Early Travels in Palestine: Comprising the Narratives of Arculf, Willibald, Bernard, Sæwulf, Sigurd, Benjamin of Tudela, Sir John Maundeville, de la Brocquière, and Maundrell
History
Early Travels in Palestine: Comprising the Narratives of Arculf, Willibald, Bernard, Sæwulf, Sigurd, Benjamin of Tudela, Sir John Maundeville, de la Brocquière, and Maundrell
Middle East -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Palestine -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
separate them from each other, and break every one by itself; and so he
did. And then said the chan to his eldest son, and to all the others,
"Wherefore might you not break them?" And they answered that they might
not, because they were bound together. "And wherefore," quoth he, "hath
your little youngest brother broke them?" "Because," quoth they, "they
were separated from each other." Then said the chan, "My sons, truly
thus will it fare with you; for as long as you are bound together in
three places, that is to say, in love, truth, and good accord, no man
shall have power to grieve you; but if you be divided from these three
places, that one of you help not the other, you shall be destroyed and
brought to nothing; and if each of you love each other, and help each
other, you shall be lords and sovereigns over all other people." And
when he had made his ordinances he died: and then, after him, reigned
Ecchecha[391] Chan, his eldest son. And his other brethren went to
subdue many countries and kingdoms, unto the land of Prussia and Russia,
and took the name of chans, but they were all subject to their eldest
brother, and therefore was he called great chan. After Ecchecha reigned
Guyo[392] Chan, and after him Mango[393] Chan, who was a good Christian
man, and baptized and gave letters of perpetual peace to all Christian
men, and sent his brother Halaon, with a great multitude of people, to
win the Holy Land, and put it into the hands of the Christians, and
destroy the law of Mohammed, and take the khalif of Bagdad, who was
emperor and lord of all the Saracens. And when this khalif was taken,
they found him so rich in treasure, and of so high worship, that in all
the rest of the world no man might find a man higher in worship. And
then Halaon made him come before him, and said to him, "Why hadst thou
not hired with thee more soldiers for a little quantity of treasure, to
defend thee and thy country, who art so abundant of treasure and so high
in all worship?" And the khalif answered, that he believed he had enough
of his own proper men. And then said Halaon, "Thou wert as a god of the
Saracens; and it is convenient to a god to eat no meat that is mortal;
and, therefore, thou shalt eat only precious stones, rich pearls, and
treasure, that thou lovest so much." And then he ordered him to prison,
and placed all his treasure about him; and so he died for hunger and
thirst. And then after this Halaon won all the Land of Promise, and put
it into the hands of the Christians. But the great chan, his brother,
died, and that was great sorrow and loss to all Christians. After Mango
Chan reigned Cobyla[394] Chan, who was also a Christian, and reigned
forty-two years. He founded the great city Igonge in Cathay, which is
much larger than Rome. The other great chan who came after him, became a
pagan, and all the others since.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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