Ten chapters of preparation end here, and the book changes register in a single verse. The people complain, and fire burns at the edges of the camp. Then a craving for meat, and a remembered menu — fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic — that is an accurate list of what Egyptian labourers actually ate. Moses breaks, and asks to be killed. The quails come in on a sea wind, and the plague falls while the meat is still between their teeth.