it.  Accordingly they acquainted him with the Shaykh’s case and he summoned him to his presence and asking him anent the mystery, increased his allowance of rations;[FN#339] moreover, he bade that they should cook together, he and the kitchener, and the old man obeyed his bidding.  Some time after this, there came two merchants to the king with two pearls of price and each of them declared that his pearl was worth a thousand dinars, but the folk were incompetent to value them.  Then said the cook, “Allah prosper the king!  Verily, the Shaykh whom I bought affirmed that he knew the quintessence of jewels and that he was skilled in cookery.  We have tried him in his cuisine, and have found him the most knowing of men; and now, if we send after him and prove him on jewels, his second claim will be made manifest to us, whether true or false.”  So the king bade fetch the Shaykh and he came and stood before the Sultan, who showed him the two pearls.  Quoth he, “Now for this one, ’tis worth a thousand dinars;” and quoth the king, “So saith its owner.”  “But for this other,” continued the old man, “’tis worth only five hundred.”  The people laughed and admired his saying, and the merchant who owned the second pearl asked him, “How can this, which is bigger of bulk and worthier for water and righter of rondure, be less of value than that?” and the old man answered, “I have said what is with me."[FN#340] Then quoth the king to him, “Indeed, the outer semblance thereof is like that of the other pearl; why then is it worth but the half of its price?” and quoth the old man, “Yes, but its inward is corrupt.”  Asked the merchant, “Hath a pearl then an inward and an outward?” and the Shaykh answered, “Yea!  In its interior is a teredo, a boring worm; but the other pearl is sound and secure against breakage.”  The merchant continued, “Give us approof of this thy knowledge and confirm to us the truth of thy saying;” and the old man rejoined, “We will break it:  an I prove a liar, here is my head, and if I speak sooth, thou wilt have lost thy pearl;” and the merchant said, “I agree to that.”  So they brake the pearl and it was even as the old man had declared, to wit, in the heart of it was a boring worm.  The king marvelled at what he saw and questioned him of how he came by the knowledge of this.  The Shaykh replied, “O king, this kind of jewel is engendered in the belly of a creature called the oyster[FN#341] and its origin is a drop of rain and it resisteth the touch and groweth not warm whilst hent in hand:[FN#342] so, when its outer coat became tepid to my touch, I knew that it harboured some living thing, for that things of life thrive not save in heat.”  Therefore the king said to the cook, “Increase his allowance;” and the Chef appointed to him fresh rations.  Now some time after this, two merchants presented themselves to the king with two horses, and one said, “I ask a thousand ducats for my horse,” and the other, “I seek five thousand ducats for mine.”  Quoth the cook, “We are