What are you doing Tofu?
Look, Tia!
So many toffees! I am taking them all!
But you don’t need so many of them Tofu.
Just take as many as your need.
But they are there Tia!
And no one is saying that I shouldn’t take them.
You are being so greedy Tofu You remind me of Cassim
Who is Cassim?
Come, sit with me and I will tell you who Cassim was.
There were two young brothers called Cassim
and Ali Baba
They lived in Baghdad with their father.
Cassim was a greedy dishonest man
while Ali Baba was an honest simpleton.
When their father died
Cassim married a rich woman and became a lazy merchant.
Ali Baba married a poor woman with honest values.
He became a woodcutter.
One day when Ali Baba was returning from the forest
he saw a gang of 40 thieves standing outside the caves near the forest.
They had large, heavy looking gunny bags with them.
The Chief of the Thieves called out.
Open Sesame open!
The large boulder that blocked the cave’s entrance
rolled away and all the thieves entered the cave.
Once they were all inside, it rolled shut again.
Ali Baba waited to see what would happen next.
After some time the entrance opened again
and the thieves came out empty handed.
The chief turned around and once again said.
Close Sesame Close!
The large boulder rolled and closed the entrance shut.
As soon as the thieves had left
Ali Baba came out of hiding and went to the cave.
Open Sesame open!
Immediately the boulder rolled over
and the entrance of the cave opened once again.
Curious, Ali Baba went inside.
Once inside, Ali Baba was amazed by what he saw.
Oh my God!
So this is where the thieves hide all their loot.
Those gunny bags that they carried had the goods from their latest theft!
Look at all these gold coins and other treasures here.
I will take some from here and go.
Happily, Ali Baba collected what he could and left.
Open Sesame open!
Once out, he closed the cave again.
Close Sesame close!
When Ali Baba got home
he requested for the weighing scale from his dishonest sister-in-law.
He wanted to measure how much gold he had brought from the caves.
Hmm…what does Ali Baba need the weighing scale for?
Let me stick a bit of wax under the scale.
So that whatever he is weighing gets stuck to it
and I can find out what it is.
Exactly as the Sister-In-Law had planned
when Ali Baba measured the gold coins
one of them remained stuck under the scale
and went to the Sister-In-Law’s house when the scale was returned to her.
What is this!
A gold coin?
Where did Ali Baba get gold form?
Let me speak to Cassim, he will find out more.
Ali Baba has gold coins at his home.
I think you should find out where he got them from.
Gold coins!
Yes
I will go over to his house, right away!
and find out
Cassim went to his brother’s house
and asked Ali Baba to tell him the truth about the gold coins.
Being a good man
Ali Baba told him everything.
Cassim quickly hurried over to the cave and went in.
Oh wow!
Look at all this gold and diamonds and rubies!
I am going to take this all home and become the richest man ever.
I will never have to work another day in my life.
Greedily, Cassim got busy filling gold and jewels into his pockets
and the empty bag that he had brought with him.
When he was done, he made his way to the cave entrance.
But he could not remember the magic words.
Open Samesame open!
Out Simsim!
Cassim tried many times
but he just couldn’t get out.
Finally after many hours
he got tired and fell asleep in the cave.
He was still asleep when the 40 thieves came back.
They found him and killed him.
When his brother didn’t come home till late night
Ali Baba got worried and went to the cave.
There he found Cassim’s cut up body
and brought it home.
There he sought out Morgiana, the slave girl.
Morgiana, we cannot let others see Cassim’s body in this state.
We should make it look like he died naturally.
Yes, Master. I will do the needful.
Morgiana, quickly went to a clever tailor
blind folded him
and brought him to Ali Baba’s house.
There the tailor stitched Cassim’s body back
so that it looked like Cassim had died naturally.
When the thieves returned to the cave
and saw Cassim’s body missing
they understood that someone else knew their secret.
Spread out in the village and find out what you can.
The thieves did as directed.
That’s when one of the thieves heard the tailor talking to his customers.
The thief immediately understood
that the tailor knew the person, who knew the secret of the caves.
I am so good at my work
that I can even stitch a dead body
to make it look like nothing happened to it!
Really? When have you done that?
well
Just two nights ago!
Can you take me to the house where you did it?
Yes, yes! I can But I was taken there blindfolded.
So you too will have to blindfold me.
That way I can remember the left and right turns I made to get there.
The thief agreed and blindfolded the tailor.
The tailor led the thief straight to Ali Baba’s house.
The thief marked Ali Baba’s door with a piece of chalk.
He then went to his Chief.
I have found the other man.
I have marked his door with a piece of chalk.
Very good. We will go there tonight and kill him.
But the thief didn’t know that
Morgiana had seen him come with the tailor and mark Ali Baba’s door.
She had immediately understood what was going on.
So once the thief and tailor had left
she made the same chalk mark on each door in the entire area.
When the thieves returned at night, they were confused.
What is this?
All the doors have the same mark.
My Chief! This is someone’s trick!
Off with your head!
I do not want anyone who can be tricked so easily.
Angry with his followers
the Chief visits the tailor and asks him to lead him to Ali Baba’s house again.
This time he mesmerized the directions to the house.
When night fell
he went to Ali Baba’s house pretending to be an oil merchant.
All the other thieves hid in large oil jars that he brought with him.
Hello my friend.
I am an oil merchant.
I am crossing through the town.
May I please stay here tonight, so that I may get some rest?
Yes, yes.
You are most welcome here.
Please also allow me to store my oil jars in your home.
They are rather large and heavy.
No problem, my friend.
My slave Morgiana will look into it.
As Morgiana was having the oil jars removed.
She heard some whispering sound coming from one of them.
It was one of the thieves talking to himself.
Morgiana realized that the jars all had thieves in them
and the merchant was their Chief.
She quickly called another slave.
Hurry up and get me a lot of hot, boiling oil.
The other slave did as directed.
Then Morgiana and she poured the hot oil into the jars one by one.
The thieves inside each jar died quickly.
Next Morgiana proceeded towards the Chief.
Master, may I serve our guest some tea?
Yes, please do Morgiana.
As Morgiana walked towards the Chief of thieves
she pulled out a knife from her sleeve
and stabbed him through his heart.
oh Morgiana! What have you done?
He was our guest!
No, Master He was the Chief of the thieves.
The rest of the thieves are in the oil jars…they are all dead now
oh
Thank you, Morgiana!
You have saved us all.
To award you, I am setting you free from slavery.
You can also take, as much gold you want from the thieves’ treasures.
Thank you, Master.
Woho! I am never being greedy again.
Come on Tia, I think one toffee is enough for me!
That’s great Tofu
but you can take one more on my behalf.
and I am happy to share mine with you.
Thank you, Tia!