Last winter in a grand if rather farfetched gesture, Sheik Masoud AlSharif Al Hamdan of Saudi Arabia wrote a Houston lawyer asking him to arrange for the sheik to buy some Texas real estate. The desired land was state-owned and occupied by the Alamo. “My son learned how to fly in San Antonio,” the sheik is quoted as having written the lawyer. “He used to visit the Alamo, and he loved it. Please contact the proper people and see if we can buy it. I want to present it as a gift to my son.”

The lawyer suggested that the sheik set his sights a little lower and think of another gift—perhaps a Texas ranch.