And this prince was called Alamut and was Mohammedan. He had created, in a lovely valley enclosed between two very high mountains, a beautiful garden, full of every variety of fruit and trees that could be obtained. Round these plantations were various palaces and pavilions, decorated with golden ornaments. He had brought in young girls of perfect beauty and full of charm to live here, paintings and furniture all made of silk, and they were trained to sing, to play all sorts of instruments, to dance, and above all to make the most seductive advances to men that can be imagined.
This is the reason why the old man had this place built, Mohammed having said that those who obeyed his will would go to Paradise where they would find all the pleasures and delights of the world, beautiful women and rivers of milk and honey: this man wanted to pretend that he could make anyone he wished enter this very Paradise. No-one could penetrate into the garden we described, for they had built at the entrance to the valley a very fortified and impregnable castle. It could only be entered by a secret road.
