The Boy Who Walked to China

4.5

The boy who walked to China from Europe? How could that be? But there was such a boy. His name was Marco Polo. He was born in Venice in 1254. His father and uncle had already been to China once, and when they went there for a second time, they took the boy with them. Marco was about fifteen years old then.

They had to go over great mountains, through hot lands and places where the cold was terrible.

For more than three years they walked through those dangerous places and at last they came to China. Kablai Khan, the great king of China, knew Marco’s father and uncle very well and was glad to see them again. Kablai Khan liked Marco very much because he was a quick and clever boy who liked to see new things, well understood and easily remembered everything that he saw; and there were many things to see and to learn in China. At that time there was already paper money in China and the people there knew how to print books. When Marco Polo came back to Europe he wrote a book about it and about many other things that he had seen in China. Nobody in Europe believed him. They did not believe that there was such a great country as China, with millions of people.

In China, for the first time in his life, Marco Polo saw coal. In his book he wrote: “In China there are stones which can burn. If you put these stones into the fire, it will be as warm in the room as in summer.” In China Marco Polo learned something new about milk. He wrote: “People in China know how to make milk dry. They put the milk in the sun and after a few days it becomes dry grey powder. Every man, who leaves his home for a long time, takes such powder with him. When this man is hungry, he puts this powder into water and this water becomes milk again.”

Marco Polo learned very quickly and in a few years he could speak five languages. He was so clever that Kablai Khan began to send him to other countries as his ambassador. Each time when he came back, he was able to tell Kablai Khan everything about the country he had been sent to. He told him how the people lived there and how they worked. The King had never had such a clever ambassador before, and he made Marco, his father and uncle rich men.

For twenty-three years they lived and worked in China, but still they wanted to go home to Venice. Kablai Khan was very sorry that they wanted to leave China, but he gave them rich presents and let them go. The way to Venice was long and dangerous. The three men put on old and dirty clothes and into these clothes they sewed up many diamonds.

When they came back to Venice, people did not want to believe that they had been to China, and nobody wanted to listen to their stories. Even Marco’s mother was angry with her son and husband because they were telling their friends how rich they were and at the same time took such care of their old and dirty clothes.

One morning, when Old Marco came home, his wife told him that she had given his old clothes from China to a poor man. Old Marco began shouting, “What shall I do? What shall I do now?” His wife thought that he was mad.

But Old Marco was not mad. He was thinking of all the rich diamonds which were in his old clothes. At last he thought of a plan. He went to the biggest street in Venice, sat on a stone and began to sing,

“If God wants, he will come. If God wants, he will come.”

The people of Venice thought that Old Marco, who said that he had been to China, was mad. Soon everybody in Venice spoke about mad Marco. Everybody wanted to see him, and great crowds of people came to the place where he was sitting. For two days and nights Old Marco was sitting on the stone and was singing his song.

On the third day he saw an old man dressed in his clothes. The old man came to see mad Marco. Old Polo jumped up, caught the old man and took him to his house.

That night Old Polo asked all their friends to dinner. When everybody came, Marco Polo, his father and his uncle came into the room. They wore their old and dirty clothes from China. Marco Polo came up to the table, took off his coat and cut it with his knife. Great diamonds began to fall out of the coat. Then Marco’s father took off his coat and did the same. His uncle did so too. Soon the table was full of diamonds.

After that evening people began to listen to Marco Polo’s stories about China but still they did not believe some of them. Now we know that his stories were true.