"My young friend," he said, "are you going to tell me that you have seen
one of these beans?"
"Not only that but I have eaten one," Burton announced,--"in fact I
have eaten two."
Mr. Cowper was greatly excited.
"Where are they?" he exclaimed. "Show me one! Where is the tree? How
did the man come to write this? Where did he write it? Let me look at
one of the beans!"
Burton produced the little silver snuff-box in which he carried them.
With his left hand he kept the professor away.
"Mr. Cowper," he said, "I cannot let you touch them or handle them.
They mean more to me than I can tell you, yet there they are. Look at
them. And let me tell you this. That old superstition you have spoken
of has truth in it. These beans are indeed a spiritual food. They
alter character. They have the most amazing effect upon a man's moral
system."
"Young man," Mr. Cowper insisted, "I must eat one."
Burton shook his head.
"Mr. Cowper," he said, "there are reasons why I find it very hard to
deny you anything, but as regards those three beans, you will neither
eat one nor even hold it in your hand. Sit down and I will tell you a
story which sounds as though it might have happened a thousand years
ago.
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