Now Khalifah the Fisherman had quarters in the Passage of the Merchants，[208] and，as he lay one night in his lodging much bemused with Hashish，he said to himself，'O Khalifah，the folk all know thee for a poor fisherman，and now thou hast gotten an hundred golden dinars.Needs must the Commander of the Faithful，Harun al-Rashid，hear of this from some one，and haply he will be wanting money and will send for thee and say to thee，'I need a sum of money and it hath reached me that thou hast an hundred dinars： so do thou lend them to me those same.'I shall answer，'O Commander of the Faithful，I am a poor man，and whoso told thee that I had an hundred dinars lied against me；for I have naught of this.'Thereupon he will commit me to the Chief of Police，saying，'Strip him of his clothes and torment him with the bastinado till he confess and give up the hundred dinars in his possession.Wherefore，meseemeth to provide against this predicament，the best thing I can do，is to rise forthright and bash myself with the whip，so to use myself to beating.'And his Hashish [209] said to him，'Rise，doff thy dress.'So he stood up and putting off his clothes，took a whip he had by him and set handy a leathern pillow；then he fell to lashing himself，laying every other blow upon the pillow and roaring out the while，'Alas！ Alas！ By Allah，'tis a false saying，O my lord，and they have lied against me；for I am a poor fisherman and have naught of the goods of the world！'The noise of the whip falling on the pillow and on his person resounded in the still of night and the folk heard it，and amongst others the merchants，and they said，'Whatever can ail the poor fellow，that he crieth and we hear the noise of blows falling on him？'
'Twould seem robbers have broken in upon him and are tormenting him.'Presently they all came forth of their lodgings，at the noise of the blows and the crying，and repaired to Khalifah's room，but they found the door locked and said one to other；'Belike the robbers have come in upon him from the back of the adjoining saloon.It behoveth us to climb over by the roofs.'