A servant opened the heavy, studded door of
his father's mansion--the house where Lull himself was born.
He hastened in and, calling to his Saracen slave, strode to his own
room. The dark-faced Moor obediently came, bowed before his young
master, and laid out on the table manuscripts that were covered with
mysterious writing such as few people in Europe could read.
Lull was learning Arabic from this sullen Saracen slave. He was
studying the Koran--the Bible of the Mohammedans--so that he might be
able to strive with the Saracens on their own ground. For Lull knew
that he must be master of all the knowledge of the Moslem if he was
to win his battles; just as a knight in the fighting Crusades must
be swift and sure with his sword. And this is how Lull spoke of the
Crusade on which he was to set out.
"I see many knights," he said, "going to the Holy Land beyond the seas
and thinking that they can acquire it by force of arms; but in the end
all are destroyed before they attain that which they think to have.
Whence it seems to me that the conquest of the Holy Land ought not
to be attempted except in the way in which Christ and His Apostles
achieved it, namely, by love and prayers, and the pouring out of tears
and blood."
Suddenly, as he and the Saracen slave argued together, the Moor
blurted out passionately a horrible blasphemy against the name of
Jesus.
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