as a warning to anyone who might try to steal from them again.

Keeping A Secret

When Cassim does not return from the cave, his worried wife approaches Alibaba who goes to the cave and finds his brother’s body – cut into four pieces and hung outside the cave. Heartbroken, Alibaba takes his brother’s body down and returns home. He seeks the help of Morgiana, a clever slave girl from Cassim’s house, to make Cassim’s death look natural.

First, Morgiana goes to the pharmacist in the town and gets medicine, claiming that Cassim is gravely ill. She then finds an old tailor, blindfolds him, and takes him to Alibaba’s house where he works on Cassim’s body. He skillfully stitches the four pieces of the body overnight.

Alibaba and his family give Cassim a proper burial, without arousing suspicion.

The Thieves Come To Town

On returning, the thieves find that Cassim’s body is gone. The leader, worried that someone else knows the cave’s secret, sends one of his men to the town to inquire. The thief talks to different people in the village and comes across Baba Mustafa, who boasts that he is the best tailor in the area as he just came back from sewing a man’s body together. On further inquiry and coaxing, the tailor agrees to lead the thief to Alibaba’s house.

He gets blindfolded again and retraces his steps to the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol and goes back to get the rest of his gang. Morgiana sees this and marks all the other houses with the same symbol. The next day, the leader and the thieves return to the town only to find all the houses marked the same. The leader kills the thief and assigns the job to another.

The second thief manages to find Alibaba’s house and chips the wall of the house, as a mark. Morgiana foils the thief’s plan again, by cracking the walls of all the other houses in the neighborhood. Unable to find the house yet again, the leader kills the second thief as well and decides to complete the task himself.

A New Oil Merchant

The leader of the gang memorizes the exteriors of Alibaba’s house and returns next day, posing as an oil merchant. The leader comes to town with 38 donkeys carrying a barrel each, with one barrel containing oil and the remaining hiding the 37 thieves. He requests Alibaba’s hospitality and tells him that ..... if you contunie rhus stor pleas give me like