During the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, there lives a merchant's son named Abu al-Hasan-al-Khali’a. At first he squanders his spending money and loses his friends, so he decides to live off his savings. He invites one single guest per night and then never speaks to that person again. One night he invites the Caliph and his slave Masrur in but then explains that they'll never meet again and relates the Story of the Larrikin and the Cook.