otter skin, and his plain blue cloak (Einhard tells us that he hated
grand clothes and on ordinary days dressed like the common people);[19]
and after him would come his three sons and his bodyguard, and then his
five daughters. Einhard has also told us that:

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'.