Publisher's Synopsis
Caliph Harun al-Rashid really did send an elephant to Emperor Charlemagne, and a man named Isaac really did deliver him. Though we know much about the two great leaders from histories, records, and even biographies written in their time, all we know about Isaac is that he was Jewish. Charlemagne probably recruited him to be his emissary because of Isaac's connections to Jewish communities along the trade routes of both the East and the West. The story of Abul-Abbas, therefore, shows members of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths working together.
