Page:Zawis and Kunigunde (1895).djvu/202

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198
MARRIAGE EMBASSY TO HUNGARY

necessarily fell to Witek as the personal representative of his brother; to Abraham and Solomon fell such a share as their wisdom might suggest.

Ladislaus received this deputation in the midst of a retinue of the most heterogeneous character and appearance. Abraham, clad in his full robes with aigrette and plume, advanced at the head of the cavalcade. His charger, an Arab of descent that might be from the stud of King Solomon, proudly represented the symmetry, gentleness, and endurance of the noblest in Arabia. Witek, in full knight’s armor, bearing his shield and cognizance with sash of white and scarlet silk, came next; and then rode his escort, consisting of twelve stout men at arms, every man a bronzed veteran who had followed Otakar from Kressenbrünn to Remove and the Baltic, and had seen alike the flight of the Hungarians, Cumanians, and Prussians, and sometimes of the Teutonic brethren also, who found the blue eyes and fair hair of the sons of Pogesania not unaccompanied by stalwart arms and keen military perception.

In the rear rode Solomon on a Spanish mule, his quiet demeanor and professional garb denoting his character as a student. The cortege reproduced in all particulars the elements of an oriental embassy of the first rank, the prince, the knight, and the statesman.

Ladislaus very ceremoniously acknowledged the honor done to his sister and his house, and the dignity of the princely nobleman who had commissioned the embassy. Abraham and Solomon, accustomed