9 The Tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

CHAPTER 9 The Tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves THE THIRTY-FIFTH NIGHT The following night, when Scheherazade was in bed, her sister Dinarzad said, "Please, sister, tell us one of your lovely little tales." The king added, "Let it be the most amazing tale yet." Scheherazade replied, "As you wish!"

第九章阿里巴巴和四十大盗的故事第三十五晚第二天晚上，当舍赫拉扎德躺在床上时，她的妹妹迪娜扎德说：“姐姐，请你给我们讲一个你可爱的小故事吧。” 国王补充说：“让它成为最神奇的故事。” 山鲁佐德回答说：“如你所愿！”

It is said, O King, that there once lived in a town of Persia two brothers, Kasim and Ali Baba. When their father died, Kasim Baba married the daughter of a rich merchant, and when the merchant died, Kasim inherited his money. Ali married a woman named Morgiana, who was very poor but very clever, and he had to earn his living by gathering wood in the forest. One day, while he was loading his wood to take to town, Ali Baba heard the sound of hooves and looked up to see forty horsemen approaching. The sight of the men scared Ali Baba, and he quickly hid in the bushes. As the men came nearer, Ali Baba saw that their horses were loaded with riches. They rode up to the face of a great rock, and the leader of the men cried, "Open sesame!"

据说，国王啊，从前在波斯的一个城镇里住着两兄弟，卡西姆和阿里巴巴。 父亲死后，卡西姆·巴巴娶了一个富商的女儿，商人死后，卡西姆继承了他的财产。 阿里娶了一个名叫莫吉安娜的女人，她很穷但很聪明，他不得不在森林里捡木头谋生。 有一天，当阿里巴巴把他的木头装到城里去的时候，他听到了马蹄声，抬头一看，看到四十名骑兵正在靠近。 看到这些人把阿里巴巴吓坏了，他迅速躲进了灌木丛。 当这些人走近时，阿里巴巴看到他们的马载满了财富。 他们骑马来到一块大岩石前，首领喊道：“芝麻开门！”

Suddenly a wide door appeared in the rock, opening into a cave. The forty thieves rode in, and the door closed behind them. Ali Baba was amazed by what he had seen. Soon the door opened again and the men left, riding back the way they had come. When Ali Baba was sure the men had gone, he approached the rock and repeated the words "Open sesame!" The doorway appeared, and Ali Baba went

突然，岩石上出现了一扇宽大的门，通向一个山洞。 四十个小偷骑了进来，门在他们身后关上了。 阿里巴巴对他所看到的感到惊讶。 不一会儿，门又开了，男人们骑着马原路返回。 当阿里巴巴确信那些人已经走了，他走近岩石，重复着“芝麻开门！”门口出现了，阿里巴巴走了

inside. He found himself in a great room full of beautiful carpets, rolls of silk, and piles of gold and jewels. Ali Baba packed up as many gold coins as he could carry and rode home to his wife. Ali Baba borrowed a scale from his brother so he could weigh the gold. His sister-in-law was curious to see what Ali Baba wanted to measure, so she coated the scale with wax. When the scale was returned, she found a gold coin stuck to it. She told her husband that Ali Baba was now rich and showed him the gold coin. Kasim Baba went to talk to his brother, and Ali Baba told him everything that had happened at the great rock. Then Kasim Baba went to the cave alone and repeated, "Open sesame!" The wide doorway opened, just as Ali Baba had said, and Kasim Baba went in, amazed at all the riches he saw before him. He spent a lot of time there, gathering so much treasure that he could barely move under the weight of it. The

在里面。他发现自己进入了一个大房间，里面摆满了漂亮的地毯、成卷的丝绸和成堆的黄金和珠宝。 阿里巴巴打包了尽可能多的金币，骑着马回家找他的妻子。 阿里巴巴从他哥哥那里借了一个秤，这样他就可以称一下金子了。 他的嫂子很好奇，想知道阿里巴巴想测量什么，所以她在秤上涂了一层蜡。 天平还回来时，她发现上面粘着一枚金币。 她告诉丈夫阿里巴巴现在很富有了，并给他看了那枚金币。 卡西姆爸爸去跟他哥哥说话，阿里巴巴把在大岩石上发生的一切都告诉了他。 然后，卡西姆巴巴独自来到山洞，重复道：“芝麻开门！”就像阿里巴巴说的那样，宽阔的门打开了，卡西姆巴巴走了进去，对他面前的财富感到惊讶。 他在那里花了很多时间，收集了很多财宝，以至于他在这些财宝的重压下几乎无法移动。 的

doorway had closed behind him, and Kasim Baba called out the words "Open barley!" The doorway stayed closed. Kasim Baba had forgotten the spell. He called out many more things, but the door did not move. Kasim Baba was trapped inside. The next day, the forty thieves returned and found Kasim Baba still there. They quickly did away with him. Ali Baba suspected what had happened. He gave his brother a burial and returned to the cave to take a few more bags of gold. The forty thieves began to notice that some of their gold was missing. Their leader went to the town to see whether any man had died there recently and, if so, who. Once the thieves knew this, they might discover who had been working with the dead man. The thieves' leader soon learned about Kasim, then found his way to Ali Baba's door. He marked the door with white chalk and returned to the cave to report all he learned.

门口在他身后关上了，卡西姆巴巴喊道：“大麦开！”门一直关着。 卡西姆巴巴忘记了咒语。 他又喊了许多东西，但门没有动。 卡西姆·巴巴被困在里面。 第二天，四十个小偷回来了，发现卡西姆巴巴还在那里。 他们很快就把他干掉了。 阿里巴巴怀疑发生了什么。 他为他的兄弟举行了葬礼，然后又回到山洞里取了几袋金子。 这40个小偷开始注意到他们的一些金子不见了。 他们的首领到镇上去，看看最近有没有人死在那里，如果死了，是谁。 一旦小偷们知道了这一点，他们可能会发现是谁在和死者合作。 小偷的首领很快就知道了卡西姆的事，然后找到了阿里巴巴的门。 他用白粉笔在门上做了记号，然后回到洞里报告他所知道的一切。

Ali Baba's wife saw the chalk mark on the door and suspected danger. She took a piece of white chalk and marked all the other doors in the town. That night, the forty thieves rode into town, intending to kill Ali Baba, but when they saw that all the doors had been marked with white chalk they became greatly confused. The next day, the leader returned and again found his way to Ali Baba's door. Being careful to remember it this time, he went back to the cave, and the thieves prepared forty large jars to hide in. They filled one jar with mustard seeds and hid thirty-nine of the thieves in the others. The leader loaded these jars onto mules and rode into town, pretending to be an oil merchant. He came to Ali Baba's house and knocked on the door, begging to be let in and given a room for the night. Ali Baba took the man in and stored the jars with his animals behind the house. They were eating dinner when Morgiana went out behind

阿里巴巴的妻子看到门上的粉笔记号，怀疑有危险。 她拿起一支白粉笔，在镇上所有其他的门上做了记号。 那天晚上，四十名小偷骑马进城，打算杀死阿里巴巴，但是当他们看到所有的门都用白粉笔做了标记时，他们变得非常困惑。 第二天，领袖回来了，再次找到了阿里巴巴的门口。 这次他小心翼翼地记住了这一点，回到了山洞，小偷们准备了40个大罐子藏在里面。 他们在一个罐子里装满了芥菜籽，把三十九个小偷藏在另一个罐子里。 首领把这些罐子装上骡子，骑着马进城，假装是一个石油商人。 他来到阿里巴巴的家，敲了敲门，请求让他进去，给他一个房间过夜。 阿里巴巴把这个人带了进来，把罐子和他的动物放在房子后面。 他们正在吃晚饭，莫吉安娜从后面出去了