Name:_____________________________ Section:_____________ A second thief tries his luck, doing the same thing as the first one,

but this time marking the door with red chalk. But Morgiana once
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves again spots the mark soon afterwards, and duly marks all the other
There were once two brothers living in Persia. Their names were Ali houses with red chalk. When the thieves turn up, they are thwarted
Baba and Kasim. When their father died, they quickly spent all of the again.
money they inherited from him, but Kasim married a fairly wealthy
woman, and was able to set himself up as a reasonably successful The chief imprisons the two thieves who failed in their missions,
merchant. Ali Baba, meanwhile, married a poor woman and made a shutting them up in the cave. (Note: this is a very stupid idea, since
living by selling firewood, although he was much poorer than Kasim. they are locked in there with all of the treasure, and know the
One day, Ali Baba is in the forest gathering wood when he sees password that will open the portal, so if they’d wanted to mutiny, they
some riders coming to a cave. They pronounce the words ‘Open, could have made off with all the treasure they could carry as soon as
Sesame!’ and a doorway opens in the side of the rock, and the men the other thieves had gone.) The chief hatches his own plan: once he
– whom Ali Baba realises are a group of forty thieves – go inside. has paid Baba Mustafa to lead him to the correct house, he
memorises its location, rather than marking it with chalk. He then
When they have left, Ali Baba tries saying the words ‘Open, takes the 37 thieves (the other two are imprisoned in the cave) and
Sesame!’, and sure enough, a portal opens up in the cave, and he goes to Ali Baba’s house, where, disguised in foreign clothes, the
walks inside to find it full of carpets, silks, and coins. These men are chief pretends to be a merchant from another country who is selling
clearly thieves who use the cave to store their treasure that they oil in the city.
have stolen. Ali Baba takes some of the coins from the cave,
remembering to utter the magic password, ‘Open, Sesame!’ so he
Can he spend the night in Ali Baba’s garden, and store his jars of oil
can escape the cave, and then ‘Close, Sesame!’ so the portal seals
in his shed? The jars are, of course, where the other thieves are lying
up behind him when he’s out. He then takes his donkeys back home,
in wait, ready to come out and join the attack on Ali Baba’s house. Ali
laden with the coins he’s taken from the cave. Ali Baba tells his wife
Baba agrees, and asks Morgiana to make some food for their guest.
about what he found, and they agree to keep the coins – and the
The chief decides to have a nap in the garden. When Morgiana runs
cave – a secret. But his wife wants to weigh the coins, so she goes
out of oil, she goes out into the shed to get some – only to discover
and borrows some scales from Kasim, Ali Baba’s brother.
the thieves hidden in the oil jars. They assume she is their chief,
however, and ask ‘Is it time to act yet?’ The quick-thinking servant
Kasim’s wife, wondering what her sister-in-law could want with some imitates the chief’s voice, telling them to wait as the time to act hasn’t
scales, smears some tallow on the bottom in the hope that some of arrived yet.
the items will be accidentally stuck to the scales when they’re
returned. Sure enough, when the scales are returned to her, one of
She locates a jar that actually does contain oil, and goes back into
the coins has stuck to the scales, and Kasim’s wife tells her husband
the house. Heating it up until it’s boiling hot, she then takes the oil out
that Ali Baba clearly has lots of coins he’s acquired from somewhere.
to the shed – and pours it into each and every one of the jars in
When Kasim confronts Ali Baba and threatens to tell the police about
which the thieves are concealed. They all burn to death. She then
the coins if his brother doesn’t tell him everything, he tells him all
locks the gate so the sleeping chief cannot escape. Morgiana tells Ali
about it, and Kasim rides out to the cave, remembering the magic
Baba about the thieves, and how she has saved him from them. He
words his brother told him about.
is grateful to her. While they are inside, the chief wakes up and
discovers all of the thieves dead, so he flees over the garden fence.
However, so overwhelmed is Kasim by all the treasure inside the
cave, that he forgets the password, ‘Open, Sesame!’, and cannot
The chief hatches another plan which involves playing a longer
escape the cave. When the forty thieves ride to the cave to drop off
game. Disguised once more, he sets up a market stall in the bazaar,
their latest spoils, they discover Kasim inside, and kill him, chopping
using an assumed name, and trades there, opposite Kasim’s
his body into four pieces. They leave these four pieces hanging
orphaned son, Ali Baba’s nephew. He befriends the young man and,
inside the cave, in case anyone else has discovered the cave and
over time, the nephew invites the robber captain to Ali Baba’s house
thinks they can steal things from it. They clearly have no time for
for a meal, as his guest. When Morgiana recognises the robber chief,
people stealing from them. (Oh, the irony!) When Kasim doesn’t
and spots the dagger he has concealed under his robes, she dresses
return home, his wife gets worried, and asks Ali Baba to go looking
up as an exotic dancer, complete with a dagger of her own, and asks
for him. Ali Baba has a feeling his brother has gone to the cave in the
her master if she can dance for them both. Ali Baba agrees, and
forest, and sure enough, when he gets there he discovers his
while she is walking around the table to collect coins from the men,
brother’s body in pieces.
she suddenly brings out her dagger and stabs the chief, killing him.
When she tells Ali Baba that this man was the same one that came
Taking it home, he gives the pieces to Kasim’s widow, who sends for to his house to kill him before, posing as an oil merchant, and she
a tailor, Baba Mustafa, who is adept at sewing things together. Ali reveals the dagger the man had concealed beneath his robes, Ali
Baba takes his brother’s widow in as his wife. At Ali Baba’s house, Baba rewards her by giving her his nephew’s hand in marriage. Ali
the tailor sews up Kasim’s body ready for burial. Meanwhile, the forty Baba grows very rich, thanks to all of the treasure in the cave, and –
thieves have returned to their cave and discovered that both the body in true fairy-tale fashion – they all live happily ever after.
and more of their treasure have gone. They decide they must find
who’s responsible and stop them. So the chief sends one of the
Comprehension Check:
thieves into town to track down the guilty man.

1. Who are the characters in the story? Describe their roles.

The thief happens to call upon the tailor who had sewn Kasim’s body
2. What makes Ali Baba and Cassim’s lives different?
back together. When the thief pays him, the merchant takes him to
3. What challenges does the characters encountered? How
the house where he sewed up the dead body. Marking the door of Ali
do they handled them?
Baba’s house with white chalk so he can find it again, the thief then
4. Who is your favorite character from the story? Explain your
returns to the forest. However, Ali Baba’s clever and sharp-witted
answer.
servant, a girl named Morgiana, spots the white chalk mark and
5. What do you think is the theme of the story?
suspects something’s going on. So she goes and marks all of the
6. How is the message of the story connected to our current
neighbouring doors with similar white chalk marks. Sure enough,
situation? Cite examples in relation to social issues.
when the thieves turn up to sneak into Ali Baba’s house and kill him,
7. What would be your alternative plot of the story? Choose a
they cannot work out which house is his, since all houses in the area
specific scene you want to alter and explain your reasons.
bear the same chalk mark!