It Is Related, He Says, That "A Man Will First Go And Sit On Three
Sticks Put Together So As
To form a tripod; after which, first one stick,
then a second, then the third shall be removed from under
Him, and the man
shall not fall but shall still remain sitting in the air! Yet I have
spoken with two friends who had seen this at one and the same time; and
one of them, I may add, mistrusting his own eyes, had taken the trouble to
feel about with a long stick if there were nothing on which the body
rested; yet, as the gentleman told me, he could neither feel nor see any
such thing. Still, I could only say that I could not believe it, as a
thing too manifestly contrary to reason."
Akin to these performances, though exhibited by professed jugglers without
claim to religious character, is a class of feats which might be regarded
as simply inventions if told by one author only, but which seem to deserve
prominent notice from their being recounted by a series of authors,
certainly independent of one another, and writing at long intervals of
time and place. Our first witness is Ibn Batuta, and it will be necessary
to quote him as well as the others in full, in order to show how closely
their evidence tallies. The Arab Traveller was present at a great
entertainment at the Court of the Viceroy of Khansa (Kinsay of Polo, or
Hang-chau fu): "That same night a juggler, who was one of the Kan's
slaves, made his appearance, and the Amir said to him, 'Come and show us
some of your marvels.' Upon this he took a wooden ball, with several holes
in it, through which long thongs were passed, and, laying hold of one of
these, slung it into the air. It went so high that we lost sight of it
altogether. (It was the hottest season of the year, and we were outside in
the middle of the palace court.) There now remained only a little of the
end of a thong in the conjuror's hand, and he desired one of the boys who
assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. He did so, climbing by the
thong, and we lost sight of him also! The conjuror then called to him
three times, but getting no answer, he snatched up a knife as if in a
great rage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also! By and bye he
threw down one of the boy's hands, then a foot, then the other hand, and
then the other foot, then the trunk, and last of all the head! Then he
came down himself, all puffing and panting, and with his clothes all
bloody, kissed the ground before the Amir, and said something to him in
Chinese. The Amir gave some order in reply, and our friend then took the
lad's limbs, laid them together in their places, and gave a kick, when,
presto!
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