  We have derived beryllium abundances for 7 Li-rich giant (A(Li) > 1.5) stars
and 10 other Li-normal giants, with the aim of investigating the origin of the
Lithium in the Li-rich giants. In particular, we test the predictions of the
engulfment scenario proposed by Siess & Livio (1999), where the engulfment of a
brown dwarf or one or more giant planets would lead to a simultaneous
enrichment of 7Li and 9Be. We show that regardless their nature, none of the
stars studied in this paper were found to have detectable beryllium. Using
simple dilution arguments we show that the engulfment of an external object as
the sole source of Li enrichment is ruled out by the Li and Be abundance data.
The present results favor the idea that Li has been produced in the interior of
the stars by a Cameron-Fowler process and brought up to the surface by an extra
mixing mechanism.
