But when the eldest said this, the two younger said: "Sir, if you feel disgust, why shouldn't we?"
When the eldest heard this, he said: "You take the turtle, otherwise Father's sacrifice will be ruined on your account. Then you and Father too will surely go to hell."
When they heard him, the two younger brothers laughed and said: "Sir, you seem to know our common duty, but not your own."
Then the eldest said: "What! Are you not aware that I am a connoisseur in food? For I am a specialist in foods. How can I touch this loathsome thing?"
When he heard these words, the second brother said: "But I am even more of a connoisseur. I am a specialist in women. So how can I touch it?"
After this speech, the eldest said to the youngest: "Do you then, being younger than we, carry the turtle."
Then the youngest frowned and said to them: "Fools! I am a great specialist in cotton."
So the three brothers quarrelled, and arrogantly leaving the turtle behind them, they went to have the matter decided at Pinnacle, the capital of a king called Conqueror. When they came there, and had been announced and introduced by the door-keeper, they told their story to the king. And when the king had heard all, he said: "Stay here. I will examine you one after another." So they agreed and all stayed there.
Then the king invited them in at his own dinner hour, seated them on magnificent seats, and set before them sweet dishes of six flavours, fit for a king. While all the rest ate, one of the Brahmans, the specialist in food, disgustedly shook his head and refused to eat. And when the king himself asked him why he would not eat food that was sweet and savoury, he respectfully replied: "Your Majesty, in this food there is the odour of smoke from a burning corpse. Therefore, I do not wish to eat it, however sweet it may be."