I told you yesterday of the origin of the
kingdom of Egypt, and of the struggles carried on by barbarian
hordes against each other. I then went on to tell you of the caliphs
of Bagdad, how they had ruled in Egypt, and how they, too, were
overthrown in their magnificence. Now listen. Egypt was lost to the
caliphs of Bagdad; after long struggles their rule was at an end
forever. A fortunate soldier, named Tokid, possessed himself of the
rich and fertile kingdom that lies beyond the ocean. He held the
reins of government with a strong hand, and an army of four hundred
thousand men spread themselves over the whole land, like a swarm of
hornets and grasshoppers, and held the trembling people in
subjection. But he died, and a black slave named Kafour, took the
sceptre from the hands of the dying man, and said, 'He gave it to me
as to his successor.' And the four hundred thousand hornets and
grasshoppers repeated these words, and the nation bowed its head and
submitted to the rule of this black man.
"But one man bad the courage to defy this slave. He was a descendant
of the house of Ali, which could boast of being the house of the
great prophet.
"Mahadi Obeidallah was the name of this grandson of Ali. He was
strong and mighty before Allah, and he held in his strong hand the
green flag of the prophet, of his ancestor, an heir-loom in his
family, as he landed from his ships with his troops, at Alexandria,
the great city that lies on the shore of Africa, and belongs to the
realm of Egypt.
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