as stories
told to entertain King Shahriyar; but scholars
think the collection was not written until some
time between the years 1350 and 1550. Some of
the stories probably were told as early as the
ninth century. The stories are of various
kinds--fables, anecdotes, legends, hero
stories, wonder stories, and romances. "The
Story of Alnaschar" (No. 235 in this book) is
one of the fables. The collection became known
to European readers in 1704, when it was
translated from the Arabic by a French scholar
named Galland. Since that time the fables have
been translated extensively. The translation
into English by Lane is the most valuable one
for a teacher who wishes to have all of the
book that is fit for public use. Like many of
the world's great compilations of this sort, it
is made up of a mixture of good and bad. The
oriental play of imagination in these stories
and the background of old Eastern scenery and
customs have made them a source of
entertainment and instruction for all civilized
nations. The story that follows has always been
one of the favorites among oriental wonder
stories, and is given in a familiar traditional
version.

ALI BABA, AND THE FORTY THIEVES

In a town in Persia there lived two brothers, the sons of a poor man;
the one was named Cassim, and the other Ali Baba. Cassim, the elder,
married a wife with a considerable fortune, and lived at his ease in a
handsome house, with plenty of servants; but the wife of Ali Baba was as
poor as himself; they dwelt in a mean cottage in the suburbs of the
city, and he maintained his family by cutting wood in a neighboring
forest.

One day when Ali Baba was in the forest and preparing to load his three
asses with the wood he had cut, he saw a troop of horsemen coming
towards him. He had often heard of robbers who infested that forest,
and, in a great fright, he hastily climbed a large thick tree, which
stood near the foot of a rock, and hid himself among the branches.

The horsemen soon galloped up to the rock, where they all dismounted.
Ali Baba counted forty of them, and he could not doubt but they were
thieves, by their ill-looking countenances. They each took a loaded
portmanteau from his horse; and he who seemed to be their captain,
turning to