"Then did I conceive yet another stupendous thing. 'Bid them,' said I to the sultan, 'take the notes as money. Cease to repay. Write, not "I will on … - Hilaire Belloc

"Then did I conceive yet another stupendous thing. 'Bid them,' said I to the sultan, 'take the notes as money. Cease to repay. Write, not "I will on delivery of this paper pay a piece of gold," but, "this is a piece of gold."'

"He did as I told him. The next day the vizier came to me with the story of an insolent fellow to whom fifty such notes had been offered as payment for a camel for the war and who had sent back, not a camel, but another piece of paper on which was written 'This is a camel.'

"'Cut off his head!' said I.

"It was done, and the warning sufficed. The paper was taken and the war proceeded.