Once upon a time, a long time ago, in one Persian city there lived two brothers - Kasim and Ali Baba. When their father died, they divided the money that was left after him, and Kasim began selling expensive fabrics and silk robes in the market. He knew how to praise his goods and invite customers, and his shop was always crowded with a lot of people. Qasim became richer and richer and, when he had accumulated a lot of money, he married the daughter of the chief judge, whose name was Fatima.
But Ali Baba did not know how to trade and make money, and he was married to a poor girl named Zeinab. They quickly spent almost everything they had, and one day Zeinab said:
- Listen, Ali Baba, we will soon have nothing to eat. You need to come up with something, otherwise we will die of hunger.
“Okay,” Ali Baba answered, “I’ll think about what we should do.”
He went out into the garden, sat down under a tree and began to think. Ali Baba thought for a long time and finally came up with an idea. He took the money he had left, went to the market and bought two donkeys, an ax and a rope.
And the next morning he went outside the city, to a high mountain covered with dense forest, and spent the whole day chopping wood. In the evening, Ali Baba tied firewood into bundles, loaded his donkeys with them and returned to the city. He sold firewood at the market and bought bread, meat and herbs.
From then on, Ali Baba went to the mountain every morning and chopped wood until the evening, and then sold it in the market and bought bread and meat for himself and Zeinab. And then one day he was standing under a tall tree, about to cut it down, and suddenly he noticed that the dust on the road had risen to the very sky. And when the dust cleared, Ali Baba saw that a detachment of horsemen, dressed in armor and chain mail, was rushing straight towards him; Spears were tied to the saddles, and long, sharp swords glittered on their belts. A one-eyed man with a black beard rode ahead on a tall white horse.
Ali Baba was very scared. He quickly climbed to the top of the tree and hid in its branches. And the horsemen rode up to the place where he had just stood and dismounted. Each of them took a heavy bag from the saddle and put it on his shoulders; then they stood in a row, waiting for the one-eyed man - their chieftain - to order.
“What kind of people are these and what do they have in their bags?” thought Ali Baba. “They are probably thieves and robbers.”
He counted the people, and it turned out that there were exactly forty of them, except for the chieftain. The chieftain stood in front of his men and led them to a high rock, in which there was a small door made of steel; it was so overgrown with grass and thorns that it was almost invisible.
The chieftain stopped in front of the door and shouted loudly:
- Simsim, open the door!
And suddenly the door in the rock swung open, the chieftain entered, followed by his people, and the door slammed behind them again.
“What a miracle!” thought Ali Baba. “After all, simsim is a small plant. I know that oil is squeezed out of it, but I didn’t know that it could open doors!”
Ali Baba really wanted to take a closer look at the magic door, but he was so afraid of the robbers that he did not dare to get down from the tree.
A little time passed, and suddenly the door swung open again, and forty robbers came out with empty sacks. As before, the one-eyed chieftain walked ahead. The robbers tied empty bags to their saddles, jumped on their horses and rode off.
Then Ali Baba, who was already tired of sitting crouched on a tree, quickly descended to the ground and ran up to the rock.
“What will happen if I also say: “Simsim, open the door?” he thought. “Will the door open or not? I’ll try!”
He plucked up his courage, took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his voice:
- Simsim, open the door!
And immediately the door swung open in front of him, revealing the entrance to a large cave.
Ali Baba entered the cave, and as soon as he crossed the threshold, the door slammed behind him again. Ali Baba felt a little scared: what if the door would no longer open and he couldn’t get out? But he still went forward, looking around in surprise.
He saw that he was in a large room and there were many tables along the walls, lined with golden dishes under silver lids. Ali Baba smelled the delicious smell of food and remembered that he had not eaten anything since the morning. He went to one table, took the lids off the dishes, and his mouth began to water - on the dishes were all the dishes one could want: fried chicken, rice pilaf, pancakes with jam, halva, apples and many other tasty things.
Ali Baba grabbed the chicken and instantly gnawed it. Then he began to eat the pilaf, and after finishing it, he plunged his hands into the halva, but could no longer eat a single piece - he was so full. After resting a little, he looked around and saw the entrance to another room. Ali Baba entered there and closed his eyes. The whole room sparkled and glittered - there was so much gold and jewelry in it. Gold dinars and silver dirhams lay in piles right on the ground, like stones on the seashore. Precious dishes - cups, trays, dishes, decorated with expensive stones - stood in all corners. Bales of silk and fabrics - Chinese, Indian, Syrian, Egyptian - lay in the middle of the room; sharp swords and long spears hung along the walls, which would be enough for a whole army.
Ali Baba's eyes widened, and he did not know what to do: he would try on a red silk robe, then he would grab a golden tray and look into it as if in a mirror, or he would pick up a handful of gold coins and pour them over.
Finally he calmed down a little and said to himself:
“This money and jewelry were probably stolen, and the robbers who were just here put them here.” These riches do not belong to them, and if I take a little gold for myself, there will be nothing wrong with it. After all, there is so much of it here that it is impossible to count it.
Ali Baba tucked the hem of his robe and, kneeling down, began to pick up the gold. He found two empty bags in the cave, filled them with dinars, dragged them to the door and shouted:
- Simsim, open the door!
The door immediately opened.
Ali Baba left the cave and the door slammed behind him. Thorn bushes and branches intertwined and hid her from view. Ali Baba's donkeys were grazing on the lawn. Ali Baba put bags of gold on them, covered them with firewood on top and went home.
When he returned, it was already night and an alarmed Zeinab was waiting for him at the gate.
-What were you doing in the forest for so long? she asked. “I thought you were torn to pieces by wolves or hyenas.” Why did you bring the firewood home and not sell it?
“Now you will find out everything, Zeinab,” said Ali Baba. “Help me carry these bags into the house and don’t make any noise so the neighbors don’t hear us.”
Zeinab silently put one of the bags on her back, and she and Ali Baba entered the house. Zeinab closed the door tightly behind her, lit the lamp and untied the bag. Seeing the gold, she turned pale with fear and shouted:
- What have you done, Ali Baba? Who did you rob?
“Don’t worry, Zeinab,” said Ali Baba. “I didn’t rob anyone and now I’ll tell you what happened to me today.”
He told her about the robbers and the cave and, finishing his story, said:
- Look, Zeinab, hide this gold and don’t tell anyone about it. People will think that we really robbed someone, and they will report us to the Sultan, and then he will take all our gold and put us in a dungeon. Let's dig a hole and hide the gold there.
They went out into the garden, dug a hole in the moonlight, put all the gold there, and then covered the hole with earth again.
Having finished this matter, Ali Baba went to bed. Zeinab also lay down, but she tossed and turned from side to side for a long time and thought:
“How much gold did Ali Baba bring? As soon as it dawns, I will count all the coins to the last!”
The next morning, when Ali Baba, as always, went to the mountain, Zeinab ran to the hole, dug it out and began to count the dinars.
But there were so many of them that Zeinab could not count. She didn't count very well and kept getting confused. Finally she got tired of it, and she said to herself:
“I’d rather take a measure and measure the gold.” But I don’t have any measures. I'll have to ask Fatima.
And Kasim and Fatima lived in a neighboring house. Zeinab immediately ran towards them. She entered the hallway and said to Fatima:
- Do me a favor and lend me some measure for a while. I will return it to you today.
“Okay,” answered Fatima, “but my neighbor has my measure.” Now I'll go get it and give it to you. Wait here in the hallway, your feet are dirty, and I just laid out clean mats.
Fatima made all this up. And the measure with which they measured the cereal hung in its place - in the kitchen, above the fireplace, and she had not changed the mats for ten days. In fact, she just really wanted to know why Zeinab suddenly needed a measure, because Fatima knew well that Ali Baba had not had any cereal in her house for a long time. But she didn’t want to ask Zeinab: let Zeinab not imagine that Fatima was interested in her affairs. And she came up with a way to find out without asking. She smeared the bottom of the measure with honey, and then Zeinab took it out and said:
- Here, take it. Just be sure to return it safely and no later than by sunset. I need to measure the lentils myself.
“Thank you, Fatima,” said Zeinab and ran home. She raked out all the gold from the pit and began to hastily measure it, looking around all the time.
There were ten measures of gold and another half measure.
Zeinab returned the measure to Fatima and left, bowing to the ground. Fatima immediately grabbed the measure and looked into it. And suddenly she saw: some small light circle stuck to the bottom of the measure. It was a brand new gold dinar.
Fatima couldn't believe her eyes. She turned the coin between her fingers and even tried it on her teeth: was it fake? But the dinar was real, made of pure gold.
- So this is what kind of cereal it is! - Fatima screamed. “They are so rich that Zeinab even measures gold with a standard.” They probably robbed someone and are pretending to be poor. I wish Kasim would return from the shop soon! I will definitely tell him everything. Let him go to Ali Baba and threaten him well! Ali Baba will probably share it with him.
Fatima sat at the gate all day, waiting for Kasim. When it began to get dark, Kasim returned from the shop, and Fatima, without even allowing him to take off his turban, shouted:
- Listen, Kasim, what news do I have! Your brother Ali Baba pretends to be poor, but it turns out he is richer than you and me!
- What did you come up with? - Kasim got angry. “There is no one richer than me on our street, or in the whole block.” It was not for nothing that I was chosen as the market foreman.
- Don't you believe me? - Fatima was offended. - Well, tell me, how do you count money when you count your income in the evenings?
“I usually think so,” answered Kasim. — I put dinars and dirhams in piles and count them. And when I count a hundred, I bend my finger so as not to make a mistake. Why are you asking such stupid things?
- No, not nonsense! - Fatima screamed. “You count dinars in tens and hundreds, but Zeinab, your brother’s wife, counts in measures.” This is what she left in my measurements.
And Fatima showed him the dinar that stuck to the bottom of the measure.
Kasim examined him from all sides and said:
“Don’t let me be called Kasim if I don’t find out where Ali Baba got the money.” By cunning or force, I will take them away from him!
And he immediately went to his brother. Ali Baba had just returned from the mountain and was resting on a stone bench in front of the house. He was very happy with Kasim and said:
- Welcome, Kasim! You don't visit me often. What brings you to me today, and at such a late hour?
“Good evening, my brother,” Kasim said importantly. “I was brought to you by great resentment.”
Resentment? - Ali Baba was surprised. - How could I, poor woodcutter, offend the market foreman?
“You are richer than me now,” said Kasim. - You measure gold by measures. This is what my wife found at the bottom of the measure she lent to your wife Zeinab. Don't lie to me: I know everything! Why did you hide from me that you got rich? Perhaps you robbed someone?
Ali Baba realized that Kasim had discovered his secret and decided to confess everything.
“Oh my brother,” he said, “I did not want to deceive you at all.” The only reason I didn’t tell you anything was because I was afraid of thieves and robbers who could kill you.
And he told Kasim about the cave and about the robbers. Then he extended his hand to his brother and said:
“Oh my brother, you and I are both sons of the same father and the same mother.” Let's divide everything I bring from the cave in half. I know how to enter there and how to protect myself from robbers. Take half of the money and treasures for yourself - this will be enough for you for the rest of your life.
- I don’t want half, I want all the money! - Kasim shouted and pushed Ali Baba’s hand away. “Tell me quickly how to enter the cave, and if you don’t tell me, I will report you to the Sultan, and he will order you to cut off your head.”
- Why are you threatening me with the Sultan? - said Ali Baba. “Go to the cave if you want, but you still won’t be able to take away all the money and treasures.” Even if you carried gold and silver from the cave for a whole year, without resting day or night, you would not even take away half of what is there!
He told Kasim how to find the cave, and told him to remember the words well: “Simsim, open the door!”
“I won’t forget,” said Kasim. - Simsim... simsim... It seems to be a plant, like hemp. I will remember.
The next morning, Qasim saddled ten mules, placed two large chests on each mule, and went into the forest. He let his mules graze at the edge of the forest, found a door in the rock and, standing in front of it, shouted with all his might:
- Hey, Simsim, open the door!
The door swung open. Kasim entered and the door slammed behind him again. Kasim saw a cave full of treasures and completely lost his head with joy. He danced on the spot, then rushed forward and began to grab everything that came to hand - armfuls of expensive fabrics, pieces of gold, jugs and dishes, then threw them and tore golden swords and shields from the walls, grabbed handfuls of money and stuck them in his bosom. So he rushed around the cave for an hour, but could not take away everything that was there. Finally he thought:
“I have a lot of time. I’ll take sack after sack out of here until I’ve loaded all the mules, and then I’ll come again. I’ll come here every day until I take everything, to the last coin!”
He grabbed the bag of money and dragged it towards the door. The door was locked. Kasim wanted to say the magic words that would open the door, but suddenly it turned out that he had forgotten them. He only remembered that he had to say the name of some plant. And he shouted:
- Pea, open the door!
But the door didn't open. Kasim was a little scared. He thought and shouted again:
- Wheat, open the door!
The door didn't move. Out of fear, Kasim could no longer remember anything and shouted the names of all the plants he knew:
- Oats, open the door!
- Hemp, open the door!
- Barley, open the door!
But the door did not open. Kasim realized that he would never get out of the cave again. He sat down on a bag of gold and began to cry.
At this time, robbers robbed rich merchants and took a lot of gold and expensive goods from them. They decided to hide it all in a cave. Approaching the forest, the chieftain noticed mules at the edge of the forest, peacefully nibbling the grass.
-What kind of mules are these? - said the chieftain. “There are chests tied to their saddles.” Someone must have found out about our cave and wants to rob us!
He ordered the robbers not to make noise and, approaching the door, said quietly:
- Simsim, open the door!
The door opened and the robbers saw Kasim, who was trying to hide behind a bag of money. The chieftain rushed forward, swung his sword and cut off Kasim's head.
The robbers left Kasim's body in the cave, and they themselves caught the mules and, driving them in front of them, rode away.
And Fatima sat at the window all day - still waiting for the mules with chests full of gold to appear. But time passed, and Kasim was still missing. Fatima waited a day, waited a night, and in the morning she ran to Ali Baba crying.
Ali Baba said:
- Don't worry, Fatima. Now I’ll go to the mountain myself and find out what happened to Kasim.
He immediately mounted a donkey and rode into the forest, straight to the cave. And as soon as he entered the cave, he saw that his brother was lying dead on the bags of money.
Ali Baba carried Kasim's body out of the cave, put it in a bag and sadly went home, thinking to himself:
“This is what greed brought Kasim to! If he had agreed to share the money with me and did not want to take it all for himself, he would still be alive.”
Ali Baba gave Kasim a magnificent funeral, but did not tell anyone how his brother died. Fatima told everyone who accompanied Kasim to the cemetery that her husband was torn to pieces by wild animals in the forest.
When Kasim was buried, Ali Baba said to Fatima:
“You know what, Fatima, sell me your house and we’ll live together.” Then I won’t have to build a new house, and you won’t be so scared to live alone. Fine?
“Oh Ali Baba,” said Fatima, “my home is your home, and everything I have belongs to you.” Just let me live with you - I don’t need anything else.
“Well, that’s good,” said Ali Baba, and he, Zeinab and Fatima began to live together.
Ali Baba went to the cave several more times and took out a lot of gold, precious clothes, carpets and dishes. Every day, food was prepared in his kitchen not only for himself, Zeinab and Fatima, but also for all his poor neighbors who had nothing to eat. And when the neighbors thanked him, he said:
“Come tomorrow and bring all the poor people with you.” And there is nothing to be grateful for. I am treating you with the money of my brother Kasim, who was eaten by wolves on the mountain. He was a rich man.
Soon all the poor and beggars began to come to Ali Baba’s house for lunch and dinner, and the inhabitants of the city loved him very much.
This is what happened to Ali Baba, Zeinab and Fatima.
As for the robbers, a few days later they again arrived at the cave and saw that the body of their enemy had disappeared, and the bags of money were scattered on the ground.
- Someone came into our cave again! - the chieftain cried. “I recently killed one enemy, but it turns out there are several of them!” Let me not be Hasan One-Eyed if I do not kill everyone who wants to profit from our booty. Brave robbers! Is there a daredevil among you who is not afraid to go to the city and find our offender? Let no coward or weak take on this matter! Only the cunning and dexterous can fulfill it.
“O ataman,” said one of the robbers, “no one but me will go into the city and hunt down our enemy.” It’s not for nothing that my name is Akhmed Rip-off the head. And if I don't find him, do whatever you want with me.
“Okay, Akhmed,” said the chieftain. - I give you one day. If you find our enemy, I will appoint you as my assistant, and if you don’t find it, it’s better not to come back. I'll cut off your head.
“Be calm, chieftain, not a day will pass before you find out where to find your enemy,” said Ahmed. - Wait for me here in the forest this evening.
He threw off his robber's dress, put on a blue silk robe, red morocco boots and a skullcap and went into the city.
It was early morning. The market was still empty and all the shops were closed; only the old shoemaker was sitting under his canopy and, having laid out his tools, was waiting for customers.
Ahmed Tear off the head approached him and, bowing, said:
- Good morning, uncle. How early you went to work! If I hadn't seen you, I would have had to wait a long time for the market to open.
- What do you need? - asked the old shoemaker, whose name was Mustafa.
“I’m a stranger in your city,” Ahmed answered. “Only this night I came here and waited until dawn, until the city gates were opened. My brother, a rich merchant, lived in this city. I came to him from distant countries to see him, and, approaching the city, I heard that he had been found dead in the forest. Now I don’t know how to find his relatives so that I can cry about him with them.
“You say your brother was a rich merchant?” - asked the shoemaker. — A merchant was recently buried in our city, and I was at the funeral. The merchant's wife said that he was torn to pieces by wolves, but I heard from one person that this was not true, and that this merchant was actually found killed in the forest, without a head, and was secretly brought home in a sack.
Ahmed Sorvi-head was very happy. He realized that this rich merchant was the man whom the chieftain killed.
-Can you take me to his house? - Ahmed asked the shoemaker.
“I can,” answered the shoemaker. - But what should I do with work? What if someone comes to the market and wants to order shoes for me, but I won’t be there?
“Here’s a dinar for you,” said Ahmed. “Take it for the loss, and when you show me my brother’s house, I’ll give you another dinar.”
- Thank you for your generosity! - exclaimed the delighted Mustafa. “To earn this dinar, I need to put patches on my shoes for a whole month.” Let's go!
And the shoemaker led Ahmed to the house where Kasim lived.
- This is the house where the murdered merchant lived. His brother has now settled here,” Mustafa said.
“That’s exactly what I need!” - thought Ahmed. He gave Mustafa a dinar, and Mustafa left, bowing and thanking him. All the houses in this city were surrounded by high walls, so that only gates opened onto the street. It was not easy to remember an unfamiliar house.
“We need to mark this house,” Ahmed said to himself, “so that we can recognize it later.”
He took a piece of chalk from his pocket and put a cross on the gate of the house. And then he went back and joyfully said to himself:
“Now I will remember this house and bring my comrades to it tomorrow.” Be my chieftain's assistant!
As soon as Ahmed managed to leave, Ali Baba’s servant named Marjana, a smart and brave girl, came out of the house. She was getting ready to go to the market to buy bread and meat for lunch. Closing the gate, she turned around and suddenly saw a cross drawn with chalk on the gate.
“Who decided to dirty our gates?” she thought. “Probably street boys. No, the cross is too high! It was drawn by an adult, and this man is planning an evil deed against us. He wants to remember our house in order to kill or rob us. I need to confuse him.”
Marjana returned home, took out a piece of chalk and put crosses on all the neighboring houses. And then she went about her business.
And the robber ran into the cave and shouted:
- Listen, chieftain! Listen up everyone! I found the house of our enemy and marked it with a cross. Tomorrow I will show it to you.
- Well done, Akhmed Rip your head off! - said the chieftain. - Be ready by tomorrow morning. We will hide sharp knives under our robes and go with Ahmed to the house of our enemy.
“We listen and obey you, chieftain,” said the robbers, and everyone began to congratulate Akhmed on his success.
And Ahmed Tear off his head walked proudly and said:
- You'll see, I will be the ataman's assistant.
He did not sleep all night, waiting for the morning, and as soon as it was dawn, he jumped up and woke up the robbers. They put on wide Bukhara robes, white turbans and shoes with curved toes, hid knives under their robes and went into the city. And everyone who saw them said:
- These are Bukharians. They came to our city and are inspecting it.
Akhmed and his chieftain walked ahead of everyone. Ahmed led his comrades around the city for a long time and finally found the right street.
“Look,” he said, “this house.” You see there is a cross on the gate.
“And here’s another cross,” said another robber. - In what house does our enemy live?
- Yes, there’s a cross on that house! And that's it! And here is the cross! Yes, there are crosses on all the houses! - the rest of the robbers suddenly shouted.
The chieftain got angry and said:
- What does this mean? Someone outsmarted you, Ahmed! You did not fulfill the instructions, and you will no longer have to rob us. I'll cut off your head myself!
And when they returned to the forest, the cruel chieftain cut off Akhmed's head. And then he said:
“Who else will undertake to find the house of our enemy?” Who has the courage? Let the lazy or weak not try to do this!
“Let me try, O Ataman,” said one of the robbers, Mohammed the Bald. “I’m an old man, and you can’t fool me so easily.” And if I do not fulfill the instructions, execute me in the same way as you executed Ahmed.
“Go, Mohammed,” said the chieftain. “I’ll wait for you until tomorrow evening.” But look: if you do not find and show me the house of our enemy, you will have no mercy.
The next morning, Muhammad the Bald went to the city. Ahmed told the robbers about Mustafa, and Muhammad went straight to the market to the old shoemaker. He had the same conversation with him as Ahmed, and promised him two dinars if Mustafa showed him the house of the murdered merchant. And Mustafa, overjoyed, brought him to the very gate.
“I’ll have to mark the house somehow,” thought Mohammed. He took a piece of brick that was lying on the road and drew a small cross on the gate in the upper right corner.
“No one will see him here except me,” he thought. “I’ll quickly run after the chieftain and bring him here.”
And he quickly went back to his comrades. And Marjana was just returning from the market. Seeing a man sneaking away from the gate of their house and running along the road, she realized that something was wrong here.
Marjana approached the gate, examined it carefully and saw a small red cross in the upper right corner.
“So this is who puts crosses on our gates,” thought Marjana. “Wait, I’ll outsmart you.”
She picked up a piece of brick from the ground and placed the same crosses on the gates of all the houses on their street.
- Come on, now try to find our house! - she exclaimed. “You won’t succeed as much as you did yesterday!”
And Mohammed Baldy ran all the way, without stopping, and finally entered the cave, barely catching his breath.
- Let's go quickly! - he shouted. “I marked this house so much that now our enemy cannot escape.” Get ready quickly, don’t hesitate!
The robbers wrapped themselves in cloaks and followed Mohammed. They were in a hurry to reach the city before dark, and arrived there just before sunset. Having found a familiar street, Mohammed Baldy led the ataman to the largest and most beautiful gate and pointed his finger at the small red cross in the upper right corner of the gate.
“You see,” he said, “here is my mark.”
-Whose is this? - asked one of the robbers, who stopped at the neighboring gate. - There is also a cross drawn here.
- What cross? - Muhammad shouted.
“Red,” answered the robber. - And on those gates it’s exactly the same. And vice versa - too. While you were showing the chieftain your cross, I examined all the neighboring gates.
“Well, Mohammed,” said the ataman, “so you too have been outwitted?” Even though you are a good robber, you didn’t complete the instructions. There will be no mercy for you!
And Muhammad died in the same way as Ahmed. And the chieftain’s gang became not forty, but thirty-eight robbers.
“I need to take on this difficult task myself,” thought the chieftain. “My people fight well, steal and rob, but they are not suitable for cunning and deception.”
And so the next morning, Hassan One-Eye, the chieftain of the robbers, went into the city himself. Trading in the market was in full swing. He found Mustafa the shoemaker and, sitting down next to him, said:
- Oh uncle, why are you so sad? Is there not enough work?
“I haven’t had a job for a long time,” answered the shoemaker. “I probably would have died of hunger if fate had not sent me help.” The day before yesterday, early in the morning, one generous man came to me and told me that he was looking for his brother’s relatives. And I knew where his brother’s house was, and showed him the way, and the stranger gave me two whole dinars. Yesterday another stranger came to me and again asked me if I knew his brother, who had recently died, and I brought him to the same house and again received two dinars. And today it’s already noon, but no one has come to me. Apparently the deceased has no more brothers.
Hearing Mustafa’s words, the chieftain cried bitterly and said:
- What a blessing that I met you! I am the third brother of this murdered man. I come from the Far West and only yesterday I learned that my dear brother was killed. We were four brothers, and we all lived in different countries, and now we have come together in your city, but only to find our brother dead. Take me to his house, and I will give you the same amount as my brothers gave.
“Okay,” the old man said joyfully. - Does he have any more brothers?
“No,” answered the chieftain, sighing heavily. “There were four of us, and now there are only three.”
“It’s a pity that there are so few of you,” said old Mustafa and also sighed. - Let's go.
He led the chieftain to Kasim's house, received his payment and left. And the chieftain counted and remembered well how many gates there were from the corner of the street to the gate of the house, so he did not need to mark the gates. Then he returned to his comrades and said:
- O robbers, I have come up with a trick. If it succeeds, we will kill our enemy and take away all the wealth that he took from the cave. Listen to me and do everything I command.
And he ordered one of the robbers to go into the city and buy twenty strong mules and forty jugs of oil.
And when the robber brought mules loaded with jugs, the chieftain ordered the robbers to climb into the jugs. He himself covered the jugs with palm leaves and tied them with grass, and poked air holes on top so that people would not suffocate. And he poured olive oil into the remaining two jugs and smeared it on the remaining jugs, so that people would think that all the jugs were filled with oil.
The chieftain himself put on the dress of a rich merchant and drove the mules into the city. Evening was coming, it was already getting dark. The chieftain went straight to Kasim's house and
I saw a man sitting at the gate, cheerful and friendly. It was Ali Baba. The chieftain approached him and bowed low, touching the ground with his hand.
“Good evening, venerable merchant,” he said. - I am a foreigner, from a distant country. I brought a supply of expensive oil and hoped to sell it in your city. But my mules were tired from the long journey and walked slowly. When I entered the city, evening had already come and all the shops were closed. I walked around the whole city to find accommodation for the night, but no one wanted to let a stranger in. And so I passed by you and saw that you are a friendly and hospitable person. Would you let me spend one night with you? I will stack my jugs in the yard, and early tomorrow morning I will take them to the market and sell them. And then I will go back to my country and tell everyone about your kindness.
“Come in, stranger,” said Ali Baba. - I have a lot of space. Unsaddle the mules and give them food, and then we will have dinner. Hey, Marjana, put the dogs on a chain so they don't bite our guest!
- Thank you, oh venerable merchant! - said the chieftain of the robbers. “May your wishes come true, just as you fulfilled my request.”
He led his mules into the yard and unloaded them against the wall of the house, carefully removing the jugs so as not to injure the robbers. And then he leaned over the jugs and whispered:
- Sit quietly and don’t move. At night I will come out to you and take you to the house myself.
And the robbers answered in a whisper from the jugs:
- We listen and obey, chieftain!
The chieftain entered the house and went up to the room where a table had already been prepared for dinner. Ali Baba was waiting for him, sitting on a low bench covered with a carpet. Seeing the guest, he shouted to Marjana:
- Hey, Marjana, order the chicken to be fried and more pancakes with honey. I want my guest to be pleased with our meal.
“I listen and obey,” said Marjana. “I’ll prepare it all myself, with my own hands.”
She ran to the kitchen, quickly kneaded the dough and was just about to fry it when she suddenly saw that the oil was all gone and there was nothing to fry it on.
- What a problem! - Marjana screamed. - What should we do now? It’s already night, there’s no place to buy oil. And you can’t get it from your neighbors, everyone has been asleep for a long time. What a disaster!
Suddenly she slapped her forehead and said:
- I'm stupid! I grieve that there is no oil, but here, under the window, there are forty jugs of oil. I’ll take some from our guest, and tomorrow at first light I’ll buy some oil at the market and fill the jug.
She lit the lamp and went out into the yard. The night was dark and cloudy. Everything was quiet, only the mules at the wells snorted and jingled their bridles.
Marjana raised the lamp high above her head and approached the jugs.
And it just so happened that the nearest jug was filled with oil. Marjana opened it and began to pour oil into her jug.
And the robbers were already very tired of sitting huddled in the jugs. Their bones hurt so much that they could no longer bear it. Hearing Marjana’s steps, they thought that the chieftain had come for them, and one of them said:
- Finally you have come, chieftain! Quickly let us get out of these damned jugs and let us deal with the owner of this house, our enemy.
Marjana, hearing the voice from the jug, almost fell from fear and dropped the lamp. But she was a smart and brave girl and immediately realized that the oil merchant was a villain and a robber, and that his people were sitting in the jugs and that Ali Baba was facing a terrible death.
She went up to the jug from which the voice was heard and said:
- The time will come soon. Be silent, otherwise the dogs will hear you. They were released from the chain for the night.
Then she went to another jug and asked:
-Who's there?
“I, Hassan,” answered the voice from the jug.
“Be ready, Hassan, I will soon free you.”
So she went around all the jugs and found out that there were thieves sitting in thirty-eight jugs and only two jugs had oil in them.
Marjana grabbed a jug of oil, ran to the kitchen and heated the oil on the fire until it boiled.
Then she threw boiling oil into the jug where the robber was sitting. He didn’t even have time to scream - he died immediately. Having finished with one enemy, Marjana moved on to others. She boiled oil on the fire and poured it over the robbers until she killed them all. And then she took a frying pan and fried a lot of rosy pancakes, laid them beautifully on a silver dish, doused them with oil and carried them upstairs to the room where Ali Baba and his guest were sitting. Ali Baba did not stop treating the chieftain of the robbers, and soon he was so full that he could barely move. He lay on the pillows with his hands folded on his stomach, breathing heavily.
Ali Baba saw that the guest was full and wanted to amuse him. He shouted to Marjana:
- Hey, Marjana, dance for our guest the best of your dances.
“I listen and obey, sir,” answered Marjana with a bow. - Let me just go and take the blanket, because I will dance with the blanket.
“Go and come back,” said Ali Baba.
Marjana ran to her room, wrapped herself in an embroidered blanket and hid a sharp dagger under it.
And then she returned and began to dance.
Ali Baba and the chieftain of the robbers looked at her and shook their heads with pleasure.
And so Marjana, in the middle of the dance, began to come closer and closer to the chieftain. And suddenly she, like a cat, jumped on him and, waving her dagger, plunged it into the robber’s heart. The robber screamed loudly and died.
Ali Baba was dumbfounded with horror. He thought that Marjana had gone crazy.
- Woe is me! - he shouted. - What have you done, crazy woman? A stranger has been killed in my house! Shame and disgrace on my head!
Marjana knelt down and said:
“Listen to me, sir, and then do with me what you want.” If I'm guilty, kill me like I killed him.
And she told Ali Baba how she found out about the robbers and how she destroyed them all. Ali Baba immediately realized that these were the same robbers who came to the cave and who killed Kasim.
He lifted Marjana from her knees and shouted loudly:
- Get up, Zeinab, and wake up Fatima! We were facing a terrible death, and this brave and smart girl saved us all!
Zeinab and Fatima immediately ran and hugged Marjana tightly, and Ali Baba said:
“You will no longer be a servant, Marjana.” From this day on, you will live with us, as our own sister.
And from then on they lived calmly and happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru