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 Ali Baba and
the Forty* Thieves 
* Note: Forty in Arabic usually means a lot: a thousand, an army.
Ali Baba was amazed to see a spacious cave, like a vaulted chamber cut out of the rock. It had a high roof with a slit in the top to allow in the light. 
Before him, lay a huge treasure of costly silks, brocades, gold, silver and money filled in leather bags stacked on the floor of the cave. He ignored the merchandise, made directly for the shining gold coins, and dragged bags of them to the mouth of the cave. When he had heaped enough he commanded the door to open again using the magic words. He untied his donkeys and brought them to the mouth of the cave and started loading them with bags of gold, and covered them cleverly with bundles of wood. After completing the task, he pronounced the words, "Shut Sesame!" The door silently closed behind him, and he set off towards his house in the city.
Once inside, he carried the bags and emptied the contents before his wife. His wife was speechless at the sight of the gold. Ali Baba related to her his wonderful adventure in the forest. They decided to bury the gold in his house before any prying eyes could see it. His wife wanted to count the money before her. But, that would take too long. She decided to borrow a measuring scoop from her sister-in-law, who was the wife of Qasim. Her house was only a short distance away. Ali Baba's wife asked Qasim's wife to loan her a small measure.
 Qasim's wife agreed to lend her the measure, but she was very curious to learn the type of grain they wanted to measure for she knew they were poor. She decided to put a sticky substance beneath the measure in such a way that it could not be seen. Her trick worked. When Ali Baba's wife returned the scoop, she turned it upside down, and sticking into the bottom was a single gold coin. Qasim's wife became green with envy. The gold coin had told her that Ali Baba had come in possession of a huge amount of wealth that he measures it instead of counting it. She was jealous with their good fortune. When Qasim-- here as Mr. Qasim Magoo, returned home that evening, she related him the entire story. Qasim also became jealous at his brother's unexpected fortune. The next morning, before sunrise, he went up to Ali Baba's house determined to solve the mystery. He forced Ali Baba to part with his secret. When Ali Baba realized that his secret was out, he knew it would be useless to hide the truth any longer. He told Qasim the whole story and agreed to share the riches with him only if he would keep the matter secret between them.
Qasim was a greedy man. He wanted to know the exact spot where this wealth was hidden. Ali Baba told him all that he needed to know. Qasim went home determined to take all the riches that remained in the cave for himself. The next day before daybreak, he set off towards the spot that had been described by his brother, with ten mules carrying large sacks on their backs. Before noon, he was standing beneath the tree, where his brother had hidden from the thieves the previous day.
Standing in front of the wall of rock, he shouted, "Open Sesame!" and to his delight, a great door swung open. He went into the cave and the door closed behind him.
Qasim had forgotten the Magic Words, when he had made his selections.
He called up: Open Wheat! Open Lentils! Open Peanuts! but alas! Nothing worked. Qasim was now in jail with all his loot. What will happen to him, now?
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Copyright, 2004 Global Education a Not for Profit 501(c)3 organization in Miami, Florida, focused the global understanding, through arts and literature wrapped in geography education.
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