A long time ago, there lived two brothers in a Persian city. The eldest was Kasimu and the second was Alibaba. Kasimu was very rich and Alibaba was very poor. Earlier, Kasimu was a poor man like his brother, but later he married the daughter of a wealthy businessman. This woman inherited a large inheritance from her father. After marrying her, Kasimu continued to run the business and soon made a lot of money and became a rich man.

Alibaba's wife was a woman from a poor family. All their property, except for a thatched cottage for living, was three donkeys. Every morning, Alibaba drove the three donkeys to the forest to chop wood; in the evening, he went to the city to sell the wood and buy some food and things to take home.

Kasimu was a ruthless man. Although he was very rich, he never gave his brother a penny. His wife was even more stingy. Not only did she not sympathize with her brother-in-law's family situation, she even ridiculed and mocked him.

In the Forest

One day, Alibaba drove his three donkeys into the forest as usual. He chopped three bundles of firewood. Just as he was about to put the firewood on the donkeys' backs, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves not far away. Then, the dust filled the air and a team of horses galloped towards him. Alibaba was very scared and quickly tied the donkeys to a big tree in the forest. He climbed up the treetop and hid among the dense branches and leaves until he was sure that he would not be discovered by the people below.

After a while, a team of horses stopped nearby. Alibaba counted them on the tree and found a total of forty people. They turned over and dismounted, shouting and talking loudly. From their conversation, Alibaba understood that this was a group of robbers who had just robbed a caravan and had a lot of loot.

Alibaba also saw an elderly robber, who was obviously the leader of the group, walk to a nearby mountain and shout to a big rock, "Open sesame!" The rock immediately split apart, revealing a hole. The robbers went in one after another, and after a while, they came out one by one. The leader of the robbers said again, "Close sesame!" The rock returned to its original state and connected with the other rocks, as if it had never been separated. Then, the robbers mounted their horses and left along the same path.

Open sesame

Alibaba was extremely surprised by what he saw. He thought, "This cave must contain all the gold and silver treasures that this gang of robbers robbed and stole. Now that I know the code to open this cave, I will try it out and open it to see what treasures are inside." Thinking of this, he slid down from the tree and walked to the big rock. He shouted, "Open sesame!" The rock really opened in response, revealing the entrance to the cave. Little Alibaba walked in and was immediately stunned by the scene before him. There were piles of silk, brocade and colorful felt carpets stacked to the top of the cave; countless gold and silver coins, some in bags and some scattered on the ground; baskets full of pearls, gems and various jewelry; all kinds of gold and silver utensils and precious treasures. Alibaba had never seen so many good things in his life. At this moment, he was dazzled and at a loss. He was worried that the robbers would return to the cave and kill him if they caught him. So he quickly loaded three donkeys with gold coins and hurried out of the cave. He said, "Close sesame!" and the stone returned to its original place. In order to prevent passers-by from finding out, Alibaba covered the money bag with firewood.