Latest / The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1 / 020 - Book First Chapters 5 to 10 Of the kingdom of Mausul Of the great city of Baudas and how it was take

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020 - Book First Chapters 5 to 10 Of the kingdom of Mausul Of the great city of Baudas and how it was take · The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty of the Book of Sir Marco Polo, the
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  Speaker 1: Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, Volume IE.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. The Book of Sir Marco Polo,
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  Speaker 1: the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East,
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  Speaker 1: Volume IE by Rusticello d'a pisa, translated by Henry Yule,
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  Speaker 1: Book first chapter five of the Kingdom of Marsoull. On
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  Speaker 1: the frontier of Armenia, towards the southeast is the Kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of Marsoull. It is a very great kingdom and inhabited
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  Speaker 1: by several different kinds of people, whom we shall now describe. First,
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  Speaker 1: there is a kind of people called Arabi, and these
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  Speaker 1: worship Mohammet. Then there is another description of people who
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  Speaker 1: are Nestorian and Jacobite Christians. They have a patriarch whom
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  Speaker 1: they call the Jatolic, and this patriarch creates archbishops, and
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  Speaker 1: abbots and prelates of all other degrees and sends them
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  Speaker 1: into every quarter. As to India, to Bodas or to Cathay,
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  Speaker 1: just as the Pope of Rome does in the Latin countries.
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  Speaker 1: For you must know that though there is a very
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  Speaker 1: great number of Christians in these countries, they are all
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  Speaker 1: Jacobite and Nestorians. Christians indeed, but not in the fashion
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  Speaker 1: enjoined by the Pope of Rome, for they come short
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  Speaker 1: in several points of the faith. All the cloths of
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  Speaker 1: gold and silk that are called muslins are made in
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  Speaker 1: this country, and those great merchants called Muslins, who carry
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  Speaker 1: for sale such quantities of spicery and pearls, and cloths
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  Speaker 1: of silk and gold, are also from this kingdom. There
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  Speaker 1: is yet another race of people who inhabit the mountains
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  Speaker 1: in this quarter, and are called Kurds. Some of them
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  Speaker 1: are Christians, some of them are Saracens. But they are
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  Speaker 1: an evil generation whose delight it is to plunder merchants.
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  Speaker 1: Near this province is another called muz and Merdin, producing
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  Speaker 1: an immense quantity of cotton, from which they make a
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  Speaker 1: great deed of buckram and other cloth. The people are
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  Speaker 1: craftsmen and traders, and all are subject to the Tartar king.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter six of the Great City of Boodas and how
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  Speaker 1: it was taken. Baodas is a great city which used
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  Speaker 1: to be the seat of the Caliph of all the
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  Speaker 1: Saracens in the world, just as Rome is the seat
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  Speaker 1: of the Pope of all the Christians. A very great
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  Speaker 1: river flows through the city, and by this you can
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  Speaker 1: descend to the Sea of India. There is a great
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  Speaker 1: traffic of merchants with their goods. This way They descend
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  Speaker 1: some eighteen days from Bodas and then come to a
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  Speaker 1: certain city called Kissi, where they enter the Sea of India.
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  Speaker 1: There is also on the river as you go from
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  Speaker 1: Bodas to Kissi, a great city called Bastra, surrounded by
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  Speaker 1: woods in which grow the best dates in the world.
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  Speaker 1: In Boodas they weave many different kinds of silk stuffs
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  Speaker 1: and gold brocades such as nasich and nak and cramoisi,
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  Speaker 1: and many other beautiful tissue, richly wrought with figures of
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  Speaker 1: beasts birds. It is the noblest and greatest city in
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  Speaker 1: all these regions. Now it came to pass on a
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  Speaker 1: day in the year of Christ twelve fifty five, that
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  Speaker 1: the lord of the Tartars of the Levant, whose name
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  Speaker 1: was Alao, brother of the great Khan, now reigning, gathered
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  Speaker 1: a mighty host and came up against Baudas and took
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  Speaker 1: it by storm. It was a great enterprise, for in
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  Speaker 1: Boudas there were more than one hundred thousand horse beside
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  Speaker 1: foot soldiers. And when Alao had taken the place, he
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  Speaker 1: found therein a tower of the caliphs, which was full
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  Speaker 1: of gold and silver and other treasures, in fact, the
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  Speaker 1: greatest accumulation of treasure in one spot that ever was known.
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  Speaker 1: When he beheld that great heap of treasure, he was astonished,
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  Speaker 1: and summoning the Caliph to his presence, he said to him, Caliph,
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  Speaker 1: tell me now, why thou hast gathered such a huge treasure.
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  Speaker 1: What didst thou mean to do therewith knewest thou not
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  Speaker 1: that I was thine enemy, and that I was coming
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  Speaker 1: against thee with so great an host to cast thee
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  Speaker 1: forth of thine heritage. Wherefore didst thou not take of
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  Speaker 1: thy gear and employ it in paying knights and soldiers
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  Speaker 1: to defend thee and thy city. The Caliph wist not
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  Speaker 1: what to answer, and said never a word. So the
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  Speaker 1: prince continued, Now, then, Caliph, since I see what a
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  Speaker 1: love thou hast borne thy treasure, I will e'en give
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  Speaker 1: it thee to eat. So he shut the caliph up
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  Speaker 1: in the treasure tower and bade that neither meat nor
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  Speaker 1: drink should be given him, saying, now, Caliph, eat of
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  Speaker 1: thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art
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  Speaker 1: so fond of it, For never shalt thou have aught
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  Speaker 1: else to eat. So the caliph lingered in the tower
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  Speaker 1: four days and then died like a dog. Truly, his
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  Speaker 1: treasure would have been more service to him had he
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  Speaker 1: bestowed it upon men who would have defended his kingdom
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  Speaker 1: and his people, rather than let himself be taken and
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  Speaker 1: disposed and put to death as he was. Howbeit, since
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  Speaker 1: that time there has been never another caliph, either at
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  Speaker 1: Baudas or anywhere else. Now, I will tell you of
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  Speaker 1: a great miracle that befel at Baudas wrought by God
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of the Christians. Chapter seven, how the Caliph
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  Speaker 1: of Baudas took counsel to slay all the Christians in
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  Speaker 1: his land. I will tell you then this great marvel
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  Speaker 1: that occurred between Baudas and Marzoul. It was in the
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  Speaker 1: year of Christ that there was a caliph at bounds Us,
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  Speaker 1: who bore a great hatred to Christians, and was taken
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  Speaker 1: up day and night with the thought how he might
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  Speaker 1: either bring those who were in his kingdom over to
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  Speaker 1: his own faith, or might procure them all to be slain.
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  Speaker 1: And he used daily to take counsel about this with
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  Speaker 1: the devotees and priests of his faith, for they all
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  Speaker 1: bore the Christians like malice. And indeed it is a
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  Speaker 1: fact that the whole body of Saracens throughout the world
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  Speaker 1: are always most malignantly disposed towards the whole body of Christians.
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  Speaker 1: Now it happened that the Caliph, with those shrewd priests
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  Speaker 1: of his got hold of that passage in our Gospel,
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  Speaker 1: which says that if a Christian had faith as a
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  Speaker 1: grain of mustard seed, and should bid a mountain be removed,
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  Speaker 1: it would be removed. And such indeed is the truth.
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  Speaker 1: But when they had got hold of this text, they
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  Speaker 1: were delighted, for it seemed to them the very thing
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  Speaker 1: whereby either to force all the Christians to change their faith,
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  Speaker 1: or to bring destruction upon them all. The Caliph therefore
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  Speaker 1: called together all the Christians in his territories who were
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  Speaker 1: extremely numerous. And when they had come before him, he
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  Speaker 1: showed them the Gospel and made them read the text
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  Speaker 1: which I have mentioned. And when they had read it,
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  Speaker 1: he asked them if that was the truth. The Christians
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  Speaker 1: answered that it was assuredly. So well, said the Caliph,
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  Speaker 1: since you say that it is the truth, I will
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  Speaker 1: give you a choice. Among such a number of you.
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  Speaker 1: There must needs, surely be this small amount of faith.
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  Speaker 1: So you must either move that mountain there, and he
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  Speaker 1: pointed to a mountain in the neighborhood, or you shall
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  Speaker 1: die an ill death unless you choose to eschew death
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  Speaker 1: by all becoming saracens and adopting our holy law. To
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  Speaker 1: this end, I give you a respite of ten days.
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  Speaker 1: If the thing be not done by that time, ye
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  Speaker 1: shall die or become saracens. And when he had said this,
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  Speaker 1: he dismissed them to consider what was to be done
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  Speaker 1: in this strait wherein they were. Chapter eight, how the
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  Speaker 1: Christians were in great dismay because of what the Caliph
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  Speaker 1: had said. The Christians, on hearing what the Caliph had said,
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  Speaker 1: were in great dismay. But they lifted all their hopes
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  Speaker 1: to God, their creator, that he would help them in
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  Speaker 1: this their strait. All the wisest of the Christians took
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  Speaker 1: counsel together, and among them were a number of bishops
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  Speaker 1: and priests. But they had no resource except to turn
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  Speaker 1: to Him from whom all good things do come, beseeching
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  Speaker 1: him to protect them from the cruel hands of the
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  Speaker 1: king Caliph. So they were all gathered together in prayer,
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  Speaker 1: both men and women, for eight days and eight nights.
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  Speaker 1: And while they were thus engaged in prayer, it was
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  Speaker 1: revealed in a vision by a holy Angel of heaven
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  Speaker 1: to a certain bishop, who was a very good Christian,
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  Speaker 1: that he should desire a certain Christian cobbler who had
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  Speaker 1: but one eye to pray to God, and that God,
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  Speaker 1: in his goodness, would grant such a prayer because of
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  Speaker 1: the cobbler's holy life. Now I must tell you what
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  Speaker 1: manner of man this cobbler was. He was one who
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  Speaker 1: led a life of great uprightness and chastity, and who
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  Speaker 1: fasted and kept from all sin, and went daily to
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  Speaker 1: church to hear Mass, and gave daily a portion of
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  Speaker 1: his gains to God. And the way how he came
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  Speaker 1: to have but one eye was this. It happened one
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  Speaker 1: day that a certain woman came to him to have
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  Speaker 1: a pair of shoes made, and she showed him her
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  Speaker 1: foot that he might take her measure. Now, she had
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  Speaker 1: a very beautiful foot and leg. And the cobbler, in
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  Speaker 1: taking her measure, was conscious of sinful thoughts, and he
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  Speaker 1: had often heard it said in the Holy evangel that
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  Speaker 1: if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast
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  Speaker 1: it from thee, rather than sin. So as soon as
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  Speaker 1: the woman had departed, he took thee all that he
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  Speaker 1: used in stitching, and drove it into his eye and
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  Speaker 1: destroyed it. And this is the way he came to
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  Speaker 1: lose his eye. So you can judge what a holy,
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  Speaker 1: just and righteous man he was. Chapter nine, how the
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  Speaker 1: one eyed Cobbler was desired to pray for the Christians. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when this vision had visited the bishop several times, he
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  Speaker 1: related the whole matter to the Christians, and they agreed,
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  Speaker 1: with one consent to call the cobbler before them. And
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  Speaker 1: when he had come, they told him it was their
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  Speaker 1: wish that he should pray, and that God had promised
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  Speaker 1: to accomplish the matter by his means. On hearing their request,
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  Speaker 1: he made a good many excuses, declaring that he was
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  Speaker 1: not at all so good a man as they represented,
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  Speaker 1: but they persisted in their request with so much sweetness,
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  Speaker 1: that at last he said he would not tarry, but
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  Speaker 1: do what they desired. Chapter ten, how the prayer of
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  Speaker 1: the one eyed Cobbler caused the mountain to move, And
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  Speaker 1: when the appointed day was come, all the Christians got
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  Speaker 1: up early, men and women, small and great, more than
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  Speaker 1: one hundred thousand persons, and went to church to hear
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Mass. And after Mass had been sung, they
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  Speaker 1: all went forth together in a great procession to the
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  Speaker 1: lane in front of the mountain, carrying the precious Cross
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  Speaker 1: before them, loudly singing and greatly weeping as they went.
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  Speaker 1: And when they arrived at the spot, there they found
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  Speaker 1: the Caliph with all his Saracen host, armed to slay
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  Speaker 1: them if they would not change their faith. For the
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  Speaker 1: Saracens believed not in the least God would grant such
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  Speaker 1: a favor to the Christians. These latters stood, indeed in
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  Speaker 1: great fear and doubt, but nevertheless they rested their hopes
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  Speaker 1: on their God, Jesus Christ. So the cobbler received the
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  Speaker 1: bishop's benison, and then threw himself on his knees before
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Cross, and stretched out his hands towards Heaven,
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  Speaker 1: and made this prayer. Blessed Lord God Almighty, I pray
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  Speaker 1: THEE by thy goodness, that thou wilt grant this grace
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  Speaker 1: unto thy people, insomuch that they perish, not nor thy
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  Speaker 1: faith be cast down, nor abused nor flouted. Not that
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  Speaker 1: I am in the least worthy to prefer such a
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  Speaker 1: request unto THEE. But for Thy great power and mercy,
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  Speaker 1: I beseech THEE to hear this prayer from me, thy
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  Speaker 1: servant full of sin. And when he had ended this
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  Speaker 1: his prayer to God, the Sovereign Father and giver of
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  Speaker 1: all grace. And whilst the Caliph and all the Saracens
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  Speaker 1: and other people there were looking on, the mountain rose
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  Speaker 1: out of its place and moved to the spot where
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  Speaker 1: the Caliph had pointed. And when the Caliph and all
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  Speaker 1: his Saracens beheld, they stood amazed at the wonderful miracle
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  Speaker 1: that God had wrought for the Christians, insomuch that a
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  Speaker 1: great number of Saracens became Christians. And even the Caliph
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  Speaker 1: caused himself to be baptized in the name of the
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  Speaker 1: Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen,
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  Speaker 1: and became a Christian. But in secret, Howbeit, when he
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  Speaker 1: died they found a li if a cross hung round
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  Speaker 1: his neck, and therefore the Saracens would not bury him
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  Speaker 1: with the other caliphs, but put him in a place apart.
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  Speaker 1: The Christians exalted greatly at this most holy miracle and
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  Speaker 1: returned to their homes full of joy, giving thanks to
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  Speaker 1: their creator for that which he had done. And now
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  Speaker 1: you have heard in what wise took place this great miracle,
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  Speaker 1: and marvel not that the Saracens hate the Christians, for
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  Speaker 1: the accursed law that Mohammet gave them commands them to
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  Speaker 1: do all the mischief in their power to all other
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  Speaker 1: descriptions of people, and especially to Christians, to strip such
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  Speaker 1: of their goods and do them all manner of evil,
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  Speaker 1: because they belonged to their law. See then, what an
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  Speaker 1: evil law and what naughty commandments they have. But in
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  Speaker 1: such fashion the Saracens act throughout the world. Now I
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  Speaker 1: have told you something of Bodhah. I could easily, indeed
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  Speaker 1: have told you first of the affairs and the customs
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  Speaker 1: of the people there, but it would be too long
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  Speaker 1: a business looking to the great and strange things that
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  Speaker 1: I have got to tell you, as you will find
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  Speaker 1: detailed in this book. So now I will tell you
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  Speaker 1: of the noble city of Touris. End of section twenty.
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  Speaker 1: Reading by Alan Mapstone in Oxford, England,