The lie worked.
I said: "O Ali Higg, men said of you that you are a fierce man, swift in wrath and slow to take advice.

And others said that you are sick with burning boils; yet who shall go into the Lion's den and heal him?
And Ayisha said to me: "'Thou art a _hakim,_ yet he will never listen to thee.

But he is my lord, and shall I see him linger in agony?
Give me a potion that will weaken him.

Then in his weakness he will call for help, and thou shalt heal the boils.

And afterward that which is written shall come to pass.