A Larrikin eats at a Cook without payning money. He notices that the Cook uses horseflesh in his meat and gets a free meal after threatening to let people know this.
A ne’er-do-well is penniless and wants to eat. He goes to a cook and order food. After his meal has finished he finds a horse’s tail under an earthen pan. He deducts that the Cook adulterates his his with horseflesh. pon knowing this the Larrikin leaves, when the Cook finds out he hasn’t paid his meal he becomes angry. The Larrikin insists he already paid for his meal before he started eating. The crowd belives the Cook, but then after folk asked what the strife is between the two and its cause, the Larrikin says: “Ay, by Allah, but there is a cause for itm and the cause has a tail!”. The Cook understands the Larrikin, he admits the Larrikin did pay for his meal, but only a quarter of a dirham is spent and he can get the other part back.
