"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (Arabic: علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale in Arabic added to the One Thousand and One Nights in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popular Arabian Nights tales, it has been widely retold and performed in many media across the world, especially for children (for whom the more violent aspects of the story are often removed).
In the original version, Ali Baba (Arabic: عَلِيّ بَابَا, romanized: ʿAliyy Bābā) is a poor woodcutter and an honest person who discovers the secret treasure of a thieves' den, and enters with the magic phrase "open sesame". The thieves try to kill Ali Baba while his rich and greedy brother Cassim (Arabic: قاسم Qāsim, sometimes spelled 'Kasim' or 'Qasim') tries to steal the treasure for himself, but Ali Baba’s faithful slave-girl Morgiana (Arabic: مرجانة Murjāna) foils their plots. His son marries her, and Ali Baba keeps the secret of the treasure.
Contents
Textual history
The tale was added to the story collection One Thousand and One Nights by one of its European translators, Antoine Galland, who called his volumes Les Mille et Une Nuits (1704–1717). Galland was an 18th-century French Orientalist who heard it in oral form from a Syrian Maronite story-teller called Hanna Diyab, who came from Aleppo in modern-day Syria and told the story in Paris. In any case, the earliest known text of the story is Galland's French version. Richard F. Burton included it in the supplemental volumes (rather than the main collection of stories) of his translation (published as The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night).
The American Orientalist Duncan Black MacDonald discovered an Arabic-language manuscript of the story at the Bodleian Library; however, this was later found to be a counterfeit.
Story
Ali Baba and his older brother Cassim are the sons of a merchant. After their father's death, the greedy Cassim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, living lazily on their father's business and his wife's wealth. Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter. Cassim and his wife resent Ali Baba and his side of the family and do not share their wealth with them.
One day, Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, when he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their stored treasure to load it up. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by a huge rock. It opens on the magic words "open sesame" and seals itself on the words "close sesame". When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself and although there is a vast amount of riches stashed inside, he modestly takes only a single bag of gold coins home.
Ali Baba and his wife borrow his sister-in-law's scales to weigh their new wealth. Unbeknownst to them, Cassim's wife puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali Baba is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure.
To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim goes to the cave, taking a donkeys with him to take as much treasure as possible. He enters the cave with the magic words. However, in his excited greed over the treasure, he forgets the words to get out again and ends up trapped. The thieves find him there and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the cave's entrance, as a warning to anyone else who might try to enter.
Ali Baba brings the corpse home where he entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave-girl from Cassim's household, with the task of making others believe that Cassim has died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchases medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Cassim is gravely ill. Then, she finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Cassim's house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches the pieces of Cassim's body back together. Ali Baba and his family are able to give Cassim a proper burial without anyone suspecting anything. Cassim’s wife does not find out about the cave or treasure.
Analysis
Tale type
The story was classified in the second revision of the international Aarne-Thompson Index (AT or AaTh) as a combination of two tale types: AaTh 676, "Open Sesame", and AaTh 954, "The Forty Thieves". In the first type, a poor man listens to the secret command uttered before a cave of robbers, enters it and steals the riches; his rich brother tries to replicate the sibling's success, but forgets the secret spell and is killed. In the second type, the robbers hide in oil casks and are brought to a house; the girl kills the robbers. In the 2004 revision, by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther, tale type AaTh 676 has been subsumed under a new indexing, ATU 954, "The Forty Thieves".
Scholars Ulrich Marzolph and Richard van Leewen suggest that, despite oral variants deriving from its literary source, an "independent strand" of tradition may have existed. In the same vein, Ton Dekker points to an Eastern origin for the story, based on its elements (the hidden treasure chamber, the magic formula to open up the mountain, carrying the thieves inside leather bags).
Variants
According to Stith Thompson and Ton Dekker, the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves integrated into the oral tradition of "nearly every country" of Europe after the translation of The Arabian Nights. Since its original printed appearance, the tale type has enjoyed "almost universal ... diffusion". Swedish scholar Waldemar Liungman noted its diffusion through the whole of Europe and in Africa, especially across the West Coast.
A West African version, named The Password: Outwitting Thieves, has been found.
Percy Amaury Talbot located a Nigerian variant, called The Treasure House in the Bush, from Ojong Akpan of Mfamosing.
“Die Schatzhöhle der Wuarssen” ("The Treasure Cave of the Wuarssen"), a variant from the Kabyle, was published by Leo Frobenius.
An American variant was collected by Elsie Clews Parsons from Cape Verde. Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner found another American version in New York.
In popular culture
Audio recordings and music
Audio readings/dramatizations include:
Dick Bentley played Ali Baba in a musical dramatization on Riverside Records (RLP 1451)/Golden Wonderland (GW 231).
The story was dramatized for Tale Spinners for Children on United Artists Records (UAC 11018).
Anthony Quayle narrated the story on Caedmon Records (TC 1251)/Fontana Records (SFL 14108).
Martyn Green narrated the story on Arabian Nights' Entertainment (Riverside Records RLP 1405).
Bing Crosby narrated and sang a version of the story for Simon & Schuster Records (A298:20)/Gala Records (GLP 351).
Bing Crosby recorded the story on 25 April 1957, linking the narrative with songs. This was issued as an album Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in 1957.
"1001 Nights (Alibaba)", a song by Pappy'ion on CBS Records (CBS 7849), mainly known for its Chinese adaptation, "阿里巴巴" by Peter Chen (陳彼得) on TONY東尼機構 Records (TONY LP-026)
"Main Hoon Alibaba", a song from the 1953 Indian film Char Chand by Talat Mehmood and Premlata, it narrates the adventures of Ali Baba.
"Alibaba Alibaba", a song by Asha Bhosle from Alibaba Aur 40 Chor, a 1966 Indian film.
"Ali Babà", a song from the 14th edition of Zecchino d'Oro sung by Settimio Ferlisi and Paola Catellani in 1972.
"Main Alibaba" is a song by K. J. Yesudas from Alibaba Marjinaa, a 1977 Indian film adaptation of the folktale.
Stage
The story has been used as a popular pantomime plot for many years. An example of the "pantomime Ali Baba" was the pantomime/musical Chu Chin Chow (1916).
Badi-Bandar Rupkatha (বাঁদী-বান্দার রূপকথা) is a 2014 Bangladeshi theatrical dance adaptation of Ali Baba and Forty Thieves organised by Srishti cultural centre and Nrityanchal. Many leading Bangladeshi dancers performed in the adaptation such as Shamim Ara Nipa, Shibli Sadiq, etc.
Cinema
Alibaba and the Forty Thieves is a 1927 Indian silent film adaptation by Bhagwati Prasad Mishra.
Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor (Alibaba and the Forty Thieves) is a 1932 Indian Hindi-language feature film by J.J. Madan.
Alibaba is a 1937 Indian Bengali-language fantasy-comedy film adaptation by Modhu Bose of Kshirode Prasad Vidyavinode's play based on the story of Ali Baba. It stars Bibhuti Ganguly in the title role, Sadhana Bose as Marjina, Modhu Bose as Abdullah, and Kamal Biswas as Kasim - the antagonist.
Ali Baba is a 1940 Indian Hindi-language fantasy film by Mehboob Khan. The film was a bilingual, made in Punjabi language as Alibaba at the same time. It stars Surendra in a double role as Ali Baba and his son along with Sardar Akhtar, Ghulam Mohammed and Wahidan Bai.
Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum (Alibaba and the Forty Thieves) is a 1941 Indian Tamil-language comedy film adaptation by K. S. Mani.
Ali Baba We El Arbeen Haramy (1942, in aka Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) is an Egyptian film adaptation, starring Ali Al-Kassar as Ali Baba and the comedian actor Ismail Yasin as his assistant.
Ali Baba is a 1945 Indian Hindi-language film adaptation by Nanubhai Vakil.
Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs (1954) is a French film starring Fernandel and Samia Gamal.
Alibaba Aur 40 Chor (Alibaba and 40 Thieves) is a 1954 Indian Hindi-language fantasy action film directed by Homi Wadi. It stars Mahipal in the title role and Shakila as his love interest, Marjina.
Son of Ali Baba is a 1955 Indian Hindi-language fantasy film by Majnu. It follows the adventures of Ali Baba's son.
Television
Indian TV series Alif Laila, based on the Arabian Nights, had a 14 episode segment on Alibaba and the Forty Thieves.
Princess Dollie Aur Uska Magic Bag (2004–2006), an Indian teen fantasy adventure television series on Star Plus where Vinod Singh portrays Ali Baba, one of the main characters in the show along with Sinbad and Hatim.
In the American/British television mini-series Arabian Nights (2000), the story is told faithfully with two major changes. The first is: when Morgiana discovers the thieves in the oil jars, she alerts Ali Baba and, together with a friend, they release the jars on a street with a steep incline that allows the jars to roll down and break open. Furthermore, the city guard is alerted and arrest the disoriented thieves as they emerge from their containers. Later, when Morgiana defeats the thief leader, Ali Baba, who is young and has no children, marries the heroine himself.
In the 2019 BBC/FX adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Ali Baba was portrayed by Kayvan Novak. This was an expansion from a reference to the character in the original novel.
This story was partially used in the 2022 Indian fantasy TV series Ali Baba (TV series) aired on Sony SAB, where Sheezan Mohammed Khan (season 1) and Abhishek Nigam (season 2) played the main character of Ali Baba.
Adventures of Ali Baba (2018–2019) is an Indian animated television series, produced by Shilpa Shetty Kundra, which aired on Colors Rishtey. A modern-day retelling of the folktale, it follows brothers Ali and Baba, who protect dungeons and fight evil forces with their supernatural powers.
Ali Baba Bunny (1957) is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones. Released on February 9, 1957, it features Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck stumbling upon a cave filled with treasure, guarded by a ruthless character named Hassan.
Video games
Blade of Ali Baba is a unique item of the video game Diablo II (2000).
"Alibaba" appears as the hacker alias of Futaba Sakura in Persona 5 (2016).
The story Alibaba and the 40 thieves appears on the website Poptropica as a playable island.
Alibaba and Morgiana were playable characters in the mobile game Grimms Notes, while the 40 thieves and their leader were enemies.
"The Forty Thieves" is a questline in Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023) where the player must help Ali Baba's daughter take on the forty thieves.
Military
At the United States Air Force Academy, Cadet Squadron 40 was originally nicknamed "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" before eventually changing its name to the "P-40 Warhawks".
The name "Ali Baba" was often used as derogatory slang by American and Iraqi soldiers and their allies in the Iraq War, to describe individuals suspected of a variety of offenses related to theft and looting. Additionally, British soldiers routinely used the term to refer to Iraqi civilians. In the subsequent occupation, it is used as a general term for the insurgents.
The Iraqis adopted the term "Ali Baba" to describe foreign troops suspected of looting.
Miscellaneous
Alibaba Group of China used the name because of its universal appeal.
Zero-knowledge proofs are often introduced to students of computer science with a pedagogical parable involving "Ali Baba's Cave."