According to the legendary account, while Ertoghroul was making his way West, he found himself on the top of a mountain ridge, where, looking down on the plain, he saw two armies about to engage each other. He decided to help those who were weaker, and adding his warriors to those who were giving way, he put the enemy to flight. At the close of the battle he found that he had brought victory over a horde of Mongols to the armies of Ala-ed-Din I, who, as a reward for this unexpected aid, gave the newcomers the mountain regions of Toumanidj and Ermeni as a dwelling place in summer, and the plain of Soegud for their winter quarters. Ertoghroul showed his loyalty to his new sovereign by undertaking successful raids against the outposts of the Greek Empire of Nicæa in parts adjacent to his own lands. Although under a Moslem overlord, Ertoghroul and his people still continued faithful to their ancestral polytheism, but he showed such great respect for the sacred volume of Mohammed, that it was not surprising when his son and successor, Osman or Othman (1288-1326), became converted to the religion of Islam. This important event was connected with his marriage with the daughter of a cheikh belonging to the Seldjouks, Edebali, who, according to the legends of the Ottoman race, mysteriously foretold the future greatness of his son-in-law, and worked actively for the conversion of all his people. Up to this time the followers of Osman were nothing more than a band of nomads of mixed race composed of Turcomans, probably containing two Mongol elements. This change of religion not only gave them unity, but enabled them in the critical period of the Mongol conquests to act as a center around which were gathered all those of the Turkish race who held to Mohammedan orthodoxy. The first step was the absorption of the Seldjouks, a process natural enough because of racial affinity, but as time went on religious professions, not racial relationship, became so predominant a characteristic in Ottoman rule, that converts of all nationalities, Greeks, Slavs, Albanians, Roumanians, and Magyars, were absorbed without prejudice as to racial origin, and from the mere fact of profession of Mohammedanism were recognized just as fully as Ottoman Turks as if they had descended from the parent stock.