198 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



One of the most striking incidents which marked 

 the long funeral procession of Frederick u. through 

 the southern provinces of Italy was furnished by 

 the grief of a faithful band of Saracens, who, with 

 dishevelled hair and cries of sorrow, accompanied 

 the body of their great benefactor to its last resting- 

 place. It is probable indeed that these people, of 

 whom Frederick had not a few both in Sicily and 

 in various colonies on the mainland, may have 

 joined very heartily with their Christian neighbours 

 in giving currency to the latest application of the 

 Arthurian legend. In all essential features it must 

 already have been familiar to them as a form of 

 myth long known in the East. Even the romance 

 of Nectanebus already noticed had a certain his- 

 torical basis. In the fourth century before Christ 

 a king called Nekhtneb reigned in Egypt. He was 

 defeated by the Persians, and fled into a distant 

 province of Ethiopia. Thus the ancient national 

 dynasty of the Pharaohs came to an end, but the 

 people long refused to believe that their king was 

 dead. They consulted an oracle, which told them 

 he would return, as a young man, to conquer the 

 enemies of his country. This prophecy was en- 

 graved on the base of the royal statue and served 

 long to sustain the national hope. The same 

 dreams appeared in connection with the much more 

 recent Mohammedan power. The Shi' ah and Sun- 

 nee sects of Islam held firmly to the idea that the 

 twelfth Imam was not really dead, but would return 

 to earth. This mysterious person was El Mohdy, 

 the last incarnation of the Deity, as they supposed. 

 He was said to dwell in a cave near Bagdad, whence 

 he would one day reappear to oppose Ed Dejal, the 



