The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old
Children's literature
The robber felt sure that he had discovered what he sought. He
pulled out a piece of gold, and putting it into Baba Mustapha's
hand, said to him, "I do not want to learn your secret, though I
can assume you you might safely trust me with it. The only thing I
desire of you is to show me the house where you stitched up the
dead body."
"If I were disposed to do you that favor," replied Baba Mustapha,
"I assure you I cannot. I was taken to a certain place, whence I
was led blindfold to the house, and afterward brought back again
in the same manner; you see, therefore, the impossibility of my
doing what you desire."
"Well," replied the robber, "you may, however, remember a little
of the way that you were led blindfold. Come, let me blind your
eyes at the same place. We will walk together; perhaps you may
recognize 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.
The two pieces of gold were great temptations to Baba Mustapha. He
looked at them a long time in his hand without saying a word, but
at last he pulled out his purse and put them in. "I cannot
promise," said he to the robber, "that I can remember the way
exactly; but since you desire, I will try what I can do." At these
words Baba Mustapha rose up, to the great joy of the robber, and
led him to the place where Morgiana had bound his eyes. "It was
here," said Baba Mustapha, "I was blindfolded; and I turned this
way." The robber tied his handkerchief over his eyes, and walked
by him till they stopped directly at Cassim's house, where Ali
Baba then lived. The thief, before he pulled off the band, marked
the door with a piece of chalk, which he had ready in his hand,
and then asked him if he knew whose house that was; to which Baba
Mustapha replied, that as he did not live in that neighborhood he
could not tell.
The robber, finding he could discover no more from Baba Mustapha,
thanked him for the trouble he had taken, and left him to go back
to his stall, while he returned to the forest, persuaded that he
should be very well received.
A little after the robber and Baba Mustapha had parted, Morgiana
went out of Ali Baba's house upon some errand, and upon her
return, seeing the mark the robber had made, stopped to observe
it. "What can be the meaning of this mark?" said she to herself;
"somebody intends my master no good: however, with whatever
intention it was done, it is advisable to guard against the
worst." Accordingly, she 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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