I swear there's nothing in my heart but love of thee alone, By
God, who reads the heart and brings the hidden things to
light!
And she said to Agib, "O my son, where hast thou been?" Quoth he,
"We have been in the city of Damascus. Then she rose and set
before him confection of pomegranate-seed and said to the eunuch,
"Sit down and eat with thy young master." The eunuch said to
himself, "By Allah, we have no mind to eat!" but he sat down,
and so did Agib, though his belly was full of what he had
already eaten and drunk. Now the conserve lacked sugar, so
he took a piece of bread and dipped it therein and ate, but
found it insipid, for that he was already surfeited, and
exclaimed, "Faugh! what is this nasty mess?" "O my son," said his
grandmother, "dost thou find fault with my cookery? I cooked this
myself, and there is not a cook in the land can compare with me,
except it be thy father Bedreddin Hassan." "O my lady," replied
Agib, "this thy dish is naught; for we saw but now in the city a
cook who dresses pomegranate-seed, so that the very smell of it
opens the heart and the taste would give a full man an appetite;
and as for thy mess, compared with his, it is worth neither much
nor little." When his grandmother heard this, she was exceeding
wroth and said to the eunuch, "Out on thee, dost thou corrupt my
grandson and take him into cookshops?" The eunuch was frightened
and denied, saying, "We did not enter the shop, but only saw it
in passing.
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