Antoine Galland

“ A little while after the robber and Baba Mustapha parted, Morgiana went out of Ali Baba's house for something, and coming home again, she saw the mark the robber had made, and stopped to observe it. 'What is the meaning of this?' said she to herself: 'either somebody intends my master no good, or else some boy has been playing the rogue: with whatever intention it was done, it is good to guard against the worst.' Accordingly she went and fetched a piece of chalk, and marked two or three doors on each side in the same manner, without saying a word to her master or mistress. ”

“ Though Ali Baba had seen the captain of the robbers in the forest, and had heard him speak, it was impossible for him to know him in the disguise of an oil-merchant. He told him he would be welcome, and immediately opened his gates for the mules to go into the yard. At the same time he called to a slave, and ordered him, when the mules were unloaded, not only to put them into the stable, but to give them corn and hay, and then went to Morgiana, to bid her get a good hot supper for his guest, and make him a good bed. ”

“ Under these trees he and the slave went and dug a trench, long and wide enough to hold all the robbers, and as the earth was light, they were not long doing it. Afterwards they lifted the robbers out of the jars, took away their weapons, carried them to the end of the garden, laid them in the trench, and levelled the ground again. When this was done, Ali Baba hid the jars and weapons; and as for the mules, as he had no occasion for them, he sent them at different times to be sold in the market by his slave. ”

“ He went in, and, by the condition that he found things in, he judged that nobody had been there since the false Cogia Houssain, when he fetched the goods for his shop, and that the gang of forty robbers was completely destroyed; and he never doubted that he was the only person in the world who had the secret of opening the cave, and that all the treasure was solely at his disposal. With as much gold as his horse would carry, he returned to town.
Afterwards Ali Baba took his son to the cave and told him the secret, which they handed down to their posterity ”

“ When this action, worthy of the courage of Morgiana, was executed without any noise, as she had intended, she returned to the kitchen with the empty kettle, and shut the door; and having put out the great fire she had made to boil the oil, and leaving just enough to make the broth, put out also the lamp, and remained silent; resolving not to go to bed till she had observed what was to follow through a window of the kitchen, which opened into the yard, so far as the darkness of the night permitted. ”

“ The robber, on his return to his company, prided himself very much upon the precaution he had taken, which he looked upon as an infallible way of distinguishing Ali Baba's house from those of his neighbours, and the captain and all of them thought it must succeed. ”

“ We will walk together by the same way and turnings; perhaps you may remember some part; and as everybody ought to be paid for their trouble, there is another piece of gold for you: gratify me in what I ask you.' So saying, he put another piece of gold into his hand. ”

“ When Morgiana had sent up the supper by Abdalla, while they were eating, she made the necessary preparations for executing one of the boldest acts which could be thought of, and had just done, when Abdalla came again for the dessert. ”

“ They conveyed themselves into the town in the same manner as before, and when the robber and his captain came to the street, they found the same difficulty, at which the captain was enraged, and the robber in as great confusion as his predecessor.
Thus the captain and his troop were forced to retire a second time, still more dissatisfied; and the robber, as the author of the mistake, underwent the same punishment, to which he willingly submitted. ”

“ This she carried up, and as soon as Abdalla had taken the meat away, she set it upon the table; after that, she set a little table and three glasses by Ali Baba, and going out, took Abdalla along with her to supper, and to give Ali Baba the more freedom for conversation with his guest.
Then the pretended Cogia Houssain, or rather captain of the robbers, thought he had a favourable opportunity to kill Ali Baba. 'I will,' said he to himself, 'make the father and son both drunk; and then the son, whose life I intend to spare, will not be able to prevent my stabbing his father to the heart ”