ABSTRACT
The Greeks and Armeni are always enemies, and I will tell you why it is so, because I have heard it from the Armenians. The Tartars came into Greece with forty thousand men, and did much harm to the country, and then lay siege to Constantinoppel. Then the emperor of Constantinoppel sent to the king of Armenia for forty knights, the best he had in the land, and asked him to help him. The king asked how many there were [of the enemy]; the ambassador replied to him, that there were forty thousand. Then the king of Armenia selected forty knights, the best he had in his land: " I will send forty knights to the emperor, who will, with God's help, exterminate the Infidels, and drive them by force out of the country. When the knights came near Constantinoppel to. the emperor, then the ambassador told him what he was ordered to say. The emperor thought that the king of Armenia wanted to make fun of him; and on the third day, the knights went before the emperor, and asked to be allowed to go at the enemy.
