business secret, was the more easily persuaded to believe her
brother-in-law. She went home again, and waited patiently till midnight.
She repented of her foolish curiosity, and cursed her desire of
penetrating into the affairs of her brother and sister-in-law. She spent
all the night in weeping; and as soon as it was day, went to them,
telling them, by her tears, the cause of her coming. Ali Baba did not
wait for his sister-in-law to desire him to go and see what was become
of Cassim, but departed immediately with his three asses, begging of her
first to moderate her affliction. He went to the forest, and when he
came near the rock, having seen neither his brother nor the mules in his
way, was seriously alarmed at finding some blood spilt near the door,
which he took for an ill omen; but when he had pronounced the word, and
the door had opened, he was struck with horror at the dismal sight of
his brother's body. Without adverting to the little fraternal affection
his brother had shewn for him, Ali Baba went into the cave to find
something to enshroud his remains, and having loaded one of his asses
with them, covered them over with wood. The other two asses he loaded
with bags of gold, covering them with wood also as before; and then
bidding the door shut, came away; but was so cautious as to stop some
time at the end of the forest, that he might not go into the town before
night. When he came home, he drove the two asses loaded with gold into
his little yard, and left the care of unloading them to his wife, while
he led the other to his sister-in-law's house.
Ali Baba knocked at the door, which was opened by Morgiana, an
intelligent slave, fruitful in inventions to insure success in the most
difficult undertakings: and Ali Baba knew her to be such. When he came
into the court, he unloaded the ass, and taking Morgiana aside, said to
her: "The first thing I ask of you is an inviolable secrecy, both for
your mistress's sake and mine. Your master's body is contained in these
two bundles, and our business is, to bury him as if he had died a
natural death. Go, tell your mistress I want to speak with her; and mind
what I have said to you."
Morgiana went to her mistress, and Ali Baba followed her. "Well,
brother," said she, with impatience, "what news do you bring me of my
husband? I perceive no comfort in your countenance." "Sister," answered
Ali Baba, "I cannot satisfy your inquiries unless you hear my story
without speaking a word; for it is of as great importance to you as to
me to keep what has happened secret." "Alas!" said she, "this preamble
lets me know that my husband is not to be found; but at the same time I
know the necessity of secrecy, and I must constrain myself: say on, I
will hear you."
Ali Baba then detailed the incidents of his journey, till he came to the
finding of Cassim's body. "Now," said he, "sister, I have something to
relate which will afflict you the more, because it is what you so little
expect; but it cannot now be remedied; if my endeavours can comfort you,
I offer to put that which God hath sent me to what you have, and marry
you: assuring you that my wife will not be jealous, and that we shall
live happily together. If this proposal is agreeable to you, we must
think of acting so that my brother should appear to have died a natural
death. I think you may leave the management of the business to Morgiana,
and I will contribute all that lies in my power to your consolation."
What could Cassim's widow do better than accept of this proposal? for
though her first husband had left behind him a plentiful substance, his
brother was now much richer, and by the discovery of this treasure might
be still more so. Instead, therefore, of rejecting the offer, she
regarded it as the sure means of comfort; and drying up her tears, which
had begun to flow abundantly, and suppressing the outcries usual with
women who have lost their husbands, showed Ali Baba that she approved of
his proposal. Ali Baba left the widow, recommended to Morgiana to act
her part well, and then returned home with his ass.
Morgiana went out at the same time to an apothecary, and asked for a
sort of lozenges which he prepared, and were very efficacious in the
most dangerous disorders. The apothecary inquired who was ill at her
master's? She replied with a sigh, her good master Cassim himself: that
they knew not what his disorder was, but that he could neither eat nor
speak. After these words, Morgiana carried the lozenges home with her,
and the next morning went to the same apothecary's again, and with tears
in her eyes, asked for an essence which they used to give to sick people
only when at the last extremity. "Alas!" said she, taking it from the
apothecary, "I am afraid that this remedy will have no better effect
than the lozenges; and that I shall lose my good master." On the other
hand, as Ali Baba and his wife were often seen to go between Cassim's
and their own house all that day, and to seem melancholy, nobody was
surprised in the evening to hear the lamentable shrieks and cries of
Cassim's wife and Morgiana, who gave out everywhere that her master was
dead. The next morning, soon after day appeared, Morgiana, who knew a
certain old cobbler that opened his stall early, before other people,
went to him, and bidding him good morrow, put a piece of gold into his
hand. "Well," said Baba Mustapha, which was his name, and who was a
merry old fellow, looking at the gold, "this is good hansel: what must I
do for it? I am ready."
"Baba Mustapha," said Morgiana, "you must take with you your sewing
tackle, and go with me; but I must tell you, I shall blindfold you when
you come to such a place." Baba Mustapha seemed to hesitate a little at
these words. "Oh! oh!" replied he, "you would have me do something
against my conscience or against my honour?" "God forbid!" said
Morgiana, putting another piece of gold into his hand, "that I should
ask anything that is contrary to your honour; only come along with me,
and fear nothing."
Baba Mustapha went with Morgiana, who, after she had bound his eyes with
a handkerchief, conveyed him to her deceased master's house, and never
unloosed his eyes till he had entered the room where she had put the
corpse together. "Baba Mustapha," said she, "you must make haste and sew
these quarters together; and when you have done, I will give you another
piece of gold." After Baba Mustapha had finished his task, she
blindfolded him again, gave him the third piece of gold as she had
promised, and recommending secrecy to him, carried him back to the place
where she first bound his eyes, pulled off the bandage, and let him go
home, but watched him that he returned toward his stall, till he was
quite out of sight, for fear he should have the curiosity to return and
track her.
By the time Morgiana had warmed some water to wash the body, Ali Baba
came with incense to embalm it, after which it was sewn up in a
winding-sheet. Not long after, the joiner, according to Ali Baba's
orders, brought the bier, which Morgiana received at the door, and
helped Ali Baba to put the body into it; when she went to the mosque to
inform the imaum that they were ready. The people of the mosque, whose
business it was to wash the dead, offered to perform their duty, but she
told them that it was done already. Morgiana had scarcely got home
before the imaum and the other ministers of the mosque arrived. Four
neighbours carried the corpse on their shoulders to the burying-ground,
following the imaum, who recited some prayers. Morgiana, as a slave to
the deceased, followed the corpse, weeping, beating her breast, and
tearing her hair; and Ali Baba came after with some neighbours, who
often relieved the others in carrying the corpse to the burying-ground.
Cassim's wife stayed at home mourning, uttering lamentable cries with
the women of the neighbourhood, who came according to custom during the
funeral, and joining their lamentations with hers, filled the quarter
far and near with sorrow. In this manner Cassim's melancholy death was
concealed and hushed up between Ali Baba, his wife, Cassim's widow, and
Morgiana, with so much contrivance, that nobody in the city had the
least knowledge or suspicion of the cause of it.
Three or four days after the funeral, Ali Baba removed his few goods
openly to the widow's house; but the money he had taken from the robbers
he conveyed thither by night: soon after the marriage with his
sister-in-law was published, and as these marriages are common in the
Mussulman religion, nobody was surprised. As for Cassim's warehouse, Ali
Baba gave it to his own eldest son, promising that if he managed it
well, he would soon give him a fortune to marry very advantageously
according to his situation.
Let us now leave Ali Baba to enjoy the beginning of his good fortune,
and return to the forty robbers. They came again at the appointed time
to visit their retreat in the forest; but great was their surprise to
find Cassim's body taken away, with some of their bags of gold. "We are
certainly discovered," said the captain, "and if we do not speedily
apply some remedy, shall gradually lose all the riches which we have,
with so much pains and danger, been so many years amassing together. All
that we can think of the loss which we have sustained is, that the thief
whom we surprised had the secret of opening the door, and we arrived
luckily as he was coming out: but his body being removed, and with it
some of our money, plainly shows that he had an accomplice; and as it is
likely that there were but two who had discovered our secret, and one
has been caught, we must look narrowly after the other. What say you, my
lads?" All the robbers thought the captain's proposal so advisable, that
they unanimously approved of it, and agreed that they must lay all other
enterprises aside, to follow this closely, and not give it up till they
had succeeded.
"I expected no less," said the captain, "from your fidelity: but, first
of all, one of you who is artful, and enterprising, must go into the
town disguised as a traveller, to try if he can hear any talk of the
strange death of the man whom we have killed, as he deserved; and
endeavour to find out who he was, and where he lived. This is a matter
of the first importance for us to ascertain, that we may do nothing
which we may have reason to repent of, by discovering ourselves in a
country where we have lived so long unknown. But to warn him who shall
take upon himself this commission, and to prevent our being deceived by
his giving us a false report, I ask you all, if you do not think that in
case of treachery, or even error of judgment, he should suffer death?"
Without waiting for the suffrages of his companions, one of the robbers
started up, and said: "I submit to this condition, and think it an
honour to expose my life, by taking the commission upon me; but
remember, at least, if I do not succeed, that I neither wanted courage
nor good will to serve the troop." After this robber had received great
commendations from the captain, he disguised himself, and taking his
leave of the troop that night, went into the town just at daybreak; and
walked up and down, till accidentally he came to Baba Mustapha's stall,
which was always open before any of the shops.
Baba Mustapha was seated with an awl in his hand, just going to work.
The robber saluted him, bidding him good morrow; and perceiving that he
was old, said: "Honest man, you begin to work very early: is it possible
that one of your age can see so well? I question, even if it were
somewhat lighter, whether you could see to stitch."
"Certainly," replied Baba Mustapha, "you must be a stranger, and do not
know me; for old as I am, I have extraordinarily good eyes; and you will
not doubt it when I tell you that I sewed a dead body together in a
place where I had not so much light as I have now." The robber was
overjoyed to think that he had addressed himself, at his first coming
into the town, to a man who in all probability could give him the
intelligence he wanted. "A dead body!" replied he with affected
amazement. "What could you sew up a dead body for? You mean you sewed up
his winding-sheet." "No, no," answered Baba Mustapha, "I perceive your
meaning; you want to have me speak out, but you shall know no more." The
robber wanted no farther assurance to be persuaded that he had
discovered what he sought. He pulled out a piece of gold, and putting it
into Baba Mustapha's hand, said to him: "I do not want to learn your
secret, though I can assure you I would not divulge it, if you trusted
me with it; the only thing which I desire of you is, to do me the favour
to shew me the house where you stitched up the dead body."
"If I were disposed to do you that favour," replied Baba Mustapha,
holding the money in his hand, ready to return it, "I assure you I
cannot. I was taken to a certain place, where I was blinded, I was then
led to the house, and afterward brought back again in the same manner;
you see, therefore, the impossibility of my doing what you desire."
"Well," replied the robber, "you may, however, remember a little of the
way that you were led blindfolded. Come, let me blind your eyes at the
same place. We will walk together; perhaps you may recognise some part;
and as everybody ought to be paid for his trouble, there is another
piece of gold for you; gratify me in what I ask you." So saying, he put
another piece of gold into his hand.
The two pieces of gold were great temptations to Baba Mustapha. He
looked at them a long time in his hand, without saying a word, thinking
with himself what he should do; but at last he pulled out his purse,
and put them in. "I cannot assure you," said he to the robber, "that I
can remember the way exactly; but since you desire, I will try what I
can do." At these words Baba Mustapha rose up, to the great joy of the
robber, and without shutting his shop, where he had nothing valuable to
lose, he led the robber to the place where Morgiana had bound his eyes.
"It was here," said Baba Mustapha, "I was blindfolded; and I turned as
you see me." The robber, who had his handkerchief ready, tied it over
his eyes, walked by him till he stopped, partly leading, and partly
guided by him. "I think," said Baba Mustapha, "I went no farther," and
he had now stopped directly at Cassim's house, where Ali Baba then
lived. The thief, before he pulled off the band, marked the door with a
piece of chalk, which he had ready in his hand; and then asked him if he
knew whose house that was; to which Baba Mustapha replied, that as he
did not live in that neighbourhood he could not tell. The robber,
finding he could discover no more from Baba Mustapha, thanked him for
the trouble he had taken, and left him to go back to his stall, while he
returned to the forest, persuaded that he should be very well received.
A little after the robber and Baba Mustapha had parted, Morgiana went
out of Ali Baba's house upon some errand, and upon her return, seeing
the mark the robber had made, stopped to observe it. "What can be the
meaning of this mark?" said she to herself. "Somebody intends my master
no good: however, with whatever intention it was done, it is advisable
to guard against the worst." Accordingly, she fetched a piece of chalk,
and marked two or three doors on each side in the same manner, without
saying a word to her master or mistress.
In the meantime the thief rejoined his troop in the forest, and
recounted to them his success. All the robbers listened to him with the
utmost satisfaction; when the captain, after commending his diligence,
addressing himself to them all, said: "Comrades, we have no time to
lose: let us set off well armed; but that we may not excite any
suspicion, let only one or two go into the town together, and join at
our rendezvous, which shall be the great square. In the meantime, our
comrade who brought us the good news, and I, will go and find out the
house, that we may consult what had best be done."
This plan was approved of by all, and they were soon ready. They filed
off in parties of two each, and got into the town without being in the
least suspected. The captain, and he who had visited the town in the
morning as spy, came in the last. He led the captain into the street
where he had marked Ali Baba's residence; and when they came to the
first of the houses which Morgiana had marked, he pointed it out. But
the captain observed that the next door was chalked in the same manner:
and shewing it to his guide, asked him which house it was, that, or the
first? The guide was so confounded, that he knew not what answer to
make; but still more puzzled, when he saw five or six houses similarly
marked. He assured the captain, with an oath, that he had marked but
one, and could not tell who had chalked the rest so that he could not
distinguish the house which the cobbler had stopped at.
The captain, finding that their design had proved abortive, went
directly to the place of rendezvous, and told the first of his troop
whom he met that they had lost their labour, and must return to their
cave. When the troop was all got together, the captain told them the
reason of their returning; and presently the conductor was declared by
all worthy of death. He condemned himself, acknowledging that he ought
to have taken better precaution, and prepared to receive the stroke from
him who was appointed to cut off his head. Another of the gang, who
promised himself that he should succeed better, immediately presented
himself, and his offer being accepted, he went and corrupted Baba
Mustapha, as the other had done; and being shewn the house, marked it in
a place more remote from sight, with red chalk.
Not long after, Morgiana, whose eyes nothing could escape, went out, and
seeing the red chalk, and arguing with herself as she had done before,
marked the other neighbours' houses in the same place and manner. The
robber, at his return to his company, valued himself much on the
precaution he had taken, which he looked upon as an infallible way of
distinguishing Ali Baba's house from the others; and the captain and all
of them thought it must succeed. They conveyed themselves into the town
with the same precaution as before; but when the robber and his captain
came to the street, they found the same difficulty: at which the captain
was enraged, and the robber in as great confusion as his predecessor.
Thus the captain and his troop were forced to retire a second time, and
much more dissatisfied; while the unfortunate robber, who had been the
author of the mistake, underwent the same punishment; which he willingly
submitted to.
The captain, having lost two brave fellows of his troop, was afraid of
diminishing it too much by pursuing this plan to get information of the
residence of their plunderer. He found by their example that their heads
were not so good as their hands on such occasions; and therefore
resolved to take upon himself the important commission. Accordingly, he
went and addressed himself to Baba Mustapha, who did him the same
service he had done to the other robbers. He did not set any particular
mark on the house, but examined and observed it so carefully, by
passing often by it, that it was impossible for him to mistake it.
The captain, well satisfied with his attempt, and informed of what he
wanted to know, returned to the forest; and when he came into the cave,
where the troop waited for him, said: "Now, comrades, nothing can
prevent our full revenge, as I am certain of the house, and in my way
hither I have thought how to put it into execution, but if any one can
form a better expedient, let him communicate it." He then told them his
contrivance; and as they approved of it, ordered them to go into the
villages about, and buy nineteen mules, with thirty-eight large leather
jars, one full of oil, and the others empty. In two or three days' time
the robbers had purchased the mules and jars, and as the mouths of the
jars were rather too narrow for his purpose, the captain caused them to
be widened; and after having put one of his men into each, with the
weapons which he thought fit, leaving open the seam which had been
undone to leave them room to breathe, he rubbed the jars on the outside
with oil from the full vessel. Things being thus prepared, when the
nineteen mules were loaded with thirty-seven robbers in jars, and the
jar of oil, the captain, as their driver, set out with them, and reached
the town by the dusk of the evening, as he had intended. He led them
through the streets till he came to Ali Baba's, at whose door he
designed to have knocked; but was prevented by his sitting there after
supper to take a little fresh air. He stopped his mules, addressed
himself to him, and said: "I have brought some oil a great way, to sell
at to-morrow's market; and it is now so late that I do not know where to
lodge. If I should not be troublesome to you, do me the favour to let me
pass the night with you, and I shall be very much obliged by your
hospitality."
Though Ali Baba had seen the captain of the robbers in the forest, and
had heard him speak, it was hardly possible to know him in the disguise
of an oil-merchant. He told him he should be welcome, and immediately
opened his gates for the mules to go into the yard. At the same time he
called to a slave, and ordered him, when the mules were unloaded, to put
them into the stable, and give them fodder; and then went to Morgiana,
to bid her get a good supper. He did more. When he saw the captain had
unloaded his mules, and that they were put into the stables as he had
ordered, and he was looking for a place to pass the night in the air, he
brought him into the hall where he received his company, telling him he
would not suffer him to be in the court. The captain excused himself on
pretence of not being troublesome; but really to have room to execute
his design, and it was not till after the most pressing importunity that
he yielded. Ali Baba, not content to keep company, till supper was
ready, with the man who had a design on his life, continued talking with
him till it was ended, and repeating his offer of service. The captain
rose up at the same time with his host; and while Ali Baba went to speak
to Morgiana he withdrew into the yard, under pretence of looking at his
mules. Ali Baba, after charging Morgiana afresh to take care of his
guest, said to her: "To-morrow morning I design to go to the bath before
day; take care my bathing linens be ready, give them to Abdoollah,"
which was the slave's name, "and make me some good broth against I
return." After this he went to bed.
In the meantime, the captain went from the stable to give his people
orders what to do; and beginning at the first jar, and so on to the
last, said to each man: "As soon as I throw some stones out of the
chamber window where I lie, do not fail to cut the jar open with the
knife you have about you for the purpose, and come out, and I will
immediately join you." After this he returned into the house, when
Morgiana, taking up a light, conducted him to his chamber, where she
left him; and he, to avoid any suspicion, put the light out soon after,
and laid himself down in his clothes, that he might be the more ready to
rise.
Morgiana, remembering Ali Baba's orders, got his bathing linens ready,
and ordered Abdoollah to set on the pot for the broth; but while she was
preparing it, the lamp went out, and there was no more oil in the house,
nor any candles. What to do she did not know, for the broth must be
made. Abdoollah seeing her very uneasy, said: "Do not fret and tease
yourself, but go into the yard, and take some oil out of one of the
jars." Morgiana thanked Abdoollah for his advice, took the oil-pot, and
went into the yard; when as she came nigh the first jar, the robber
within said softly: "Is it time?" Though the robber spoke low, Morgiana
was struck with the voice the more, because the captain, when he
unloaded the mules, had taken the lids off this and all the other jars
to give air to his men, who were ill enough at their ease, almost
wanting room to breathe. As much surprised as Morgiana naturally was at
finding a man in a jar, instead of the oil she wanted, many would have
made such an outcry as to have given an alarm; whereas Morgiana
comprehending immediately the importance of keeping silence, and the
necessity of applying a speedy remedy without noise, conceived at once
the means, and collecting herself without shewing the least emotion,
answered: "Not yet, but presently." She went in this manner to all the
jars, giving the same answer, till she came to the jar of oil.
By this means, Morgiana found that her master Ali Baba, who thought that
he had entertained an oil merchant, had admitted thirty-eight robbers
into his house, regarding this pretended merchant as their captain. She
made what haste she could to fill her oil-pot, and returned into her
kitchen; where, as soon as she had lighted her lamp, she took a great
kettle, went again to the oil-jar, filled the kettle, set it on a large
wood-fire, and as soon as it boiled went and poured enough into every
jar to stifle and destroy the robber within.