Fairy tales from the Arabian nights/The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Part 1
THE STORY OF ALI BABA
AND THE FORTY THIEVES
PART I
A TOWN IN PERSIA, there lived two brothers, one named Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Their father left them no great property; though as he had divided it equally between them, their fortune should have been equal; but it was otherwise,
Cassim married a widow, who, soon after their marriage, became heiress to a large estate, and a good shop and warehouse full of rich merchandise; so that all at once he became one of the richest merchants, and lived at his ease.
Ali Baba, on the other hand, who married a woman as poor as himself, lived in a very mean dwelling, and had no other means of maintaining his wife and children than his daily labour in cutting wood in a forest near the town, and bringing it upon three asses to town to sell.
One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, and had just cut wood enough to load his asses, he saw at a distance a great cloud of dust, which seemed to approach towards him: he observed it very attentively, and distinguished a large body of horse coming briskly on; and though they did not fear robbers in that country, Ali Baba began to think that they might prove such, and, without considering what might become of his asses, he resolved to save himself. He climbed up a large tree, whose branches, at a little distance from the ground, divided in a circular form so close to one another that there was but little space between them. He placed himself in the middle, from whence he could see all that passed without being seen. This tree stood at the bottom of a single rock, which was very high, and so steep and craggy that nobody could climb it.
The troop, who were all well mounted and well armed, came to the foot of this rock, and there dismounted. Ali Baba counted forty of them, and by their looks never doubted that they were thieves; nor was he mistaken; for they were a troop of banditti, who, without doing any harm in the neighbourhood, robbed at a distance, and made that place their rendezvous. Every man unbridled his horse, and tied him to a shrub, and hung about his neck a bag of corn. Then each of them took his saddle-bags, which seemed to Ali Baba to be full of gold and silver by the weight. One, whom he took to be their captain, came with his saddle-bags on his back under the tree in which Ali Baba was hidden, and, making his way through some shrubs, pronounced these words, 'Open, Sesame,' so distinctly, that Ali Baba heard him. As soon as the captain of the robbers had uttered these words, a door opened; and after he had made ail his troop go in before him, he followed them, and the door shut again of itself.
The robbers stayed some time within the rock, and Ali Baba, who feared that some or all of them together might come out and catch him if he endeavoured to make his escape, was obliged to sit patiently in the tree. He was nevertheless tempted once or twice to get down and mount one of their horses, and, leading another, to drive his asses before him to the town with all the haste he could; but uncertainty made him choose the safest way.
At last the door opened again, and the forty robbers came out. As the captain went in last, so he came out first, and stood to see them all pass by; and then Ali Baba heard him make the door fast by pronouncing the words, 'Shut, Sesame.' Every man went and bridled his horse, fastened his saddle-bags, and mounted again; and when the captain saw them all ready, he put himself at their head, and they returned the way they came.
Ali Baba did not immediately quit his tree; 'for,' said he to himself, 'they may have forgotten something and come back again, and then I shall be caught.' He followed them with his eyes as far as he could see them; and after that waited some time before he came down. Remembering the words the captain of the robbers had made use of to cause the door to open and shut, he had the curiosity to try whether his pronouncing them
would have the same effect. Accordingly, he went among the shrubs, and perceiving the door concealed behind them, he stood before it, and said, 'Open, Sesame.' The door instantly flew wide open.
All Baba, who expected a dark dismal place, was very much surprised to see it well lighted and spacious, cut out by men's hands in the form of a vault, which received the light from an opening at the top of the rock. He saw all sorts of provisions, and rich bales of merchandise, of silk, stuff, brocade, and valuable carpeting, piled one upon another; and, above all, gold and silver in great heaps, and money in great leather purses. The sight of all these riches made him believe that the cave had been occupied for ages by robbers, who succeeded one another.
Ali Baba did not stand long to consider what to do, but went immediately into the cave, and as soon as he was in, the door shut. But this did not disturb him, because he knew the secret of opening it again. He disregarded the silver, but made the best use of his time in carrying out as much of the gold coin, which was in bags, as he thought his three asses could carry. When he had done, he fetched his asses, which had strayed, and, when he had loaded them with the bags, laid the wood on them in such a manner that the bags could not be seen. When he had done, he stood before the door, and pronouncing the words, 'Shut, Sesame,' the door closed after him; for it had shut of itself while he was within, and remained open while he was out. He then made the best of his way to the town.
When Ali Baba got home, he drove his asses into a little yard, and shut the gates very carefully, threw off the wood that covered the bags, carried them into his house, and ranged them in order before his wife, who sat on a sofa.
His wife handled the bags, and finding them full of money, suspected that her husband had been stealing, insomuch that when he had brought them all in, she could not help saying, 'Ali Baba, have you been so unhappy as to ——'
'Be quiet, wife,' interrupted Ali Baba; 'do not frighten yourself: I am no robber, unless he can be one who steals from robbers. You will no longer have a bad opinion of me, when I tell you my good fortune.' Then he emptied the bags, which raised such a heap of gold as dazzled his wife's eyes; and when he had done, he told her the whole adventure from beginning to end; and, above all, recommended her to keep it secret.
The wife recovered, and, cured of her fears, rejoiced with her husband at their good luck, and wanted to count all the gold, piece by piece. 'Wife,' replied Ali Baba, 'you do not know what you are undertaking when you try to count the money; you will never have done. I will go and dig a hole, and bury it; there is no time to be lost.'
'You are in the right, husband,' replied the wife; 'but let us know, as nearly as possible, how much we have. I will go and borrow a small measure in the neighbourhood, and measure it, while you dig the hole.'
'What you are going to do is to no purpose, wife,' said Ali Baba; 'if you take my advice, you had better let it alone; but be sure to keep the secret, and do what you please.'
Away the wife ran to her brother-in-law Cassim, who lived close by, but was not then at home; and addressing herself to his wife, asked her to lend her a measure for a little while. Her sister-in-law asked her whether she would have a large of a small one. 'A small one,' said she. Cassim's wife bade her wait a little, and she would readily fetch one.
The sister-in-law did so, but as she knew very well Ali Baba's poverty, she was curious to know what sort of grain his wife wanted to measure, and bethought herself of artfully putting some suet at the bottom of the measure; then she brought it to her with the excuse that she was sorry that she had made her wait so long, but that she could not find it sooner.
Ali Baba's wife went home, set the measure upon the heap of gold, and filled it and emptied it, at a small distance upon the sofa till she had done: and she was very well satisfied to find that the number of measures amounted to so many as they did, and went to tell her husband, who had almost finished digging the hole. While Ali Baba was burying the gold, his wife, to show her punctuality to her sister-in-law, carried the measure back again, but without noticing that a piece of gold stuck at the bottom. 'Sister,' said she, giving it back to her again, 'you see that I have not kept your measure long: I am much obliged to you, and return it with thanks.'
As soon as Ali Baba's wife's back was turned, Cassim's wife looked at the bottom of the measure, and was inexpressibly surprised to find a piece of gold sticking to it. Envy immediately possessed her heart. 'What!' said she, 'has Ali Baba gold so plentifully as to measure it? Where has that poor wretch got all this gold?' Cassim, her husband, was at his shop, which he left always in the evening. His wife waited for him, and thought the time an age; so great was her impatience to tell him the news, at which he would be so much surprised.
When Cassim came home, his wife said to him, 'Cassim, you think yourself rich, but you are much mistaken; Ali Baba is infinitely richer than you; he does not count his money, but
measures it.' Cassim desired her to explain the riddle, which she did, telling him the stratagem by which she had made the discovery, and showing him the piece of money, which was so old a coin that they could not tell in what prince's reign it was coined.
Cassim, instead of being pleased at his brother's prosperity, could not sleep all that night for jealousy, but went to him in the morning before sunrise. Now Cassim, after he had married the rich widow, never treated Ali Baba as a brother, but forgot him, 'Ali Baba,' said he, 'you are very reserved in your affairs; you pretend to be miserably poor, and yet you measure gold!'
'What, brother?' replied Ah Baba; 'I do not know what you mean: explain yourself.'
'Do not pretend ignorance,' replied Cassim, showing him the piece of gold his wife had given him. 'How many of these pieces have you? My wife found this at the bottom of the measure you borrowed yesterday.'
By this Ali Baba perceived that Cassim and his wife, through his own wife's folly, knew what they had such good reason to keep secret; but what was done could not be recalled; therefore without showing the least surprise or vexation, he confessed all, and told his brother by what chance he had discovered this retreat of the thieves, and where it was; and offered him part of his treasure to keep the secret. 'I expected as much,' replied Cassim haughtily; 'but I will know exactly where this treasure is, and the signs and tokens by which I may go to it myself when I have a mind; otherwise I will go and inform against you, and then you will not only get no more, but will lose all you have got, and I shall have my share for my information.'
Ali Baba, more out of his natural good temper than frightened by the insulting threats of a barbarous brother, told him all he desired, and even the very words he was to make use of to go into the cave and to come out again.
Cassim, who wanted no more of Ali Baba, left him, resolving to be beforehand with him, and hoping to get all the treasure to himself. He rose early the next morning, a long time before sunrise, and set out with ten mules laden with great chests, which he designed to fill: intending to carry many more the next time, according to the riches he found; and followed the road which Ali Baba had told him. It was not long before he came to the rock, and found out the place by the tree. When he came to the door, he pronounced the words, 'Open, Sesame,' and it opened; and when he was in, shut again. In examining the cave, he was astonished to find much more riches than he had supposed from Ali Baba's story. He was so covetous and fond of riches that he could have spent the whole day in feasting his eyes with so much treasure, if the thought that he came to carry some away with him had not hindered him. He laid as many bags of gold as he could carry away by the entrance, and, coming at last to open the door, his thoughts were so full of the great riches he should possess that he could not think of the necessary word; but instead of 'Open, Sesame,' said, 'Open, Barley,' and was very much amazed to find that the door did not open, but remained fast shut. He named several sorts of grain,—all but the right one,—and the door would not open.
Cassim had never expected such an accident, and was so frightened at the danger he was in that the more he endeavoured to remember the word 'Sesame,' the more his memory failed, and he had as much forgotten it as if he had never heard it in his life. He threw down the bags with which he had laden himself, and walked hastily up and down the cave, without the least attention to all the riches that were around him. In this miserable condition we will leave him, bewailing his fate, and undeserving of pity.
About noon the robbers returned to their cave, and from some distance saw Cassim's mules straggling about the rock with great chests on their backs. Alarmed at this unexpected sight, they galloped full speed to the cave. They drove away the mules, which Cassim had neglected to fasten, and which strayed away through the forest so far that they were soon out of sight. The robbers never gave themselves the trouble of pursuing the mules: they were more concerned to know to whom they belonged. And while some of them searched about the rock, the captain and the rest went straight to the door, with naked sabres in their hands, and on their pronouncing the words, it opened.
Cassim, who heard the noise of the horses' feet from the middle of the cave, never doubted the coming of the robbers, and his approaching death; but he was resolved to make one effort to escape. To this end he stood ready at the door, and no sooner heard the word 'Sesame,' which he had forgotten, and saw the door open, than he jumped briskly out, and threw the captain down but could not escape the other robbers, who with their sabres soon deprived him of life.
The first care of the robbers after this was to go into the cave. They found all the bags which Cassim had brought to the door, and carried them all back again to their places, without perceiving what Ali Baba had taken away before. Then holding a council, and deliberating upon the matter, they guessed that Cassim, when he was in, could not get out again; but they could not imagine how he had got in. It came into their heads that he might have got down by the top of the cave; but the opening by which it received light was so high, and the top of the rock so inaccessible without—besides that, nothing showed that he had done so—that they believed it hopeless for them to find out. That he came in at the door they could not feel sure, unless he had the secret of making it open. In short, none of them could imagine which way he entered; for they were all persuaded that nobody knew their secret, little imagining that Ali Baba had watched them. But, however it had happened, it was a matter of the greatest importance to them to secure their riches. They agreed, therefore, to cut Cassim's body into four quarters, and to hang two on one side, and two on the other, inside the door of the cave, to terrify any person who might attempt the same thing. They had no sooner taken this resolution than they executed it; and when they had nothing more to detain them, they left the place of their retreat well closed. They mounted their horses, and went to range the roads again, and to attack the caravans they might meet.
In the meantime Cassim's wife was very uneasy when night came, and her husband had not returned. She ran to Ali Baba in a terrible fright, and said, 'I believe, brother-in-law, you know that Cassim, your brother, is gone to the forest, and why; it is now night, and he has not returned; I am afraid some misfortune has befallen him.' Ali Baba, who never doubted that his brother, after what he had said, would go to the forest, told her, without any reflection upon her husband's unhandsome behaviour, that she need not alarm herself, for that certainly Cassim would not think it proper to come into the town till the night was pretty far advanced.
Cassim's wife, considering how much it behoved her husband to keep this thing secret, was the more easily persuaded to believe him. She went home again, and waited patiently till midnight. Then her fear redoubled, and she repented of her foolish curiosity, and cursed her desire to penetrate into the affairs of her brother and sister-in-law. She spent all that night in weeping; and as soon as it was light, went to them, showing by her tears the reason of her coming.
Ali Baba did not wait for his sister-in-law to ask him to go and see what had become of Cassim, but went immediately with his three asses, begging her first to moderate her grief. He went to the forest, and when he came near the rock, having seen neither his brother nor his mules on the way, he was very much surprised to see some blood spilt by the door. This he took for an ill omen, but when he had pronounced the words, and the door opened, he was much more startled at the dismal sight of his brother in quarters. He was not long in determining how he should pay the last dues to his brother, and without remembering how little brotherly friendship he had shown to him, went into the cave to find something to wrap the remains in, put them on one of his asses and covered them over with wood. The other two asses he loaded with bags of gold, covering them with wood also as before. Then bidding the door shut, he came away; but was cautious enough to stop some time at the end of the forest, that he might not go into the town before nightfall. When he came home, he drove the two asses laden 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.
Ali Baba knocked at the door, which was opened by Morgiana, an intelligent slave, clever in inventing plans for the most difficult undertakings: and Ali Baba knew she was. 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 inviolable secrecy, which you will find is necessary both for your mistress' 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 and tell your mistress I want to speak to her, and mind what I say.'
Morgiana went to her mistress, and Ali Baba followed. 'Well, brother,' said she, with great impatience, 'what news do you bring me of my husband? I perceive no comfort in your face.'
'Sister,' answered Ali Baba, ' I cannot tell you anything before you hear my story from the beginning to the end, 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 tells me that my husband is dead; but as I know the necessity of the secrecy you require of me, I must constrain myself: say on, I will hear you.'
Then Ali Baba told his sister all about his journey, till he came to the finding of Cassim's body. 'Now,' said he, 'sister, I have something to tell you which will distress you much more, because it is what you so little expect; but it cannot now be remedied. We must now think of acting so that my brother may appear to have died a natural death. I think you may leave the management of it to Morgiana, and I will contribute all that lies in my power.'
What could Cassim's widow do better than accept this proposal? Ali Baba left the widow, and, recommending Morgiana to act her part well, then returned home with his ass.
Morgiana went out to an apothecary, and asked him for some lozenges which he prepared, and which were very efficacious in the most dangerous illnesses. The apothecary asked her who was ill at her master's. She replied, with a sigh, her good master Cassim himself: they knew not what his illness was, but 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 told everyone that her master was dead.
Next morning, soon after daylight appeared, Morgiana, who knew a certain old cobbler who opened his stall early, before other people, went to him, and bidding him good-morning, 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, though it was hardly daylight, and seeing what it was, 'this is good handling; 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 shall blindfold you when you come to a certain place.'
Baba Mustapha seemed to hesitate a little at these words. 'Oh, ho!' replied he, 'you would have me do something against my conscience, or against my honour.'
'Nay,' said Morgiana, putting another piece of gold into his hand, 'only come along with me, and fear nothing.'
Baba Mustapha went with Morgiana, who, after she had bound his eyes with a handkerchief, at the place she told him of, took him to her deceased master's house, and never unbandaged his eyes till he came in. 'Baba Mustapha,' said she, 'you must make haste and sew these pieces of my master together; and when you have done, I will give you another piece of gold.'
After Baba Mustapha had done, she blindfolded him again, gave him the third piece of gold as she had promised, imposed secrecy on him, and led him back to the place where she first bound his eyes. Then she pulled off the bandage, and let him go home, but watched till he was quite of sight, for fear he should have the curiosity to return and dodge her; and then went home.
Morgiana had scarcely got home before the iman and the other ministers of the mosque came. Four neighbours carried the coffin on their shoulders to the burying-ground, following the iman, who recited some prayers. Morgiana, as a slave of the deceased, followed, weeping, beating her breast, and tearing her hair; and Ali Baba came after with some neighbours.
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, so that nobody in the city had the least knowledge or suspicion of the reason of it.
Three or four days after the funeral, Ali Baba removed his few goods to his brother's widow's house; the money he had taken from the robbers he conveyed thither by night; and soon afterwards 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 shop, Ali Baba gave it to his own eldest son, who had been some time out of his apprenticeship to a great merchant, promising him withal that, if he managed well, he would soon give him a fortune to marry upon.
