Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Ali Baba was such a poor man that he had only

one shoe for his two feet. Even the mice in his house were hungry. One day, his wife said, " e have no food in the house. !o rice. !o potatoes. "o and collect leaves in the forest so that # can ma$e a soup." Ali was a la%y man. &e loo$ed for leaves for about ten minutes and then he climbed a tree to sleep. &e was afraid of wolves. hen he wo$e up, he was surprised to see forty thieves on forty horses. They stopped in front of a big roc$. "Open 'esame(" shouted the leader. A door on the roc$ opened. The thieves carried sac$s full of gold into the cave. hen they had finished, the leader shouted. ")lose 'esame(" and the door closed. As soon as the thieves had disappeared Ali Baba *umped down from the tree, said, "Open 'esame" and went into the cave. There were shelves all around the walls. The shelves were full of sac$s. And the sac$s were full of gold. Ali too$ a sac$ home with him. +nfortunately, one of the thieves saw Ali,s footprints on the sand. &e followed them to Ali,s home. &e too$ out his $nife and made a cross on the door. "!ow # shall $now which house it is," he said. &e rode off to get the other thieves. But Ali had seen the thief. &e and his wife too$ brooms and swept away the footprints. Then he made crosses on every door at the street. hen the forty thieves arrived they had their $nives between their teeth. But they couldn,t find either Ali - or the gold. And Ali and his wife lived happily ever after.