第59章

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.'

So they clomb over the roofs and coming down through the sky-light，[210] saw him naked and flogging himself and asked him；'What aileth thee，O Khalifah？'He answered，'Know，O folk，that I have gained some dinars and fear lest my case be carried up to the Prince of True Believers，Harun al-Rashid，and he send for me and demand of me those same gold pieces；where upon I should deny，and I fear that，if I deny，he will torture me，so I am torturing myself，by way of accustoming me to what may come.'

The merchants laughed at him and said，'Leave this fooling，may Allah not bless thee and the dinars thou hast gotten！ Verily thou hast disturbed us this night and hast troubled our hearts.'

So Khalifah left flogging himself and slept till the morning；when he rose and would have gone about his business，but bethought him of his hundred dinars and said in his mind，'An I leave them at home，thieves will steal them，and if I put them in a belt [211] about my waist，peradventure some one will see me and lay in wait for me till he come upon me in some lonely place and slay me and take the money： but I have a device that should serve me well，right well.'So he jumped up forthright and made him a pocket in the collar of his gaberdine and tying the hundred dinars up in a purse，laid them in the collar-pocket.Then he took his net and basket and staff and went down to the Tigris，--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that Khalifah the Fisherman，having set his hundred dinars in the collar-pocket took basket，staff and net and went down to the Tigris，where he made a cast but brought up naught.So he removed from that place to another and threw again，but once more the net came up empty；