Chapter 28, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Summary

Two Persian brothers, Kasim and Ali Baba, divide their inheritance. Kasim marries a wealthy merchant's daughter and becomes a shop owner. Ali Baba marries a poor woman and must bring wood from the jungle on his donkeys to sell for fuel to make his living. One day in the jungle Ali Baba spies on forty thieves on horseback who hide their loot behind a magic door in the rock face. They open the cave door by calling out, "Open, O Simsim." (Simsim means sesame grain.) After the thieves ride away, Ali Baba opens the door as they did. He loads his donkeys with gold and silver and covers the treasure with straw and sticks to look like his usual loads.

Ali Baba tells his wife to borrow scales from Kasim. Kasim's...