Ptolemais, where the Count and his squire Kurt were taken prisoners by an ambuscade of Saracens, embarked in a vessel to Alexandria, and sent as slaves to Grand Cairo, where they were thrown into prison and loaded with chains.]
“The warriors had long returned, and brought the news of their leader’s sudden disappearance to his anxious consort. A thousand conjectures about his fate filled the mind of the wretched Ottilia, who mourned for her lord as one numbered with the dead. Still she fondly cherished the hope that he might survive, and sent many a trusty follower to the East to make research, but all returned without the slightest tidings. The seventh year still found the noble Count occupant of a gloomy dungeon, when, by a stratagem of the faithful Kurt, the closed doors were thrown open, and the Count was brought before the commander of the slaves, who addressed him thus:—‘Thy obstinacy is the cause of thy captivity, stubborn Frank; why didst thou conceal thy abilities? Thy fellow-prisoner hath reported thee to be skilled in the precious art of gardening. Execute the will of the most mighty Sultan; arrange a garden after the manner of the Franks, and spare no pains, for if thy garden delight the Sultan’s daughter, who is the flower of the
