The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight: Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreysMandeville, John, Sir
Religion
The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight: Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys
Mandeville, John, Sir
Voyages and travels -- Early works to 1800
In this lande men and women lye all naked in the ryvers and waters,
from undren[3] or heate of the day tyll it be past none, and they ly
all in the water but the face, for the great heat that is there,
and the women be not ashamed for the men. In that yle are the ships
without nayles of yron, or bond, for roches of Adamand[4] that are in
the sea would draw shippes to them. From this yle men go by the sea to
the yle of Lana where is great plenty of corne, and the King of this
yle was sometime so mighty that he helde war against King Alexander
with great strength. Men of this yle have many maner beleves and
faithe & have also diverse lawes, for some do worship the Sunne, some
the fyre, some the trees, & some the serpents, or any other
thinge that they fyrst meete in the morning, and some doe worship
simulacres[5] and Idoles, but betwene symulacres & ydoles is no[6]
difference, and that is to understande, ymages made to what lykenesse
of thing that man may invent, for some ymage hath an head lyke an Oxe,
some haue three or foure heddes, on of a man or an hors or Oxe or any
other best that no man hath seene. And ye shall understande that they
that worship symulacres they worship them as for worthy men that were
sometime, as Hercules, and other that dyd many mervayles in theyr
tymes. For they saye they know well that they are not god of kynde[7]
that made all thinges, but that they are wel[8] with god for the
mervayles that they did, and therefore they worship them. And so say
they of the sonne, for it chaungeth oft tymes, for it giueth sometime
great heate for to nourych[9] all things on earth, & bicause it is of
so greate profyte they knowe well that it is not God but it is well
with God & that God loveth it more than any other thing, and for this
cause they worshippe it. And also they saye theyr reasons of other
planettes, and of fyre also, for it is profitable, and nedefull. And
of ydolls they say the Oxe is the holyest that they may finde here in
earthe, and more profitable than any other, for he doth much good,
and none ille, and they knowe well that it maye not bee without the
speciall grace of God, and therefore they make theyr God of an Oxe,
the one halfe, and the other halfe a man, for man is the fairest and
the best creature of the worlde. And they doe worship to serpentes,
and other beastes that they fyrste meete with in the morninge, and
namely those bestes that have good, meting after whome they speake[10]
well all the day after, the which they have proved of long time,
& therefore they say that this meting cometh of Gods grace, and
therefore they doe make ymages lyke unto those things that they may
worship them before they meete anythinges else. And there are some
christen men that say that some bestes are better for to meet than
some, for hares, swine, and other bestes are ill to meete first, as
they saye. In this yle of Cana is many wilde bestes, & rattes in
that countrey are as great as houndes here, and they take them with
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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