‘And the prince of the palace servants said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord, the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces as worse likeable (more gloomy) than the youths who are of your own age. In that you would put it on my head before the king.”
The prince was quite frank with him. It put him in a dilemma. Much as he might wish to, he dared not do as Daniel asked, or else he himself would be punished and even possibly his own head might be forfeit. To him ‘good eating and drinking' were the secret of health. It had worked before. Perhaps it was he in fact who referred them to the steward who had immediate watch over the youths and was probably highly experienced at dealing with such problems.