fall, and the genie told Aladdin that he had asked him to bring his
own master and hang him up in the midst of the hall; it was enough to
reduce Aladdin and the princess and the palace all to ashes; but he
should be spared, because the request had really come from another.
Then he told Aladdin who was the true author of it, and warned him
against the pretended Fatima, whom till then he had not known as the
brother of the African magician. Aladdin saw his danger, and on that
very day he killed his wicked enemy with the dagger which was meant to
be his own death.
Thus was Aladdin delivered from the two brothers who were magicians.
Within a few years the Sultan died at a good old age, and, as he left
no male children, the Princess Buddir al Buddoor came to the throne,
and she and Aladdin reigned together many years.
ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES
I
There once lived in a town of Persia two brothers, one named Cassim
and the other Ali Baba. Their father divided his small property
equally between them. Cassim married a very rich wife, and became a
wealthy merchant. Ali Baba married a woman as poor as himself, and
lived by cutting wood and bringing it upon three asses into the town
to sell.
One day, when Ali Baba had cut just enough wood in the forest to load
his asses, he noticed far off a great cloud of dust. As it drew
nearer, he saw that it was made by a body of horsemen, whom he
suspected to be robbers. Leaving the asses, he climbed a large tree
which grew on a high rock, and had branches thick enough to hide him
completely while he saw what passed beneath. The troop, forty in
number, all well mounted and armed, came to the foot of the rock on
which the tree stood, and there dismounted. Each man unbridled his
horse, tied him to a shrub, and hung about his neck a bag of corn.
Then each of them took off his saddle-bag, which from its weight
seemed to Ali Baba full of gold and silver. One, whom he took to be
their captain, came under the tree in which Ali Baba was concealed;
and, making his way through some shrubs, spoke the words, "Open,
Sesame." As soon as the captain of the robbers said this, a door
opened in the rock, and after he had made all his troop enter before
him, he followed them, when the door shut again of itself.
The robbers stayed some time within, and Ali Baba, fearful of being
caught, remained in the tree. At last the door opened again, and the
captain came out first, and stood to see all the troop pass by him.
Then Ali Baba heard him make the door close by saying, "Shut, Sesame."
Every man at once bridled his horse, fastened his wallet, and mounted
again. When the captain saw them all ready, he put himself at their
head, and they returned the way they had come.
Ali Baba watched them out of sight, and then waited some time before
coming down. Wishing to see whether the captain's words would have the
same effect if he should speak them, he found the door hidden in the
shrubs, stood before it, and said, "Open, Sesame." Instantly the door
flew wide open.
Instead of a dark, dismal cavern, Ali Baba was surprised to see a
large chamber, well lighted from the top, and in it all sorts of
provisions, rich bales of silk, stuff, brocade, and carpeting, gold
and silver ingots in great heaps, and money in bags.
Ali Baba went boldly into the cave, and collected as much of the gold
coin, which was in bags, as he thought his asses could carry. When he
had loaded them with the bags, he laid wood over them so that they
could not be seen, and, passing out of the door for the last time,
stood before it and said, "Shut, Sesame." The door closed of itself,
and he made the best of his way to town.
When he reached home, he carefully closed the gate of his little yard,
threw off the wood, and carried the bags into the house. They were
emptied before his wife, and the great heap of gold dazzled her eyes.
Then he told her the whole adventure, and warned her, above all
things, to keep it secret.
Ali Baba would not let her take the time to count it out as she
wished, but said, "I will dig a hole and bury it."
[Illustration: HE CAREFULLY CLOSED THE GATE OF HIS LITTLE YARD, THREW
OFF THE WOOD, AND CARRIED THE BAGS INTO THE HOUSE. THEY WERE EMPTIED
BEFORE HIS WIFE, AND THE GREAT HEAP OF GOLD DAZZLED HER EYES. THEN HE
TOLD HER THE WHOLE ADVENTURE, AND WARNED HER, ABOVE ALL THINGS, TO
KEEP IT SECRET. ALI BABA WOULD NOT LET HER TAKE TIME TO COUNT IT OUT
AS SHE WISHED, BUT SAID: "I WILL DIG A HOLE AND BURY IT"]
"But let us know as nearly as may be," she said, "how much we have. I
will borrow a small measure, and measure it, while you dig a hole."
Away she ran to the wife of Cassim, who lived near by, and asked for a
measure. The sister-in-law, knowing Ali Baba's poverty, was curious to
learn what sort of grain his wife wished to measure out, and artfully
managed to put some suet in the bottom of the measure before she
handed it over. Ali Baba's wife wanted to show how careful she was in
small matters, and, after she had measured the gold, hurried back,
even while her husband was burying it, with the borrowed measure,
never noticing that a coin had stuck to its bottom.
"What," said Cassim's wife, as soon as her sister-in-law had left her,
"has Ali Baba gold in such plenty that he measures it? Whence has he
all this wealth?" And envy possessed her breast.
When Cassim came home she said to him, "Cassim, you think yourself
rich, but Ali Baba is much richer. He does not count his money; he
measures it." Then she explained to him how she had found it out, and
they looked together at the piece of money, which was so old that they
could not tell in what prince's reign it was coined.
Cassim, since marrying the rich widow, had never treated Ali Baba as a
brother, but neglected him. Now, instead of being pleased, he was
filled with a base envy. Early in the morning, after a sleepless
night, he went to him and said, "Ali Baba, you pretend to be
wretchedly poor, and yet you measure gold. My wife found this at the
bottom of the measure you borrowed yesterday."
Ali Baba saw that there was no use of trying to conceal his good
fortune, and told the whole story, offering his brother part of the
treasure to keep the secret.
"I expect as much," replied Cassim haughtily; "but I must know just
where this treasure is and how to visit myself when I choose.
Otherwise I will inform against you, and you will lose even what you
have now."
Ali Baba told him all he wished to know, even to the words he must
speak at the door of the cave.
Cassim rose before the sun the next morning, and set out for the
forest with ten mules bearing great chests which he meant to fill.
With little trouble he found the rock and the door, and, standing
before it, spoke the words, "Open, Sesame." The door opened at once,
and when he was within closed upon him. Here indeed were the riches of
which his brother had told. He quickly brought as many bags of gold as
he could carry to the door of the cavern; but his thoughts were so
full of his new wealth that he could not think of the word that should
let him out. Instead of "Sesame," he said, "Open, Barley," and was
much amazed to find that the door remained fast shut. He named several
sorts of grain, but still the door would not open.
Cassim had never expected such a disaster, and was so frightened that
the more he tried to recall the word "Sesame," the more confused his
mind became. It was as if he had never heard the word at all. He threw
down the bags in his hands, and walked wildly up and down, without a
thought of the riches lying round about him.
At noon the robbers visited their cave. From afar they saw Cassim's
mules straggling about the rock, and galloped full speed to the cave.
Driving the mules out of sight, they went at once, with their naked
sabres in their hands, to the door, which opened as soon as the
captain had spoken the proper words before it.
Cassim had heard the noise of the horses' feet, and guessed that the
robbers had come. He resolved to make one effort for his life. As soon
as the door opened, he rushed out and threw the leader down, but could
not pass the other robbers, who with their scimitars soon put him to
death.
The first care of the robbers was to examine the cave. They found all
the bags Cassim had brought to the door, but did not miss what Ali
Baba had taken. As for Cassim himself, they guessed rightly that, once
within, he could not get out again; but how he had managed to learn
their secret words that let him in, they could not tell. One thing was
certain--there he was; and to warn all others who might know their
secret and follow in Cassim's footsteps, they agreed to cut his body
into four quarters--to hang two on one side and two on the other,
within the door of the cave. This they did at once, and leaving the
place of their hoards well closed, mounted their horses and set out to
attack the caravans they might meet.
II
When night came, and Cassim did not return, his wife became very
uneasy. She ran to Ali Baba for comfort, and he told her that Cassim
would certainly think it unwise to enter the town till night was well
advanced. By midnight Cassim's wife was still more alarmed, and wept
till morning, cursing her desire to pry into the affairs of her
brother and sister in law. In the early day she went again, in tears,
to Ali Baba.
He did not wait for her to ask him to go and see what had happened to
Cassim, but set out at once for the forest with his three asses.
Finding some blood at the door of the cave, he took it for an ill
omen; but when he had spoken the words, and the door had opened, he
was struck with horror at the dismal sight of his brother's body. He
could not leave it there, and hastened within to find something to
wrap around it. Laying the body on one of his asses, he covered it
with wood. The other two asses he loaded with bags of gold, covering
them also with wood as before. Then bidding the door shut, he came
away, but stopped some time at the edge of the forest, that he might
not go into the town before night. When he reached home he left the
two asses, laden with gold, in his little yard for his wife to unload,
and led the other to his sister-in-law's house.
Ali Baba knocked at the door, which was opened by Morgiana, a clever
slave, full of devices to conquer difficulties. When he came into the
court and unloaded the ass, he took Morgiana aside, and said to her,--
"You must observe a strict secrecy. Your master's body is contained in
these two panniers. We must bury him as if he had died a natural
death. Go now and tell your mistress. I leave the matter to your wit
and skillful devices."
They placed the body in Cassim's house, and, charging Morgiana to act
well her part, Ali Baba returned home with his ass.
Early the next morning, Morgiana went to a druggist, and asked for a
sort of lozenge used in the most dangerous illness. When he asked her
for whom she wanted it, she answered with a sigh, "My good master
Cassim. He can neither eat nor speak." In the evening she went to the
same druggist, and with tears in her eyes asked for an essence given
to sick persons for whose life there is little hope. "Alas!" said she,
"I am afraid even this will not save my good master."
All that day Ali Baba and his wife were seen going sadly between their
house and Cassim's, and in the evening nobody was surprised to hear
the shrieks and cries of Cassim's wife and Morgiana, who told
everybody that her master was dead.
The next morning at daybreak she went to an old cobbler, who was
always early at work, and, putting a piece of gold in his hand,
said,--
"Baba Mustapha, you must bring your sewing tackle and come with me;
but I must tell you, I shall blindfold you when we reach a certain
place."
"Oh! oh!" replied he, "you would have me do something against my
conscience or my honor."
"God forbid!" said Morgiana, putting another piece of gold in his
hand; "only come along with me, and fear nothing."
Baba Mustapha went with Morgiana, and at a certain place she bound his
eyes with a handkerchief, which she never unloosed till they had
entered the room of her master's house, where she had put the corpse
together.
"Baba Mustapha," said she, "you must make haste, and sew the parts of
this body 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 she had promised, and, charging him
with secrecy, took him back to the place where she had first bound his
eyes. Taking off the bandage, she watched him till he was out of
sight, lest he should return and dog her; then she went home.
At Cassim's house she made all things ready for the funeral, which was
duly performed by the imaun and other ministers of the mosque.
Morgiana, as a slave of the dead man, walked in the procession,
weeping, beating her breast, and tearing her hair. Cassim's wife
stayed at home, uttering doleful cries with the women of the
neighborhood, who, according to custom, came to mourn with her. The
whole quarter was filled with sounds of sorrow.
Thus the manner of Cassim's death was hushed up, and, besides his
widow, Ali Baba, and Morgiana, the slave, nobody in the city suspected
the cause of it. Three or four days after the funeral, Ali Baba
removed his few goods openly to his sister-in-law's house, in which he
was to live in the future; but the money he had taken from the robbers
was carried thither by night. As for Cassim's warehouse, Ali Baba put
it entirely under the charge of his eldest son.
III
While all this was going on, the forty robbers again visited their
cave in the forest. Great was their surprise to find Cassim's body
taken away, with some of their bags of gold.
"We are certainly found out," said the captain; "the body and the
money have been taken by some one else who knows our secret. For our
own lives' sake, we must try and find him. What say you, my lads?"
The robbers all agreed that this must be done.
"Well," said the captain, "one of you, the boldest and most skillful,
must go to the town, disguised as a stranger, and try if he can hear
any talk of the man we killed, and find out where he lived. This
matter is so important that the man who undertakes it and fails should
suffer death. What say you?"
One of the robbers, without waiting to know what the rest might think,
started up, and said, "I submit to this condition, and think it an
honor to expose my life to serve the troop."
This won great praise from the robber's comrades, and he disguised
himself at once so that nobody could take him for what he was. Just at
daybreak he entered the town, and walked up and down till he came by
chance to Baba Mustapha's stall, which was always open before any of
the shops.
The old cobbler was just going to work when the robber bade him
good-morrow, and said,--
"Honest man, you begin to work very early; how can one of your age see
so well? Even if it were lighter, I question whether you could see to
stitch."
"You do not know me," replied Baba Mustapha; "for old as I am I have
excellent eyes. You will not doubt me when I tell you that I sewed the
body of a dead man together in a place where I had not so much light
as I have now."
"A dead body!" exclaimed the robber amazed.
"Yes, yes," answered Baba Mustapha; "I see you want to know more, but
you shall not."
The robber felt sure that he was on the right track. He put a piece of
gold into Baba Mustapha's hand, and said to him,--
"I do not want to learn your secret, though you could safely trust me
with it. The only thing I ask of you is to show me the house where you
stitched up the dead body."
"I could not do that," replied Baba Mustapha, "if I would. I was taken
to a certain place, whence I was led blindfold to the house, and
afterwards brought back again in the same manner."
"Well," replied the robber, "you may remember a little of the way that
you were led blindfold. Come, let me blind your eyes at the same
place. We will walk together, and perhaps you may recall the way. Here
is another piece of gold for you."
This was enough to bring Baba Mustapha to his feet. They soon reached
the place where Morgiana had bandaged his eyes, and here he was
blindfolded again. Baba Mustapha and the robber walked on till they
came to Cassim's house, where Ali Baba now lived. Here the old man
stopped, and when the thief pulled off the band, and found that his
guide could not tell him whose house it was, he let him go. But before
he started back for the forest himself, well pleased with what he had
learned, he marked the door with a piece of chalk which he had ready
in his hand.
Soon after this Morgiana came out upon some errand, and when she
returned she saw the mark the robber had made, and stopped to look at
it.
"What can this mean?" she said to herself. "Somebody intends my master
harm, and in any case it is best to guard against the worst." Then she
fetched a piece of chalk, and marked two or three doors on each side
in the same manner, saying nothing to her master or mistress.
When the robber rejoined his troop in the forest, and told of his good
fortune in meeting the one man that could have helped him, they were
all delighted.
"Comrades," said the captain, "we have no time to lose. Let us set off
at once, well armed and disguised, enter the town by twos, and join at
the great square. Meanwhile our comrade who has brought us the good
news and I will go and find out the house, and decide what had best be
done."
Two by two they entered the town. Last of all went the captain and the
spy. When they came to the first of the houses which Morgiana had
marked, the spy pointed it out. But the captain noticed that the next
door was chalked in the same manner, and asked his guide which house
it was, that or the first. The guide knew not what answer to make, and
was still more puzzled when he and the captain saw five or six houses
marked after this same fashion. He assured the captain, with an oath,
that he had marked but one, and could not tell who had chalked the
rest, nor could he say at which house the cobbler had stopped.
There was nothing to do but to join the other robbers, and tell them
to go back to the cave. Here they were told why they had all returned,
and the guide was declared by all to be worthy of death. Indeed, he
condemned himself, owning that he ought to have been more careful, and
prepared to receive the stroke which was to cut off his head.
The safety of the troop still demanded that the second comer to the
cave should be found, and another of the gang offered to try it, with
the same penalty if he should fail. Like the other robber, he found
out Baba Mustapha, and, through him, the house, which he marked, in a
place remote from sight, with red chalk.
But nothing could escape Morgiana's eyes, and when she went out, not
long after, and saw the red chalk, she argued with herself as before,
and marked the other houses near by in the same place and manner.
The robber, when he told his comrades what he had done, prided himself
on his carefulness, and the captain and all the troop thought they
must succeed this time. Again they entered the town by twos; but when
the robber and his captain came to the street, they found the same
trouble. The captain was enraged, and the robber as much confused as
the former guide had been. Thus the captain and his troop went back
again to the cave, and the robber who had failed willingly gave
himself up to death.
IV
The captain could not afford to lose any more of his brave fellows,
and decided to take upon himself the task in which two had failed.
Like the others, he went to Baba Mustapha, and was shown the house.
Unlike them he put no mark on it, but studied it carefully and passed
it so often that he could not possibly mistake it.
When he returned to the troop, who were waiting for him in the cave,
he said,--
"Now, comrades, nothing can prevent our full revenge, as I am certain
of the house. As I returned I thought of a way to do our work, but if
any one thinks of a better, let him speak."
He told them his plan, and, as they thought it good, he 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.
Within two or three days they returned with the mules and the jars,
and as the mouths of the jars were rather too narrow for the captain's
purpose, he caused them to be widened. Having put one of his men into
each jar, with the weapons which he thought fit, and having a seam
wide enough open for each man to breathe, he rubbed the jars on the
outside with oil from the full vessel.
Thus prepared they set out for the town, the nineteen mules loaded
with the thirty-seven robbers in jars, and the jar of oil, with the
captain as their driver. When he reached Ali Baba's door, he found Ali
Baba sitting there taking a little fresh air after his supper. The
captain stopped his mules, 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. Will you do
me the favor to let me pass the night with you?"
Though Ali Baba had seen the captain in the forest, and had heard him
speak, he could not know him in the disguise of an oil merchant, and
bade him welcome. He opened his gates for the mules to go into the
yard, and ordered a slave to put them in a stable and feed them when
they were unloaded, and then called Morgiana to get a good supper for
his guest. After supper he charged her afresh to take good care of the
stranger, and said to her,--
"To-morrow morning I intend to go to the bath before day; take care to
have my bathing linen ready; give it to Abdalla" (which was his
slave's name), "and make me some good broth against my return." After
this he went to bed.
In the meantime the captain of the robbers went into the yard, and
took off the lid of each jar, and told his people what they must do.
To each, in turn, he said,--
"As soon as I throw some stones out of the chamber window where I lie,
do not fail to come out, and I will join you at once."
Then he went into the house, and Morgiana showed him his chamber,
where he soon put out the light, and laid himself down in his clothes.
To carry out Ali Baba's orders, Morgiana got his bathing linen ready,
and bade Abdalla to set on the pot for the broth; but soon the lamp
went out, and there was no more oil in the house, nor any candles. She
knew not what to do, till the slave reminded her of the oil jars in
the yard. She thanked him for the thought, took the oil pot, and went
out. When she came nigh the first jar, the robber within said softly,
"Is it time?"
Of course she was surprised to find a man in the jar instead of the
oil, but she saw at once that she must keep silence, as Ali Baba, his
family, and she herself were in great danger. Therefore she answered,
without showing any fear, "Not yet, but presently." In this manner she
went to all the jars and gave the same answers, till she came to the
jar of oil.
By this means Morgiana found that her master had admitted to his house
thirty-eight robbers, of whom the pretended oil merchant, their
captain, was one. She made what haste she could to fill her oil pot,
and returned to her kitchen, lighted her lamp, and taking a great
kettle went back to the oil jar and filled it. Then she set the kettle
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.
When this deed, worthy of the courage of Morgiana, was done without
any noise, as she had planned, she returned to the kitchen with the
empty kettle, put out the lamp, and left just enough of the fire to
make the broth. Then she sat silent, resolving not to go to rest till
she had seen through the window that opened on the yard whatever might
happen there.
It was not long before the captain of the robbers got up, and, seeing
that all was dark and quiet, gave the appointed signal by throwing
little stones, some of which hit the jars, as he doubted not by the
sound they gave. As there was no response, he threw stones a second
and a third time, and could not imagine why there was no answer to his
signal.
Much alarmed, he went softly down into the yard, and, going to the
first jar to ask the robber if he was ready, smelt the hot boiled oil,
which sent forth a steam out of the jar. From this he suspected that
his plot was found out, and, looking into the jars one by one, he
found that all his gang were dead. Enraged to despair, he forced the
lock of a door that led from the yard to the garden, and made his
escape. When Morgiana saw him go, she went to bed, well pleased that
she had saved her master and his family.
Ali Baba rose before day, and went to the baths without knowing what
had happened in the night. When he returned he was very much surprised
to see the oil jars in the yard and the mules in the stable.