The Man of Upper Egypt and His Frankish Wife

A black man from Upper Egypt explains to his children that they are white because their mother was a Frankish Christian captured during the reign of Sultan Salah al-Din. When the man of Upper Egypt was in the area selling flax, he became smitten with the woman. He set up nights to spend time with her, but was so confused he never touched her. Later, in Damascus, he was trading slave women and found her among them. He freed her, she converted to Islam and the two married. The treaty between Christians and the sultan later returned the 289 Christian prisoners of war to their homes, but the Frankish woman wished to stay with her husband.