Charlemagne had a very different opinion. He was fond of learning;
and whenever he heard of a learned man, living in any foreign
country, he tried to get him to come and live in Frankland.
The fame of Charlemagne as a great warrior and a wise emperor
spread all over the world. Many kings sent messengers to him
to ask his friendship, and bring him presents. Harun-al-Rashid
(hah-roon'-al-rash'-eed), the famous caliph, who lived at Bagdad,
in Asia, sent him an elephant and a clock which struck the hours.
The Franks were much astonished at the sight of the elephant; for
they had never seen one before. They also wondered much at the
clock. In those days there were in Europe no clocks such as we
have; but water-clocks and hour-glasses were used in some places.
The water-clock was a vessel into which water was allowed to trickle.
It contained a float which pointed to a scale of hours at the side
of the vessel. The float gradually rose as the water trickled in.
The hour-glasses measured time by the falling of fine sand from
the top to the bottom of a glass vessel made with a narrow neck in
the middle for the sand to go through.
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