After the bandits had ridden away, Ali Baba went up to the wall of rock and cried, "Open, Sesame!" Again the rock opened, and now Ali Baba went inside. The cavern was filled with treasure. He took as many bags of gold as he could carry and hurried home.

Ali Baba had just started for the town when the thieves returned. When they discovered the gold was missing, they galloped to the town, determined to find the one who had discovered their secret.

When Ali Baba reached his home, he asked his clever and faithful servant Morgiana to help him unpack the gold. She was wise and brave, and he knew he could trust her. As they worked, one of the thieves spied on them. He put a mark on the door of Ali Baba's house and ran to find his captain.

Clever Morgiana soon noticed the mark on their door. Thinking it might be a sign that their enemies were planning some misfortune for her master, she marked all the doors in the street in the same way. When the captain arrived, he couldn't tell which house was Ali Baba's. But his henchman recognized Morgiana, and the captain hurried back to the hideout with an evil scheme of revenge.

That evening the captain of the thieves, disguised as an oil merchant, arrived at Ali Baba's door and asked for shelter for the night as well as a place to store his forty jars of oil. Ali Baba was happy to help and told Morgiana to prepare a dinner. Thinking to use a little of the merchant's oil, the sensible slave started to open one of the large leather jars when a voice from its depths asked, "Is it time?" Though frightened, Morgiana whispered back, "Not yet!"; for she had quickly judged that the merchant was actually the robber captain and the jars were filled not with oil but with thirty-nine thieves waiting for a signal from their captain. When she found one jar actually was filled with oil, she thought of a plan to foil the robbers' murderous plot.

Late that night, when the robber captain tried to rouse his men and attack Ali Baba and his household, he discovered that his whole gang of thieves had been destroyed. Before the captain could escape, Morgiana offered to perform a tribal sword dance for him. The brave Morgiana danced closer and closer to the captain until her sword finally rescued her master from danger.

When Morgiana removed the captain's disguise and told of the fate of the rest of the band of thieves, Ali Baba realized that she had saved his life. To reward her devotion and courage, Ali Baba gave Morgiana her freedom and a generous share of the gold.

The puppeteer operates and speaks for a total of 28 marionettes
in her solo performance.

Back to Shows