"My good master," answered she, "God preserve you and all your family.
You will be better informed of what you wish to know when you have
seen what I have to show you, if you will follow me."
As soon as Morgiana had shut the door, Ali Baba followed her, when she
requested him to look into the first jar, and see if there was any
oil. Ali Baba did so, and seeing a man, started back in alarm, and
cried out.
"Do not be afraid," said Morgiana; "the man you see there can neither
do you nor anybody else any harm. He is dead."
"Ah, Morgiana," said Ali Baba, "what is it you show me? Explain
yourself."
"I will," replied Morgiana. "Moderate your astonishment, and do not
excite the curiosity of your neighbors; for it is of great importance
to keep this affair secret. Look into all the other jars."
Ali Baba examined all the other jars, one after another; and when he
came to that which had the oil in it, found it prodigiously sunk, and
stood for some time motionless, sometimes looking at the jars and
sometimes at Morgiana, without saying a word, so great was his
surprise.
At last, when he had recovered himself, he said, "And what is become
of the merchant?"
"Merchant!" answered she; "he is as much one as I am. I will tell you
who he is, and what is become of him; but you had better hear the
story in your own chamber; for it is time for your health that you had
your broth after your bathing."
Morgiana then told him all she had done, from the first observing the
mark upon the house, to the destruction of the robbers, and the flight
of their captain.
On hearing of these brave deeds from the lips of Morgiana, Ali Baba
said to her--"God, by your means, has delivered me from the snares of
these robbers laid for my destruction. I owe, therefore, my life to
you; and, for the first token of my acknowledgment, I give you your
liberty from this moment, till I can complete your recompense as I
intend."
Ali Baba's garden was very long, and shaded at the farther end by a
great number of large trees. Near these he and the slave Abdalla dug a
trench, long and wide enough to hold the bodies of the robbers; and as
the earth was light, they were not long in doing it. When this was
done, Ali Baba hid the jars and weapons; and as he had no occasion for
the mules, he sent them at different times to be sold in the market by
his slave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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