Compares Frankish Kingdom with Abbasid Caliphate, Tang China, and the Byzantine Empire. Show's the Franks as the least developed state. Excellent opening anecdote about the failure of a Frankish canal.
Story of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid giving an elephant to Charlemagne through diplomats sent from the Frankish Kingdom to the Abbasid capital in Baghdad