How the great Caane was hid under a tree, and so escaped his enimies bicause of a byrd.
AND it befell on a day that the Caane rode with a fewe men to see the lande that he had wonne, and he met with a greate multitude of his enimies and there he was caste downe of his horse, and his horse slayne, and when his men saw him at ye earth[1] they went[2] he had been deade, and fledde, & the ennimies folowed after, and when he sawe his ennimies were fer,[3] he hid him in a bushe, for the wod was thicke there, and when they were come againe from the chace, they went to seke among the wood if any were hid there, and they founde many, and as they came to the place where he was, they saw a birde sitte uppon a tree, the which byrd men call an Oule, and then sayd they, that there was no man, for the birde sat there, and so went they away, and thus was the Caane saved from death, & so he went awaye on a night to his owne men, which were glad of his comming, and from that time hitherwardes men of that countrey haue that byrde in great reverence, and for that cause they worship that byrd aboue all other birds of the worlde. And incontinent he assembled all his men, rode uppon his enimies and destroyed them, and when he had won all the landes that were aboute him, he helde them in subjection. And when the Caane had won all the lordes to mounte Belyan, the white knighte came to him in a vision againe, and said unto him, Caan the will of God is, that thou passe the mounte Belyan, and thou shalt win many landes, and for thou shalt find no passage, go thou to mount Belian that is upon the sea side and knele ix times thereon against the east in the worship of God, & he shall shew thee a way how thou shalt passe, and Caan did so, & anon the sea that touched the hil, withdrew him, & shewed him a faire way of ix foote brode betwene the hill and the sea, & so he passed right wel with al his men, & then he wan the land of Cathay that is the best land and the greatest of all the worlde, and for those ix knelings and the ix foote of way, Caane and the men of Tartary have the number of ix in great worship.
[1:] On the ground.
[2:] Weened—supposed, imagined.
[3:] Far away.
CAP. LXX.
Of the great Caanes letters and the wryting about his seale.
NOW when he had wonne the lande of Cathay he dyed, and then raigned after Cythoco[1] the eldest sonne of Caane, & his other brothers went to winne them landes in other countreys, and they wan the land of Pruisse, and of Russy & they dyd cal themselfe Caane, but he of Cathay is the greatest lorde of all the worlde and so he called him in his letters and sayth thus, Caane filius dei excelsi, universam terram coulentium summus imperator, & dominus dominantium That is to say, Caane Gods son, Emperour of all those that tyll all the lande, and Lorde of all lordes. And the writing about his great seale is, Deus in celo & Caane super terram ejus fortitudo omnium hominum imperatoris sigillum That is to say, God in heaven, Caan uppon earth, his strength the seale of the Emperor of all men. And the wryting about his privy seale is, Dei fortitudo omnium hominum imperatoris sigillum That is to say, The strength of God, seale of the Emperour of all men. And if it be so that they be not christen, yet the Emperour and the Tartarins beleve in God Almightie.
[1:] In other editions Ecchecha. In reality, Ok-lar-Khan, who succeeded his father in 1229, and reigned over the Tartars till 1241.
CAP. LXXI.
Of the governaunce of the countrey of the great Caane.
NOW haue I tolde you why he is called the great Caane, now shall I tell you of the governinge of his courte when they make great feastes, and he kepeth foure principall feastes in the yeare, the fyrste of his byrth, the seconde when he is borne to the Temple to be circumcised, the third is of his ydoles when they begin to speake, and the fourth when the ydole beginneth fyrst to do myracles, & at those tymes he hath men well arayed by thousands and by hundreds and eche one wote well what he shal do. For there is fyrst ordeined 4000 rich barons and mighty for to ordeine the feast & to serve the Emperour & all these barons haue crowns of gold well dight with precious stones and pearles, and they are clad in clothes of golde & camathas[1] as richly as they may bee made & they may well have suche clothes for they are there of lesse pryce than wollen cloth is here. And these foure thousande barons are departed in foure parties, & eche company is clad in diverse colour ryght richely, and when the first thousand is passed and hath shewed them, then come the seconde thousande, and then the thirde thousande & then the fourth, and none of them speketh a word. And on the one side of the Emperours table sitteth many phylosophers of many sciences, some of Astronomie, Nygromancie[2], Geometry, Pyromacy,[3] & many other sciences, and some haue before them Astrolabes[4] of golde or of precious stones full of sande or of coles brenning, some haue horologes[5] well dight and richly, and many other instruments after their sciences. And at a certaine houre when they see time, they say to men that stand before them, make peace, and then saye those men with a loude voyce to all the hall, now be styll awhile, and then saith one of the philosophers, eche man make reverence and encline to the Emperour, that is Gods sonne, and lorde of the worlde, for now is time and houre, and then all men enclyne to him, and knele on the earth, and then the Phylosopher biddeth them rise up againe. And at another houre another philosopher biddeth them put their fingers in theyr eares and they do so, and at another houre another philosopher biddeth that all men shall laye their hande on their heads, and they do so, and then he biddeth them take them away and they doe so, and thus from houre to houre they bid divers thinges. And I asked privily what it shoulde meane and one of the masters said that the enclining and the kneling on the earth at that time hath this token, that all those men that kneled so shall evermore be true to the Emperour, that for no gift nor thretning they shal never be traitours nor false to him and the putting of the finger in the eare hath this token, that none of those shall here any yll spoken of the Emperour or his counsayll. And ye shall understande that men dight nothing, as clothes, bread, drinke nor no such things to the Emperour but at certaine hours that the Philosophers tell, and if any man reyse war against the Emperour in what countrey so ever it bee these Philosophers know it sone, & tell ye Emperour or his counsail and he sendeth men thether, for he hath many men. Also he hath many men that kepeth birdes, as gerfaukons[6], sperhaukes,[7] faucons,[8] gentils,[9] lavers, sacres,[10] popyniaye[11] that can speake, and many other, ten thousande olyphants, baboynes, marmosets and other and he hath ever aboute him many Physicions more than two hundred that are Christen men & xx sarasyns, but yet he trusteth more to Christen men than in Sarasyns. And there is in that countrey many Sarasins and other Servaunts that are Christen and converted to the faith, through preching of good Christen men that dwel there, but there are many that will not that men[12] wete that they are Christen.