Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves ( Folktale from Arabian Nights)

This is the story of a poor woodcutter named Alibaba.He lived in the land of Arabia.Alibaba was simple and hard working man.
One day when Ali Baba was cutting the wood in the forest he heard  the sound of running horses. The sound came near and near. Ali Baba thought that there must be a group of robbers, he climbed up a tree and hid himself behind the leaves.
His suspicion was right, it was a group of thieves who were forty in number and each of them had bags with them which were supposedly filled with stolen goods . They stopped near a cave.The captain of the thieves stood  in front of the door of the cave.

''Open Sim Sim'' , he said in a loud voice.The door opened and the thieves went into the cave with their bags.
Ali Baba was astonished to see all of this, he couldn't believe his eyes. He stayed there to see what would happen next. 
At Last the thieves came out, this time the captain of the thieves said, ''Close Sim Sim'' and the door got shut.
When the thieves got away from there , Ali Baba came down and said ''Open Sim Sim'' standing in front of the cave. The door opened and Ali Baba entered the cave.
There in the cave was a big treasure of  gold,silver, pearls and diamonds.Which the thieves had stolen and collected there.
Ali Baba took a bag full of gold coins and came out from the cave. He made the cave's door shut by saying 'Close Sim Sim' and left the place.
 Ali Baba's wife became so happy to see the bag full of gold coins   when he reached home. Ali Baba asked his wife to go to his brother's home and borrow scales from his sister in law to weigh the coins. 

Ali Baba's brother Qasim was a wealthy but cunning and greedy man. His wife was just like her husband. She put a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali Baba and his wife were going to weigh with the scales.
When Ali Baba's wife returned the scales, Qasim's wife found a gold coin sticking to the scales and she told her husband about that.
Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba was forced to reveal the secret of the cave.
Next day Qasim himself went into the cave to take as much wealth as possible. In the excitement of getting the treasure he forgot the magic words and failed to open the door of the cave.The thieves found him in the cave and they killed him.
When Qasim did not return home his wife asked Ali Baba to get him back.Ali Baba found his brother's dead body cut into many pieces at the door of the cave.He brought his body home. Everybody  got struck with grief.
There was an intelligent slave girl Morgiana from Qasim's household. Alibaba entrusted Morgiana with the task of making others believe that Qasim died a natural death.

Morgiana knew an old tailor who was expert in stitching, his name was Baba Mustafa.She offered him a good number of gold coins for stitching a dead body. Baba Mustafa agreed, Morgiana led him to Qasim's house with a blindfold over his eyes.There he stitched the pieces of Qasim's body back together. 
Ali Baba and his family gave Qasim a proper burial without anyone knowing that what had happened with Qasim. Ali Baba did not want to leave his brother's family alone in this difficult time so he and his family moved into Qasim's house to look after his late brother's family and his business. 

On the other hand, the captain of thieves realized that there must be another person who knows the secret of cave when he found the dead body gone.
He sent one of the thieves to the town to track that person down. 

There in the town that thief came across the tailor Baba Mustafa. He became friendly with the tailor. While talking with him Baba Mustafa mentioned that he has just stiched a man's dead body back together.
The thief offered him some gold coins if Baba Mustafa would lead him to that house where he stitched the body.
The tailor was blindfolded again and managed to retrace his steps and found the house.The thief marked the door with a symbol so that when he come back with other thieves at night he would be able to recognize the house and kill everyone in the house.

The clever girl Morgiana noticed that symbol and made the similar marks on the door of other houses too.In the night the thieves came and could not identify the correct house. Now the captain of thieves himself went into the town and and memorized every single detail of the house.

 The captain went to that house pretending to be an oil merchant who wanted to make a business deal with Ali Baba. He brought mules with him loaded with oil containers, one filled with oil and in the others, thieves were hiding with weapons.Their aim was to kill each person in the house.The captain of thieves requested Ali Baba  to let him stay in his house for one night as he was very tired from his long journey.Kind hearted Ali Baba allowed him to stay there.

                             
                             
At night the captain was discussing the plan of killing the family with other thieves, Morgiana heard them talking.Later in the night, Morgiana killed all the thieves in their jars by pouring hot,boiling oil on them.

                                                                          
  The captain managed to escape from there.Ali Baba was so impressed with the loyalty and bravery of Morgiana, he set her free and let her stay in the house as a family member. 
After a few months in order to take his revenge, the leader of thieves established himself as a diamond merchant.He befriended Ali Baba's son who was now taking care of Qasim's buisness. Ali Baba's son invited him home for the dinner.However the thief was recognized by Morgiana. She performed a sword dance and killed the thief with her sword. At first Ali Baba got angry with Morgiana for what she had done, but when he came to know the truth he was extremely grateful and rewarded Morigana by marrying her to his son.
Now only Ali Baba knew the secret of the  treasure in the cave and he decided that he would use the treasure for the welfare of poor and needy people of his town.     
                                                                        Arabian Folktale 
                                                         Re-told by-Aunt Mary

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William Tell (A Swedish Folktale)

                                  
Many years ago there lived a man beside the lake Lucerne  in Switzerland. His name was William Tell. William was a brave and strong man, he was a crossbow expert too.
 Gessler the mayor of the town near William's house was a cruel and  arrogant man.People were afraid of him and did not like him.Gessler hung his hat on a pole under the linden tree of town and ordered that all the townsfolk must bow before his hat. 
One day William and his young son, Walter visited the town and passed by the linden tree. There,William refused to bow before Gessler's hat. As a result ,William and his son got arrested by Gessler's men.
''Bow to my hat , otherwise I will kill you.'',angry Gessler shouted.
''I won't. Do whatever you want to .'',William said fearlessly.
''Alright, I give you a chance to save your life..... if you shoot an apple off the head of your son in a single attempt, I will set you free.'',said the cruel man. Gessler's men made little Walter stand under the tree and put an apple on his head.
William split the apple with an arrow from his crossbow. 
 Gessler noticed that William took out two arrows from his quiver,not just one.
''Why did you take out another arrow?'',He asked William.
''I would have used it to shoot you if my son had got killed.'' ,William replied.
 ''Guards,take him to my castle he will spend his whole life in the prison.'' Gessler said angrily. His men brought William to the boat.
When the boat was moving on it's way to the castle, there arose a big storm on lake Lucerne.
''Please, allow us to remove William's shackles, he can save us, he can steer the boat.'' The frightened soldiers begged Gessler. 
Gesslers allow them to do so.
While William was steering the boat, he saw that there was a rock in front of the boat,he soon jumped from the boat to that rock. Boat hit the rock and Gessler and his men fell into the water.
''What have you done !? I will not leave you and the people of town   alive.'' Crazy Gessler screamed in anger.
William Tell shot Gessler with one of his arrows. It was the end of  the life of cruel Gessler. 
                                      A Swedish folktale retold by-Aunt Mary 
   

Folktale

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Johnny Appleseed ( An American Folktale)

                                                  
This is the  story of  an American folk hero John Chapman. People gave him the nick name Johnny Appleseed  because he introduced and planted apple trees throughout the American Midwest.
John Chapman was born on 26 September 1774 in a small town of America. He was the second child of his parents.
 John took his training as a nurseryman under Mr.Crawford who inspired him to plant apple trees.
''How wonderful it would be if there are apple trees everywhere for everyone.'' John thought.
 He decided to fulfill his wish.

                                                
John left his home with a cooking pot on his head and an old coffee sack filled with apple seeds.
He wandered across the country barefoot. Whenever he found a suitable place he planted apple seeds there.
''There will be enough apples for everybody, no one will die of hunger.'' The noble hearted John wanted everyone to eat apples.

He walked from place to place, town to town and planted apple seeds.
"Look! He is the man who plants apple trees.", people used to exclaim happily when they  saw john.They became so fond of him and  called him Johnny Appleseed. 

                                                                                     
During his journey , Johnny Appleseed met many red Indians who  became very good friends of him. Red Indians cared for Johnny and he helped them too.

                                              
Johnny spent all his life planting apple trees. He died in 1845 at the age of 70. But he is still alive due to his kind and generous deed of planting trees for others.
                   -American folktale Retold by Aunt Mary

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THE STORY OF PRINCESS MOUSE ( Finnish Folktale )

                                                 
 One fine morning a father was having breakfast with his two beloved sons. He told his young sons,'' My dear children, now you both are old enough to get married and according to our culture you should cut a tree and should go into the direction in which the tree falls to find your bride.

                                                 
"Alright father. As you wish." , the two brothers agreed. 
The elder brother already liked a girl and he made sure that the tree fell down in the direction of girl's home.
Younger  brother Mikko cut the tree and went the way the fallen tree pointed out. It was a lonely way which led him to the forest.   
There was a small house in the middle of the woods.He went inside but the house was empty.

                                             
Mikko became so sad , he sat down under a tree outside the house. 
"I am not going to find my bride...No one lives here.", he murmured.
"I live in this house, please don't loose heart, I will be  your bride.", Mikko heard a voice. He looked around but nobody was there. Mikko got a bit scared.
 
 "Hello, I am here." Oh! the voice was coming from the ground.
 The young man looked down and he saw a little mouse on the ground near his feet.
"I will be a very good wife ,please marry me'' , said the small mouse. 
"How can I marry a mouse ?", the amazed and surprised young man said. 
''Stay with me for some time , I am sure you will like me and will select me as your wife.'', said the little mouse.
Mikko felt pity for her, he smiled and said, ''Alright I will stay here for a while."
He stayed with the mouse , she sang a beautiful song for him. Mikko liked her a lot, she was so nice.

                                                                       

Mikko went back to his home, he didn't tell his father that he had met a mouse.
''Dear sons, I want to give a little test to your to be brides, they have to weave a fine linen cloth for me'' Mikko's father told his sons.
Next day Mikko went to the mouse and told her about the test. 
"Don't worry, believe me everything is going to be fine.", said the little mouse.
Mikko was tired he fell asleep. The mouse wove a beautiful linen cloth with the help of her mouse friends. She folded the cloth and  packed it in a nutshell.
Mikko got up, the little mouse gave him the nutshell and said'' I have woven the cloth, I hope your father will like it.'' Mikko took the shell and returned home.
When his father opened the shell he got amazed to see the yards of  fine, beautiful fabric. ''Your bride is such a wonderful weaver, I am lucky to have her as my daughter-in law.'' said the happy father.
Next morning Mikko visited the mouse and told her that today is the day of their marriage.
The little mouse climbed into a carriage which was pulled and driven by rats.
They reached home, everyone was astonished to see the mouse,''Look! Mikko's bride is mouse.''
''How can you marry a mouse?'', his brother shouted with anger. He threw the carriage into the river.
Mikko's eyes filled with tears, ''You killed my sweetheart, I can't live without her!", he cried.
And just then, a beautiful princess came out of the river along with four horses.

                                            
''A witch had cursed me and turned me into a mouse.'' ,she told Mikko and his family,''The curse could only end if my lover's brother would hate me.''
Everybody got so happy that Mikko's bride was not a mouse , she was a princess, and what about Mikko?
Well.... he was the happiest man on the earth.
He got married to the princess and they lived happily ever after. 
                                                                  
                                                                   (A folktale from Finland)
                                                                      Retold by- Aunt Mary

The Merchant And The Magical Herb 'MEGA' (Japanese Folktale )

This interesting and funny Folktale is from Japan.

                                          
 One day a small merchant was returning to his home after buying  some goods from another town. He got late. It was getting dark and night was about to come.

"It is not safe to travel at night", thought the merchant. "I should stay somewhere at night and should go to home tomorrow." He dropped in a village and went to an inn to spend the night.  

                                                                                        


 He asked the inn- keeper to make dinner for him.

The inn-keeper's wife was a greedy woman. When she saw the goods that the merchant had brought with him, she thought "How good for us if we take all his merchandise and money.'' She told his husband what she was thinking about. "It's not so easy to take his stuff ." said the husband.

                                                     
''You are such an intelligent man can't you think of something to make this happen?", said the woman.The inn-keeper got moved by the sweet talks of his wife, he thought for a while and told his wife ''It is possible to take his merchandise if you put the magical herb Mega in the merchant's food. He will surely forget a thing or two after consuming this herb.""Are you sure about that? What if he doesn't forget his stuff?" , asked the greedy lady. 
He has got nothing to forget, except for his merchandise, I am sure he will forget to take it with him.
The innkeeper's wife cooked a delicious meal for the merchant and put the herb, 'Mega' in the food. 
                                                                                                        

      

                                                
The merchant ate the food and went to sleep. 
Next morning when the innkeeper's wife woke up, she saw that the merchant had left their place. She checked the room in which the merchant stayed at night thinking that he must have forgot his merchandise but found nothing. She searched again but there was nothing.
She called out to her husband and said, ''You told me that the merchant will forget his stuff but he has taken all his goods with him and there is nothing left behind."That is not possible, he must have forgot something , the herb is very effective.
The woman thought for a moment and cried.....
'' Yes! He forgot  something, he forgot to pay us for the food and the stay.'' 
"Oh no! The man said holding his head, ''What a big fool I am!''
                                               

                                                          
                                                                   
                                          Japanese Folktale Re-told by -Aunt Mary

King Matthias And The Shepherd ( Hungarian Folktale)

                                                              image source-en.wikipedia.org
One fine day the king of Prussia along with his daughter visited his good friend king Matthias, the Hungarian king. King matthias warmly welcomed them. 
''Is that right that you have a sheep which has fleece of gold?'' Prussian king asked king Matthias .

''Yes my friend,that's true. I have a sheep with fleece of gold, and let me tell you one more interesting thing that the shepherd who takes care of  that sheep never tells a lie''Said Matthias.  
"What if I make your shepherd lie ?''Prussian king asked with a smile on his face.                                                                 

                                                                image source-clipartbest.com
''Oh! I  see..then I will give you the half of my country, I know that the my shepherd will never lie.'' said king Matthias to his friend. 

''If I will not succeed in making him lie , I will give you the half of Prussia.'', said the king of Prussia. Both the king agreed on that.

Next day the Prussian king went to the Shepherd and said to him, '' I will give you six horses if you give the sheep with fleece of gold to me.''

                                          image source-Pixabay.com                                                                                                                           

''Sorry I can't give it to you it is the property of my king.'', answered the young shepherd.                                 

''Will you give it to me in return of ten horses?'', The king of  Prussia tried again. 
''Sorry, no question of that.'' , said the honest man.
   Disappointed king went back to his home and told his daughter about the shepherd. ''Don't worry father I will do this for you.'', the princess said to the king.
 She went to the shepherd and said t "Will you exchange the sheep with fleece of gold with a bag full of gold ?"No I will not do that'', said the young man. The princess insisted again and again.                         

image source-openclipart.com

The shepherd said ''I will give it to you if you promise to be my wife.''
 ''Alright, but I need only the fleece not the sheep.'' Princess agreed.
She took the fleece and went back to her father and told him everything. King became very happy and hugged his daughter. ''I am sure now the shepherd will lie to Matthias about the fleece of gold.'' He said .
 But he was wrong, next day the young shepherd went to the king Matthias and told him the truth in the presence of Prussian king and his daughter. 
''Hmmm ... so you didn't lie to me '' , said king Matthias , "You proved me right in front of my friend''. King Matthias told him about the bet between him and his friend.
''I am very happy with you and I am giving you my half of Prussia'' said king Matthias.
''And my daughter is your's now , you are such a good and honest man and I am sure you will keep her happy.''The Prussian king gave his daughter's hand into young man's hand.  Everyone was so happy. The young shepherd was now the king of Prussia.
                                          Hungarian folktale retold by -Aunt Mary

Lord Bao And The Stone (Chinese Folktale)

                                     

Hundreds of years ago a man lived in south China . He was a government official. He was so honest and fair , people loved him and they called him "Lord Bao".
One day during his routine visit to a town Lord Bao found a little boy who was crying badly. 

''Why are you crying my child'' ?  Kind hearted Lord Bao asked the young boy.
''Sir, I use to sell oil to earn my livings.  I have lost all my money." 
 ''How ?", asked Lord Bao.
"In the afternoon I felt tired , I put my  the money next to me and put my head on this stone and fell asleep'' the boy said pointing towards a stone.  
''When I got up I found out that my money wasn't here.'',he added. 
                                                
''Oh! So the stone has stolen your money, it is the thief.'' ,said Lord Bao. He lifted the stone with his hands and screamed,''Where is the money of this little boy , give it back! '   People who heard him shouting laughed and whispered in each others ears, '' How can a stone steal the money? Lord Bao has gone crazy."                     

 ''How dare you people call me crazy? Now each one of you will pay fine of one cent.'' Lord Bao ordered one of his men to collect the coins in a bag. 

While the people were putting their coins in the bag , Lord Bao was checking every coin by himself. 
"He is the thief , catch him!", suddenly Lord Bao pointed his finger towards a man and shouted. 

"But how can be you so sure that he is the thief ?", Someone  questioned Lord Bao.
''See! the coin has oil on it and the boy is an oil seller, he must be having  oil on his hands therefore there is oil on the coins too. This is little boy's coin.'' , said Lord Bao.
All the people gathered around the man..... he got scared and took out all the boy's money which he had stolen. 

Bao returned all the collected coins. The little boy got his money back and thanked Lord Bao. People praised Bao for his intelligence.

                                                                                                       Chinese Folktale
                                                                     Retold by - Aunt Mary

"THE MAN WHO NEVER TOLD A LIE"- African Folktale

                                                  image source-pixabay.com
A long time ago in the amazing land of Africa there lived a man . The one thing which was famous about that man was... that he had never lied in his whole life.
 People knew him as '' The man who never told a lie.'' 

This came into the knowledge of king and he ordered his men to get that man and bring him to the court.
                                     

image source-pinterest.com

The man reached. The king asked him ,'' I have heard that you have 

never told a lie '' ?''

"Yes my king , I have never lied. '' ,The man answered.

''Do you think you will never lie in the future too?"

''Yes my lord ,I will try my best to do that .'' , said the man respectfully.

''That is a very good quality of your's but you can't be so sure about not telling a lie every time in life, anyway you can go now .'' The king let him go.

image source-enwikpedia.org

A few days later the king called the man again and said'' I am going to hunt , the queen is in the other palace and I want you to go to my second palace and tell the queen that after hunting I will meet her and we will enjoy the meal together so she should get ready for that.''

''As you wish your majesty'' , said the man and left the king's palace.

Now king said to the people around him '' I will not go for hunting and I will not go to meet the queen today and... ''The man who never told lie will be proved wrong '' , he laughed aloud .

On the other hand the man reached the queen's palace and went to her and said ...

''O Queen there is a possibility that the king will visit you after the hunt and he might have lunch with you. "

"Tell me clearly will he come or not?" , asked the queen.

''Well, he is the king , he is the master of his own, may be he will come , may be he will not.'' The wise man answered.

Next day the king went to his queen and said that the man lied to her and has been proved false. But the queen told him that the man was very intelligent, he didn't lie to her, he was still

 '' The man who never told a lie.''

                                                               African Folktale Retold by                                                                                    - Aunt Mary

                        Have a beautiful day                             

                                                                                 

                                                image sourece-pixabay.com                                                                                                                                            

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The Miser Old Woman ( Indian Folktale)

                                                                                

Once upon a time an old woman lived in a village. She was  wealthy but was very clever and miser. She lived alone in an old hut and never allowed anyone to enter her hut. Though she was getting weaker day by day due to old age but did not have any servant or other helping hand and used to do all the household work by herself.
She had only one thing in her mind.....
'' If I allow someone to enter my house the person will steal away  all my money and I will get poor.'' 
                                             

One day a young man from other village came to the old woman's village and he heard about that woman from the villagers.
The young man thought that how good it would be for him if he succeeded in getting a good share of the old woman's wealth by any means.
Next day he went to old woman's house and knocked the door .
''Who is there'' ? ,asked the woman. 
''I am a relative of yours" ,the young man replied.
 ''Why have you come here?'' ,old woman asked again .
 I heard that you are living alone and it is not good for you to live alone in this old age so I decided to stay here and  look after you.
The woman did not allow him to come in but he started to live in the compound of the house.
Many days passed like that and one day the old woman got sick and she called the young man in the house as she had no one else to look after her.
The young man served the woman like her own child, she became so pleased with him that she allowed him to stay with her.
After some time the illness of the woman worsened.

                                             
Now she knew that she was going to die soon , she called the young man and said to him, '' Son, I want to tell you my last wish , that when my body will be placed on the pyre please burn my pillow with my body."
Two days later, the woman died. The young man did exactly what the  woman had asked him to do. He burnt the huge pillow with her.
After completing the funeral and rituals he rushed to the old woman's hut and started searching madly for the money.
He searched here, 
he searched there,
he searched everywhere.
But the young man didn't find a single penny.
So where was the money? Well, it was in the pillow which was burnt with the old woman.
 Ah ! all the efforts of the young man failed.
                                                                      Indian folktale
                                                                      Re-told by-Aunt Mary

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                          The crazy old woman and the sky

A Young man's wish (Chinese folktale)

Once there was an old man who lived in a cave. The old man was so intelligent and knowledgeable .People believed that the old man got some magical powers and he was able to solve their problems. 

One day a young man came to visit the old man. 
"What is the purpose of your visit ",asked the old man.
''O my respected elder , I have a wish ,will you please grant my wish?" , said the young man.
''What is your wish ?", the old man asked.
"Sir, I want to help the needy people for my whole life.I want to serve the human kind."

"Oh! that is very noble wish, I am giving you a magic box it will help you to make your wish come true'', said the old man.
''Thank you so much sir, I am really grateful to you.", the happy young man said.
''But keep in mind , that you must open this box only after reaching home'', the old man warned the man. 

On the way to home out of curiosity the young man opened the magic box. And guess what ? He immediately turned into a coconut tree. 
But his wish still came true as the coconut tree is very useful and has a lot of benefits for human kind.
                                               Chinese Folktale
                                           Re-told by-Aunt Mary