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. They were like the little
glasses called egg-timers, which are used for measuring the time
for boiling eggs.

Charlemagne died in 814. He was buried in the church which he had
built at Aix-la-Chapelle. His body was placed in the tomb, seated
upon a grand chair, dressed in royal robes, with a crown on the
head, a sword at the side, and a Bible in the hands.

This famous emperor is known in history as Charlemagne, which is
the French word for the German name Karl der Grosse (Charles the
Great), the name by which he was called at his own court during
his life. The German name would really be a better name for him;
for he was a German, and German was the language that he spoke.
The common name of his favorite residence, Aix-la-Chapelle, also
is French, but he knew the place as Aachen (a'-chen).

The great empire which Charlemagne built up held together only
during the life of his son. Then it was divided among his three