Page:The Thousand And One Days - 1892 - Volume 1.djvu/196

177 IV

FTER having heard the story of Couloufe, you are going to hear that of the Prince Calaf, the son of an old khan of the Nogaïs Tartars.

The history of his century makes glorious mention of him. It says that he surpassed all the princes of his time in appearance, in mind, and in valour; that he was as learned as the greatest doctors; that he understood the mystic meaning of the commentaries of the Koran, and knew by heart the sentences of Mahomet. It finally call him the hero of Asia and the phœnix of the East.

Indeed, this prince, from the age of eighteen had perhaps no equal in the world; he was the soul of the councils of his father Timurtasch. I he proffered an advice, the most experienced VOL. I.