The Story of ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Notable Characters

  • ‘Ali Baba
  • Qasim, ‘Ali Baba’s brother
  • ‘Ali Baba’s wife
  • Qasim’s wife
  • The forty thieves
  • Marjana
  • Baba Mustafa

Plot Summary

Qasim married rich, and ‘Ali Baba married poor. They did not speak to each other because Qasim did not care to do so. One day, ‘Ali Baba hid and watched forty thieves enter a secret cavern by saying “Open, sesame.”

When he was sure they had been gone long enough, he used the code words and entered the secret cavern. Inside, he found a lot of gold and various treasures, so he took a few bags of gold and hid them on his mules, under the firewood he was planning to sell.

When he returned home, he told his wife what had happened, and she insisted that the gold be weighed so they know an estimate of how much they have. She borrows a scale from Qasim’s wife, who oils the scale.

After the gold has been weighed, she returns the scale, and Qasim’s wife notices a gold coin stuck to the scale. She tells Qasim, who demands that ‘Ali Baba tell him where he got the gold. Even though Qasim and his wife are wealthy, he is very greedy and envious.

‘Ali Baba explains the secret cavern to Qasim, and Qasim goes there himself. He loads up ten bags of gold, but forgets the code words to open the door, so he is trapped in the cavern when the thieves return. The thieves kill him and cut him into four pieces, leaving him in the cavern to prevent other people from trying to steal their treasure.

When ‘Ali Baba finds the body of his brother, he loads him up and takes the bags of gold that he was trying to take. He explains what happened to Qasim’s wife and offers to marry her. He tells the maid, Marjana, to find someone who can sew up the body of Qasim, so she blindfolds Baba Mustafa and brings him to the house to sew Qasim back together.

Qasim is buried normally, and everything seems fine for a while. Then, the thieves discover that someone has been in their cavern again, so they decide to find the thief and kill him. Two of them individually come to town an bribe Baba Mustafa into helping them find the house. When they marked the house, Marjana saw and added marks to the houses on either side to confuse whoever did it. Each of those thieves willingly sacrificed their lives for failing, and the captain decided to do it himself.

He found the house and memorized everything about it so he would not get confused. He hid his men in large oil drums and sought the hospitality of ‘Ali Baba’s household. Marjana was very clever, and when she discovered the thieves in the oil drums, she remained calm until she convinced them all that nothing was wrong, and then she killed them all with boiling oil.

The captain ran away, and she informed ‘Ali Baba about the attempt on his life during the night, as well as her role in stopping it. He gave her freedom and promised more rewards in the future for her clever thinking.

The captain came back again, but Marjana killed him before he could kill ‘Ali Baba. In return, ‘Ali Baba married Marjana to his son, and they lived happily ever after.