Tonight, we’ll read a story called “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” from “The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales” by Smith, Wiggin, and Parrish. It has become one of the most familiar of the "Arabian Nights" tales, and is where the phrase “Open, Sesame!” comes from.

This folk tale was added to the “One Thousand and One Nights” anthology in the 18th century by its French translator. This translator heard it from a Syrian storyteller who travelled to Paris.