1. Compare and Contrast
by Claire Dobra
I'm comparing two stories; they are Ali Baba and the forty thieves and Aladdin. The
reason why I'm comparing these two stories is because I want to see which is the better
folktale is.
My first similarity is both stories have greedy people. They're Jafar and Cassim. When
Ali Baba tells Cassim about the treasure and the cave he tries to steal lots of the treasure
but doesn't even get out of the cave. Jafar wants the treasure which is the lamp. The bad
thing is that he can't go get it because only Aladdin can go in to the cave of wonders.
Jafar tricks Aladdin into entering the cave. When Aladdin tries to escape Jafar tries to
grab the lamp but Aboo the monkey steals it back. The genie helps Aladdin escape.
Another similarity is there are thieves in both stories. Aladdin is the thief in his story
and slightly Jafar because he tried to steal the lamp. In the end Aladdin wasn't a street rat/
thief, he was marring a princess. Ali Baba was the main character but he wasn't a thief
instead he had forty thieves after him for knowing about their secret cave full of valuable
treasure. None of them were anything more than thieves because Morginia killed them
all.
My favorite similarity is all the magic. In Aladdin the magic is 1. the genie 2. the cave
of wonders 3. the flying rug. All the magic really did make the movie a lot better, because
the genie was funny and the cave was almost scary and the rug was a really good
companion Aladdin. In Ali Baba the cave is the magic and the magic words. The cave
opened on the words 'open sesame'.
The last similarity that I have is treasure. In Ali Baba the treasure was in the cave. Ali
Baba only takes a little treasure although Cassim tries to take a lot of the treasure but
can't because he dies. Aladdin has to go into the cave of wonders to get the the lamp. The
lamp is the real treasure out of all the gold and jewels that were in the the first part of the
cave but the second half contained of the lamp and a ruby. When Aboo touches the ruby
the cave starts to collapse because he wasn't supposed to to touch anything.
My first difference is that Ali Baba has a family.He almost relies on his family to
protect him from the unknown enemies waiting outside his door(the thirty eight thieves in
the oil containers) . Aladdin doesn't. He doesn't have a family that's why he lives as a
'street rat'.

2. Another difference id that there was no royalty mentioned in Ali Baba. There was no
royalty mentioned or the thieves wouldn't even be there. The royalty was a big part of
the movie. Princess Jasmine was the second biggest character in the movie. She was
going to marry Aladdin in the end of the movie.
One more difference is that Aladdin has a pet. His name is Aboo. Aboo is a
monkey and he is very helpful to Aladdin. Ali Baba doesn't. There are no animals/pets
mentioned in the story except for the one time used when Ali Baba was cutting down a
tree instead of lumber he put sacks of gold on his donkey, but that really isn't a pet or at
least doesn't qualify as a pet.
In conclusion, after comparing and contrasting these two stories I feel that
Aladdin was better. Not because it was a movie. I thought it was way too gruesome for
my taste.