" "By Allah!" said Agib, "we went in and ate, and it
was better than thine." Then his grandmother rose and went and
told her brother-in-law, who was incensed against the eunuch and
sending for him, said to him, "Why didst thou take my son into a
cookshop?" "We did not go in," replied the eunuch. But Agib said,
"We did go in and ate of pomegranate-seed, till we were full; and
the cook gave us to drink of iced sherbet of sugar." At this, the
Vizier's anger redoubled and he questioned the eunuch, but he
still denied. Then said the Vizier, "If what thou sayest be true,
sit down and eat before us." So he sat down and tried to eat, but
could not and threw away the morsel, saying, "O my lord, indeed I
am full since yesterday." By this, the Vizier knew that he had
eaten at the cook's and bade his slaves throw him down and beat
him. So they drubbed him, till he roared for mercy and said,
"O my lord, do not beat me, and I will tell thee the truth."
Whereupon the Vizier stopped the beating and said, "Speak the
truth." Quoth the eunuch, "Know then that we did enter the shop
of a cook, who was dressing pomegranate seed, and he set some of
it before us; by Allah, I never ate the like of it in my life,
nor did I ever taste aught nastier than that which is before us!"
Bedreddin's mother was enraged at this and said to the eunuch,
"Thou must go back to the cook and fetch us a dish of his
pomegranate-seed and show it to thy master, that he may say which
is the better, his or mine.
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