Ali Baba and 40 Thieves
Ali Baba and 40 Thieves :
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Dusk fell and, as Morgantina was about to enter the palace, she noticed the strange mark. Her suspicions aroused, she quickly drew red cross on all the other doors in the street. At dead of night the wicked band arrived to take revenge, but at the sight of all the red crosses, they stopped in their tracks. Which was the right door? Morgantina had unknowingly saved her master from death and the leader of the gang put his man to the sword for giving him a false lead.
"You fools. Can't you do anything properly? I'll go to the city myself." Disguised as a merchant. He went to Mustapha.
Delighted at the idea of earning more money, the cobbler took the robber to Ali Baba's palace. And the wicked man fixed in his mind the exact place and street. Back in his hideout, he ordered two of his men to buy a cart and thirty nine giant jars. Now, after the murder of the messenger, there were only thirty eight robbers left and each one hid in a jar. The last jar was filled with oil and loaded with the others onto the cart pulled by four horses. The robbers set off for the city. It was late when they reached the palace and Ali Baba himself came out.
“What can I do for you?" he said.
"I'm an oil merchant," replied the leader, "and I must be at market tomorrow. It's late and were weary. Can you give us a bed for the night?"
Pleased at being able to help, All Baba, who had known what it meant to be poor, warmly welcomed the merchant and his men and had the cart taken into the courtyard. After a good meal, the leader of the band went back to the courtyard. He said he was going to make sure than none of the jars had been damaged during the journey. But in fact, he warned his men to be ready, at a signal, to leap from the jars and kill everyone in the palace. As the household slept, Morgantina lingered in the kitchen to tidy up. Suddenly, she thought she would have a sip of the merchant's oil to see if it was as tasty as her own.
But when she lifted the lid from the first jar, to her horror, a gruff voice growled, "Is it time?"
"No, not yet," muttered Morgantina hastily.
At every jar, exactly the same thing happened. But the last one was filled with oil which she dragged back into the kitchen. She then tipped the contents into a huge cauldron and heated it over the fire.
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