阿里巴巴和四十大盗

Long long ago, a young man named Ali Baba lived in Persia. He was poor and kind. His elder brother, Cassim, was very rich. One day, Ali Baba went to the forest. He saw a troop of thieves come to a huge pile of rocks. " One, two, three. . . " Ali Baba counted. There were forty thieves. The captain said, " Open, Sesame. " Then a cave appeared in the rocks. They went in, and the door closed behind them.

Soon the door opened again, and the thieves came out. The captain said, " Shut, Sesame. " And the door closed. The thieves rode away. Ali Baba climbed down the tree. He went to the rocks and said, " Open, Sesame. " The door opened at once. Inside the cave, Ali Baba saw piles of gold and countless bags of money. He loaded many bags of gold on his donkey and went home.

Ali Baba told his wife of his good luck. She was very happy. " Let's weigh the gold. We should know how rich we are, " his wife said. They didn't have scales, so Ali Baba's wife went to borrow one from Cassim's wife.

Cassim's wife thought, " They are so poor. What do they have to weigh?" To find out, she put some honey on the bottom of the scale. After Ali Baba returned the scale, Cassim's wife found a piece of gold stuck to the honey. Then Cassim went to Ali Baba's house and asked, " Where did you get the gold?" Ali Baba told him the story. Cassim thought, " I'll find the gold there. "

Early the next morning, Cassim went to the forest and found the cave. He went in and grabbed many bags of gold. But when he was ready to go, he suddenly forgot the magic words. Then the thieves returned. They were very angry. They killed Cassim and left his body in the cave.

When the night fell, Cassim's wife got really worried. She told Ali Baba that Cassim went to the forest and hadn't come back. Ali Baba went to the cave and found Cassim's body. He was very sad. He put the body on the donkey and went home quickly. " We must hide the truth, " he told Cassim's wife. Cassim had a clever servant, Morgiana. She wept to everyone, " My master is dying! " So when the family said Cassim was dead, no one was surprised.