To Which I Answered, That You
Warred Against The Saracens, Because They Had Violated The House Of God At
Jerusalem.
He then asked if your majesty had ever before sent ambassadors
to him.
And I said never to him. He then desired us to be seated, and gave
us to drink; and it is accounted a great favour when any one is admitted to
drink cosmos in his house. While I sat looking down upon the ground, he
desired me to look up; either wishing to observe me more distinctly, or out
of some superstitious fancy: for these people look upon it as a sign of
ill-fortune, when any one sits in their presence holding down his head in a
melancholy posture, and more especially when he leans his cheek or chin
upon his hand.
We then departed from the tent of audience, and immediately afterwards our
guide came and told us, that, as our king had desired that we might remain
in this country, Baatu could not consent to this without the knowledge and
authority of Mangu-khan; and it was necessary, therefore, that I should go
with the interpreter to Mangu, while my companion and the clerk should
return to the court of Sartach, and remain there till my return. On this
the interpreter began to lament himself as a dead man; and my companion
declared, that rather as separate from me, he would allow them to take off
his head. I added, that I could not possibly go without my interpreter, and
that we should need two servants, that we might be sure of one in case of
the other being sick.
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