Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves - Essay Example

One of the most celebrated fairy tales in the history of world literature, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” describes in the adventure tale of Ali Baba, a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. In fact, the fairy tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” forms one of the later narratives of The Arabian Nights. The story takes place in a town in Persia where Ali Baba and his brother named Cassim lived. Whereas Cassim became wealthy after his marriage to a rich woman, Ali Baba lived in utter poverty and had to look after his wife and children by cutting wood in a neighboring forest. The story then moves on to narrate how Ali Baba was fortunate to find the secrets of forty thieves and their treasure store. As he was watching the forty thieves opening and closing a cave sealed by magic, Ali Baba was successful in gaining the secret codes to get access to the treasure in the cave. Thus, Ali Baba managed to enter the secret cave with the words “Open Sesame” and found rich bales of merchandise such as silk, stuff-brocades, gold and silver, and money in leather purses. He took hold of as many bags of gold as he could and closed the door behind him by saying “Close, Sesame”. Thus, the beginning section of the story recounts how Ali Baba got hold of immense wealth which he brought home to his wife.

In the course of the fairy tale, Ali Baba’s sister-in-law and Cassim come to know about the enormous treasure that Ali Baba got from the secret cave of the thieves. He is forced to reveal his secrets to his rich and greedy brother, who goes to the forest to get hold of the secret treasures of the thieves. However, due to the excitement and greed of finding treasure inside the cave after he enters it, Cassim forgets the magic words to get out of the cave. Thus, he is found inside the cave by the thieves who kill him, and Ali Baba plans to present to the villagers the death of his brother as a natural one. With the help of a clever slave woman named Morgiana, he manages to convince the family and the village of Cassim’s death is a natural one. However, the thieves realize that there is another culprit also involved in the crime, and they manage to figure out the house of Ali Baba. Again, with the help of Morgiana, he is able to escape from the plans of the thieves to kill him. They together kill each of the thieves with the help of their cleverness, and Ali Baba prepares for the marriage of Morgiana with his son.