Ali Baba examined all the other jars, one after another; and when he came to that which had the oil in, 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 would 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, after 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 these robbers laid for my destruction. I owe, therefore, my life to you; and, for the first token of my acknowledgment, give you your liberty from this moment, till I can complete your recompense as I intend.”
Ali Baba’s garden was long, and shaded at the further end by large trees. Near these he and the slave Abdalla dug a trench, long and wide enough to hold the bodies of the
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