Salim, a bathkeeper at Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, was once approached by a Frankish customer to have his pubic hair shaved. The Frank was very pleased with the result, and soon brought another customer for the same service - his wife. Majd al-Din Abu Salama Murshid, Usama's father, once noticed a pretty young girl among a group of Frankish prisoners he had captured. He cleaned her up a little and sent her as a gift to his friend, Shihab al-Din Malik b. Salim, Lord of Qal'at Ja'bar. Malik liked her and she became his concubine, bearing him a son, Badran. After Malik's death Badran became his successor, ruling under his mother's influence. Despite being the real power behind Badran's throne, she showed her Frankish race by escaping to Saruj and marrying a Frankish shoemaker. Usama once was in Tiberias during a Frankish feast and saw a race between two old women with a pig for a prize. He once saw a Frankish woman in a bathhouse (for men) at Tyre; her father had brought her with him to wash her hair