I.

COMPETENCY/IES
 Literature
o EN8LT-IIIe-10: Appreciate literature as a mirror to a shared heritage of
people with diverse backgrounds.
 Listening Comprehension
o EN8LC-IIIe-7.1: Determine the stand of the speaker on a given issue
presented in the text listened to.
 Grade 8 / Quarter 3, Week 5

II. LITERARY TEXT

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Reader’s Theater

Preview: Alibaba is a fictional character from 1001 Arabian Nights – a Middle

Eastern collection of folk tales from hundreds of years ago.
Genre: Folktales
Culture: Arabian
Theme: Greed & Selfishness, Trickery, Triumph of Good over Evil,
Readers: 12
Length: 10 minutes
Roles: Narrators 1-3, Ali Baba, Cassim, Morgiana, Ali Baba’s Wife,
Cassim’s Wife, Captain of Thieves, Thief 1-2, Baba Mustafa,

NARRATOR 1: In a town in Persia there dwelled two brothers, one named

Cassim, the other Ali Baba.

NARRATOR 2: Cassim was married to a rich wife and lived abundantly;

NARRATOR 3: Ali Baba lived poorly and had to provide for his wife and children
by cutting wood in a neighboring forest and selling it in the town.
NARRATOR 1: When Ali Baba was in the forest, he saw a troop of men on
horseback, coming toward him in a cloud of dust.

ALI BABA: “Who are those men? What are they doing here in the forest?”
(afraid and terrified of the bad looking men)

NARRATOR 2: He was afraid they were robbers, and climbed into a tree for
safety.

NARRATOR 3: When they came up to where he was hiding he counted them.

ALI BABA: 1…2…3… ahhh there are 40 of them! (whispering to himself)

CAPTAIN: Whoa! (the finest man among them commanding the horse to
stop)
Tie your horses to the trees! (after dismounting the horse)

NARRATOR 1: The captain went a little way among some bushes and said:

CAPTAIN: “Open Sesame!”

NARRATOR 2: A door opened the rocks…

NARRATOR 3: The troop go in…

NARRATOR 1: And the door shut again of itself.

NARRATOR 2: Ali Baba waited patiently hiding on the tree.

ALI BABA: “At last!” (he exclaimed while seeing the door opened again and
the forty thieves came out)

CAPTAIN: “Close Sesame!”

NARRATOR 3: The captain and his men bridled their horses, mounted and
returned as they came.
NARRATOR 1: Ali Baba climbed down and went to the door concealed among
the bushes.

ALI BABA: “Open Sesame!” he said.

NARRATOR 3: The door flew open and he was surprised to find it large and
well lighted. He went in and the door shut behind him.

NARRATOR 1: He saw rich bales of merchandise – silk brocades, all piled

together, and gold and silver in heaps, and money in leather
purses.

ALI BABA: “They are really robbers! These are a lot!”

NARRATOR 2: He then took all the bags of gold coins he could carry.

ALI BABA: “Close Sesame” (he closed the door and went home)

NARRATOR 3: He showed the gold coins to his wife and bade her to keep the
secret and he would go and burry the gold.

ALI BABA’S WIFE: “Let me first measure it,” said his wife. “I will go and borrow a
scale off someone, while you dig the hole.”

NARRATOR 1: She ran to the wife of Cassim and borrowed a scale.

NARRATOR 2: The sister was curious to find out what sort of grain his wife
wished to measure, and artfully put some blob of wax at the
bottom of the scale.

NARRATOR 3: After measuring the heap of gold coins, she then carried back
the scale to her sister without noticing that a piece was sticking
to it.

CASSIM’S WIFE: “Cassim your brother is richer than you.” (she told Cassim when
he came home)
NARRATOR 1: Cassim grew so envious that he could not sleep, and went to
his brother in the morning before sunrise.

CASSIM: “Ali Baba where did you get the gold coin?” (showing the gold
piece)

NARRATOR 2: Ali Baba more out of kindness than fear told Cassim about the
cave and the very words to use.

NARRATOR 3: Cassim rose early next morning and set out ten mules loaded
with great chests.

NARRATOR 1: He soon found the place and the door in the rock.

CASSIM: “Open Sesame!” (the door opened and shut behind him)

NARRATOR 2: He feasted his eyes on the treasures and hastened to gather as

much as possible but when he was ready to go out he could not
remember what to say.

CASSIM: “Open Barley!” (he said instead of Sesame)

NARRATOR 3: The door remained closed. He named several different sorts of

grain, all but the right one.

CAPTAIN: “Someone is inside the cave!” (alarmed upon seeing the mules
with chests on their backs) “Open Sesame!” (the captain said
and the door opened)

NARRATOR 1: When the door opened Cassim leaped out and threw the
Captain down. In vain, however, the robbers with their swords
soon killed Cassim.

NARRATOR 2: The robbers cut Cassim’s body into four quarters, and nailed
them up inside the cave to frighten anyone who should go
inside.
CASSIM’S WIFE: “It’s night and Cassim is not yet home, Ali Baba can you please
look and find him?”

NARRATOR 3: Ali Baba went to the forest in search of Cassim and saw the
dead body of his brother.

NARRATOR 1: Ali Baba brings the body home and entrusts Morgiana, a clever
slave-girl in Cassim’s household, to make others believe that
Cassim has died of a natural death.

NARRATOR 2: Morgiana bought medicines from an apothecary and telling him

that Cassim is gravely ill. In the evening, no one was surprised
to hear that Cassim was already dead.

NARRATOR 3: Morgiana then finds an old Tailor know as Baba Mustafa whom
she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Cassim’s house to stitch the
pieces of Cassim’s body back together. Ali Baba and his family
are able to give Cassim a proper burial without anyone asking
awkward questions.

THIEF 1: “Where is the dead body?” (realizing that another person must
know their secret)

CAPTAIN: “Track him down!”

NARRATOR 1: The captain told one of the thieves to go down the town. The
first thief came across Baba Mustafa.

BABA MUSTAFA: “I have just sewn a dead man’s body back together! I can show
you where, just get me blindfolded again.” (and was able to
retrace the steps and find the house)

NARRATOR 2: Upon reaching the house, the first thief marks the door with a
symbol for them to come back that night and kill everyone in the
house.
NARRATOR 3: Morgiana saw what the thief did and foils his plan by marking
all the houses with a similar marking that when the forty thieves
return that night, they cannot identify the correct house.

NARRATOR 1: The Captain kills the unsuccessful first thief and set another
thief to try again.

THIEF 2: “I will chipped a chunk of the stone step at Ali Baba’s doorsteps
and return again at night!” (he explained his plan to the Captain)

NARRATOR 2: The second thief is killed for his failure as well because
Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other
doorsteps.

CAPTAIN: “I will do it myself!” (he memories every detail of Ali Baba’s

house)

NARRATOR 3: The Captain of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant and

in need of Ali Baba’s hospitality.

NARRATOR 1: Bringing mules with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil and the
other thirty-seven are the remaining thirty-seven thieves.

NARRATOR 2: Once again Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the
thirty-seven thieves by pouring boil on them in their jars while
asleep.

NARRATOR 3: The Captain discovers that his men are all dead so he escapes.

ALI BABA: Morgiana because of what you did to our family, I now give you
your freedom. You are not a slave anymore.”

NARRATOR 1: After many many years, the Captain of Thieves establishes

himself as a merchant and befriends Ali Baba’s son who is now
in-charge of their business.
NARRATOR 2: Ali Baba’s son invited the Captain of Thieves to dinner at Ali
Baba’s house. Morgiana was asked to perform a dagger dance
for the guest.

MORGIANA: “I know this man! He is the leader of the Thieves!” (she told
herself)

NARRATOR 3: After knowing that the Captain of Thieves is trying to kill Ali Baba
gain, she plunges the dagger to his heart while she is
performing a dance.

ALI BABA: “You have done so much for us Morgiana, we are extremely
grateful of you.”

NARRATOR 1: Morgiana was married to Ali Baba’s son. Until now, Ali Baba is
the only one knowing the secret treasure in the cave and how
to access it.

NARRATOR 2: The story ends happily for everyone.

NARRATOR 3: (to audience) Except Cassim and the Forty Thieves!

(narrators laughing!)
III. LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Instruct each groups to sit in circles so they can brainstorm. Tell them that they will
present their outputs in the class.

Group 1: MAP MAKER – The group will draw a map of the story’s setting.

Group 2: ADJECTIVE IT IS! – Pick five adjectives for 5 characters in the story and
explain how the adjective applies to the character.

Group 3: DEAR DIARY – Choose a character from the story then write down events
that happen during the story and reflect on how they affected the character
and why.

Group 4: VENN DIAGRAM – Use a Venn diagram to help organize your thoughts
about the story. Put differences between two characters on opposite sides
and similarities in the middle.

Group 5: ROUNDTABLE - Give students a chance to talk about what intrigues,

bothers, confuses them about the story.

IV. REFERENCES

 Anama, Gina A. et al. 2013. “Voyages in English Communication 8”. Pasig City:
Department of Education-Instructional Materials Council Secretariat (DepEd-
IMCS)

 http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE02.html

 https://www.storynory.com/free-audio-story-ali-baba-forty-thieves/

 https://screwedopinion.blogspot.com/2014/07/ali-baba-and-40-thieves.html

 http://www.readingrockets.org/article/103-things-do-during-or-after-reading
May 6, 2019

NORMA R. FRAMO
Principal IV
Muñoz National High School – Main
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

Madam:

I have the honor to submit my Literary Output entitled Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
(Reader’s Theater) for your approval and further advice or recommendation.

Yours truly,

MARINELA D. SERNA
Teacher III

Noted by:

MELANIE N. AQUINO
Head, English Department

Approved:

NORMA R. FRAMO
Principal IV