Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves One day when Ali Baba was in the Wood, he saw

forty men on horses. The men were thieves and carried heavy bags of gold. Ali Baba climbed a tree and hid. The captain said, 'Open Sesame' and a door in a rock opened. The men took the gold inside and the door shut. When the men rode away, Ali Baba climbed down and went to the rock. 'Open Sesame' he said. The place was full of golden coins and jewels. He filled some bags with coins and put them on his donkeys. 'Shut Sesame', he said and the door shut. He quickly took the gold home to his wife. His wife borrowed scales from Ali Baba's brother Casim, to weigh the gold. After she had done this, Ali Baba buried the gold in the ground. But there was a piece of gold stuck to the bottom of the scales when she returned them. Casim went to the rock and took ten donkeys with him. 'Open Sesame', he said and the door opened. He took as much gold and jewels as he could, but he forgot the magic word thieves came back and were very angry to see Casim inside. They killed him and went away. That night Ali Baba went to look for Casim. When he found Casim's body, he took it home on his donkey. The thieves went back but they could not find Casim's body. Two days later the captain sent two men to town. 'Did anyone die two days ago?' they asked. 'Yes', one man said. 'Casim died two days ago. Ali baba brought him home on his donkey'. Now they had found the man who knew their secret. They wanted to kilt Ali Baba so they put a cross on the door of Ali Baba's house. But Ali Baba's servant put a cross on every door in the town. The captain was angry when he saw a cross on every house. He found Ali's house at last. "May I stay here for one night? I have travelled a long distance today", he said. So the captain stayed at Ali Baba's house. When the thieves were eating, the lamp went out. Ali Baba told his servant to get some more oil. When she went to get oil from one of the oil jars, she found a man inside. There was a thief in every jar! She poured some boiling oil into each jar and killed all the thieves in the thirty-nine jars. The next morning the captain came to call the thieves. When he saw that they were all dead, he ran away. The servant told Ali Baba, who was very pleased. He rewarded her with a bag of gold.