He had such care of the upbringing of his sons and daughters that he never dined without them when he was at home and never travelled without them.  His sons rode along with him and his daughters followed in the rear.  Some of his guards, chosen for this very purpose, watched the end of the line of march where his daughters travelled.  They were very beautiful and much beloved by their father, and, therefore, it is strange that he would give them in marriage to no one, either among his own people or of a foreign state.  But up to his death he kept them all at home saying he could not forgo their society.[20]

Then, with luck, Bodo, quaking at the knees, might even behold a portent new to his experience, the emperor’s elephant.  Haroun El Raschid, the great Sultan of the ‘Arabian Nights’ had sent it to Charles, and it accompanied him on all his progresses.  Its name was ‘Abu-Lubabah’, which is an Arabic word and means ‘the father of intelligence[A]’, and it died a hero’s death on an expedition against the Danes in 810.[21] It is certain that ever afterwards Ermentrude quelled little Gerbert, when he was naughty, with the threat, ’Abu-Lubabah will come with his long nose and carry you off.’  But Wido, being aged eight and a bread-winner, professed to have felt no fear on being confronted with the elephant; but admitted when pressed, that he greatly preferred Haroun El Raschid’s other present to the emperor, the friendly dog, who answered to the name of ‘Becerillo’.

[Footnote A:  Abu-Lubabah.—­It is remarkable that the name should have suffered no corruption in the chronicles.]

It would be a busy time for Bodo when all these great folk came, for everything would have to be cleaned before their arrival, the pastry cooks and sausage-makers summoned and a great feast prepared; and though the household serfs did most of the work, it is probable that he had to help.  The gossipy old monk of St Gall has given us some amusing pictures of the excitement when Charles suddenly paid a visit to his subjects: 

There was a certain bishopric which lay full in Charles’s path when he journeyed, and which indeed he could hardly avoid:  and the bishop of this place, always anxious to give satisfaction, put everything that he had at Charles’s disposal.  But once the Emperor came quite unexpectedly and the bishop in great anxiety had to fly hither and thither like a swallow, and had not only the palaces and houses but also the courts and squares swept and cleaned:  and then, tired and irritated, came to meet him.  The most pious Charles noticed this, and after examining all the various details, he said to the bishop:  ’My kind host, you always have everything splendidly cleaned for my arrival.’  Then the bishop, as if divinely inspired, bowed his head and grasped the king’s never-conquered right hand, and hiding his irritation, kissed it and said:  ’It is but right, my lord, that, wherever you come, all things should be thoroughly