Thousand & One Nights: 98th Night

Ninety eighth night 

Shahrazad began the story: 

I am relating, O the King, the story told by Ja'far to the Harun al Rashid the Caliph:

Badr al-Din kept crying calling for help. The Chamberlain with his men drew close to the scene. They pushed the vizier's mercenaries aside to look at Badr al-Din, and hitting him on the shoulders with his stick, asked him, "Are you the one who cooked the pomegranate dish?" Badr al-Din cried with pain from the blow and replied, "Yes, my lord, but I ask you, in the name of God, what is supposed to be wrong with it?" But the Chamberlain scolded him and cursed him, saying to his men, "Drag away this dog who had cooked the pomegranate-seed dish." Badr al-Din felt miserable, and wept to himself, "What did they find wrong with pomegranate-seed dish that they should abuse me so much?" He felt frustrated for not knowing what his fault was. The men kept dragging him until they reached the tents, where they waited for the vizier.

The vizier returned to the tent, dismounted, and asked, "Where is the cook?" They brought Badr al-Din before him. When Badr al-Din saw his uncle, vizier Shams al-Din, he wept and said, "My lord, what is my offence against you?"

Shams al-Din replied, "Damn you, aren't you the one who cooked pomegranate dish?" With a cry of exasperation Badr al-Din replied, "Yes my lord, and what a misfortune? Does my crime warrant cutting off my head?"

Shams al-Din replied, "That misfortune would be of least punishment."

Badr al-Din said, "My lord, will you not tell me my crime, and what is wrong with pomegranate-seed dish?"

Shams al-Din: "Yes, presently."

He called his servants, shouting, "Let us pack up, and go."

The servants dismantled the tents. They put Badr al-Din in a chest and locked it. The camels knelt for loading. They put the chest also on  camel, guarded by mercenaries. The caravan departed. At nightfall, they stopped to eat. They took Badr al-Din out of the chest, fed him and locked him again.

At Cairo, they dismounted outside the city. Badr al-Din was taken out of the chest, brought up before the vizier of Cairo, who sent for wood and carpenter. The carpenter came followed by wood. The vizier said to the carpenter, "Make a cross." 

Badr al-Din asked, "What are you going to do with it?"

The vizier replied, "I am going to nail you on it, and then parade you through out the city, because the pomegranate-seed dish you cooked lacked pepper, and tasted awful." 

Badr al-Din said, "Haven't you done enough, and all this because pomegranate dish lacked pepper."

The break of dawn. Shahrazad stopped the story, and departed.