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THE POLOS LEAVING VENICE FOR THEIR TRAVELS TO THE FAR EAST. From a miniature which stands at the head of a late 14th century MS. of the Travels of Marco Polo (or the Book of the Grand Khan) in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The drawing shows the Piazzetta at Venice, with the Polos embarking, and in the foreground indications of the strange lands they visited. |
"The lord of all the earth," as he was called by his people, received them very warmly. He inquired at once who was the young man with them.
"My lord," replied Niccolo, "he is my son and your servant."
"Then," said the Khan, "he is welcome. I am much pleased with him."
So the three Venetians abode at the Court of Kublai Khan. His summer palace was at Shang-tu, called Xanadu by the poet Coleridge—
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"In Xanadu did Kublai Khan A stately pleasure dome decree, Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sacred sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground, With walls and towers were girdled round: And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery." |
So the three Venetians abode at the Court of the Chinese Emperor for no less than seventeen years. Young Marco displayed so great intelligence that he was sent on a mission for the Khan some six months' journey distant; and so well did he describe the things he had seen and the lands through which he had passed, that the Khan heaped on him honours and riches. Let us hear what Marco says of his lord and master.
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KUBLAI KHAN. From an old Chinese Encyclopædia at Paris. |