A long time ago, in the Persian Empire, there was a man named Ali Baba.
He and his wife lived a poor life, surviving only by collecting firewood.
Ali Baba had an older brother who lived a wealthy and respectable life after marrying a rich widow.
One day, as usual, Ali Baba went up the mountain to chop wood. Unexpectedly, he saw a group of robbers.
Frightened, he quickly climbed a tree to hide.
To his surprise, the robbers stopped right under the tree where he was hiding.
They dismounted from their horses, each carrying a large sack, and gathered in front of a rock beneath the tree.
Ali Baba counted; there were exactly forty robbers.
The one who seemed to be the leader said, “Open Sesame,” and a door appeared in the rock.
They all went inside, and the door closed behind them.
Not long after, they came out with empty sacks.
The leader then said, “Close Sesame,” and the door shut.
The robbers mounted their horses and left.
After they were out of sight, Ali Baba climbed down the tree.
He had initially wanted to hurry home, but his curiosity got the better of him.
Could saying “Open Sesame” really open the door? And what was hidden inside?
So, he tried saying, “Open Sesame.”
To his amazement, the door opened.
What surprised him even more was that the cave inside was brightly lit, just like outside.
He walked into the cave and was stunned: piles of gold, silver, and jewels were stacked like small mountains.
This must be where the robbers stored their treasure!
Ali Baba took out a sack and filled it to the brim with gold coins.
He then walked out, said, “Close Sesame,” and the door closed.
When he got home, Ali Baba told his wife what had happened.
She was thrilled and said, “We should count how many coins we have, but there are too many to count. Your brother’s house has a measuring cup for measuring gold. I’ll borrow it to measure the coins.”
But Cassim, Ali Baba’s brother, wasn’t home, so his wife lent her the measuring cup.
When the cup was returned, Cassim’s wife was shocked to see a gold coin stuck to the bottom of the cup.
When Cassim came home, she told him, “It seems your brother has struck it rich. They have so much gold they need to use a measuring cup, but they were so poor before. Where did the gold come from?”
Cassim, filled with jealousy, immediately went to question his brother.
Ali Baba had no choice but to tell him everything.
Cassim threatened, “Give me half of the gold, or I’ll report you to the authorities!”
Ali Baba reluctantly agreed.
Cassim said, “Tell me where the robbers’ treasure is, or I’ll report you!”
Ali Baba truthfully told him.
The next morning, Cassim set off with ten donkeys, ten large chests, and ten big sacks, heading to the robbers’ treasure.
When he arrived at the cave entrance, he said, “Open sesame!” and sure enough, the door opened.
As soon as he entered the cave, Cassim’s eyes lit up: there was far more gold and jewels than Ali Baba had described.
Greedily, he filled the ten large sacks to the brim with treasure without stopping.
But when he reached the entrance, dragging his sacks of gold and jewels, he realized he had forgotten the magic words to open the door.
He tried again and again:
“Open rice!”
“Open wheat!”
“Open corn!”
…
but none of them worked.
Cassim was in a panic, pacing around.
Just then, he heard a noise outside and knew the robbers had returned.
He pulled out the knife he had brought, ready to charge out as soon as they entered.
But how could he, alone, defeat the robbers? He was quickly killed by them.
Meanwhile, Cassim’s wife, worried when he hadn’t returned by nightfall, began to fear something had happened. She hurried to find Ali Baba.
Ali Baba, also very anxious, set out early the next morning on a donkey to find his brother.
In the robbers’ cave, he found his brother’s lifeless body and sorrowfully took him home.
Ali Baba comforted his brother’s wife, promising to take care of her, and arranged for the funeral.
When the robbers returned to the cave and found the body gone, their leader said, “Someone must have taken him, meaning someone else knows about our treasure! We must find and kill him too, or neither our lives nor our fortune will be safe!”
So they sent one robber into the city to gather information, particularly looking for anyone holding a funeral.
The robber soon discovered Cassim’s funeral and, after some further inquiries, quickly identified Ali Baba.
He also learned that Ali Baba was staying at Cassim’s house, helping with the funeral arrangements.
The robber then marked the front of Cassim’s house with a symbol and returned to report.
Cassim’s house had a clever maid named Morgiana, who noticed the mark and thought it strange: Who drew this? It might be nothing, but it could also be a trap. Whatever the case, it’s always better to be cautious.
So she marked all the doors on the street with the same symbol.
When the robbers arrived, they saw that every door had the same mark and couldn’t figure out which house was the right one. Their plan failed.
The leader of the robbers decided to take matters into his own hands. He didn’t mark the door this time but carefully observed and memorized the house.
Then, he disguised himself as an oil merchant and came to the house with a cart of oil jars, knocking on the door.
Ali Baba opened the door.
The robber leader said, “I am an oil merchant. It’s getting dark, and I couldn’t find an inn. I have 39 jars of oil with me, which makes traveling difficult. Could you let me stay the night?”
In fact, the 39 large oil jars didn’t contain oil, but 39 robbers who were planning to kill Ali Baba that night.
Since the leader of the robbers was well disguised, Ali Baba didn’t recognize him.
Generously, Ali Baba agreed and even prepared a lavish dinner for him, letting him stay in a comfortable room.
However, the clever maid Morgiana, while passing through the courtyard, overheard the robbers talking inside the oil jars.
From their conversation, she realized they were the forty robbers.
She remained calm and quickly came up with a plan.
She tampered with the leader’s food, making him fall into a deep sleep right after dinner.
Then, she used a special smoke in the courtyard, which caused the robbers inside the oil jars to fall asleep as well.
Morgiana then called Ali Baba to come and see.
Only then did Ali Baba realize that the forty robbers had hidden in the oil jars to sneak in and kill him.
They reported the matter to the authorities, and the forty robbers were captured.
Later, the clever maid Morgiana married Ali Baba’s son.
👉 Very Short Story
Once there was a man named Ali Baba who was very poor and made a living by collecting firewood.
One day, while chopping wood in the mountains, he encountered a band of thieves and quickly hid.
He saw forty thieves arrive in front of a large rock and heard them say, “Open Sesame,” at which point a door in the rock miraculously opened.
After the thieves left, Ali Baba imitated them and said, “Open Sesame.”
The door opened, and Alibaba walked into the cave, astonished to discover that it was actually a treasure trove, piled high with all kinds of gold, silver, and jewels.
Ali Baba filled a sack with gold coins and took it home.
However, his brother found out. Despite being wealthy, having married a rich widow, his brother was greedy and threatened Ali Baba to reveal the location of the treasure and the magic words to open the door.
The brother went to the treasure, his eyes gleaming with greed. “Ali Baba is a fool,” he thought. “With so much treasure, he only took one sack of gold coins.”
He began filling chest after chest, unable to stop. Just then, the thieves returned and found someone trying to steal their treasure. Enraged, they killed him.
When Ali Baba saw that his brother had not returned, he grew worried and went to look for him, only to find him dead. Ali Baba had to carry his brother’s body home.
The thieves discovered that the person they had killed was missing, and concluded that someone else knew the location of the treasure and the magic words to open the door. To ensure their safety, they decided that this person must be killed, and so they sent out one of the thieves to find out where this person was.
The first thief who was sent out did some investigation and found the place where Alibaba lived. He marked a sign at the door.
The clever maid Morgiana noticed the mark and thought: This mark might be accidental, but it could also be intentional. To be safe, she wiped it off.
A second thief came and marked the door again, but Morgiana grew even more suspicious and marked the same sign on the doors of every house on the street.
Unable to identify the house, the thief leader decided to handle it himself. Instead of making a mark, he memorized the features of the house and its surroundings.
Then he disguised himself as an oil merchant and brought 39 barrels of oil to request lodging.
Ali Baba welcomed him warmly.
Morgiana, however, discovered that the barrels did not contain oil but hid 39 thieves.
She lit a special smoke that rendered the thieves unconscious.
She then alerted Ali Baba, who informed the authorities, and they captured the forty thieves.
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