第634页 / 共1116页

I never ate in my life its like, nor tasted aught nastier than

this stuff which is now before us."[FN#473] Badr al-Din Hasan's

mother was angry at this and said, "Needs thou must go back to

the cook and bring me a saucer of conserved pomegranate-grains

from that which is in his shop and show it to thy master, that he

may say which be the better and the nicer, mine or his." Said the

unsexed, "I will." So on the instant she gave him a saucer and a

half dinar and he returned to the shop and said to the cook, "O

Shaykh of all Cooks, [FN#474] we have laid a wager concerning thy

cookery in my lord's house, for they have conserve of

pomegranate-grains there also; so give me this half-dinar's worth

and look to it; for I have eaten a full meal of stick on account

of thy cookery, and so do not let me eat aught more thereof."

Hasan of Bassorah laughed and answered, "By Allah, none can dress

this dish as it should be dressed save myself and my mother, and

she at this time is in a far country." Then he ladled out a

saucer-full; and, finishing it off with musk and rose-water, put

it in a cloth which he sealed [FN#475] and gave it to the Eunuch,

who hastened back with it.