Caliph, and Prince Polibans then proceed to visit the
Mountain of the Old Man. The Caliph professes to him that they want help
against Godfrey of Bouillon. The Viex says he does not give a _bouton_ for
Godfrey; he will send one of his _Hauts-Assis_ straight to his tent, and
give him a great knife of steel between _fie et poumon!_

After dinner they go out and witness the feat of devotion which we have
quoted elsewhere.[23] They then see the Paradise and the lovely Ivorine,
with whose beauty Bauduin is struck dumb. The lady had never smiled
before; now she declares that he for whom she had long waited was come.
Bauduin exclaims:

"'Madame, fu-jou chou qui sui le vous soubgis?'
Quant la puchelle l'ot, lors li geta. j. ris;
Et li dist: 'Bauduins, vous estes mes amis!'" Pp. 362-363.

The Old One is vexed, but speaks pleasantly to his daughter, who replies
with frightfully bad language, and declares herself to be a Christian. The
father calls out to the Caliph to kill her. The Caliph pulls out a big
knife and gives him a blow that nearly cuts him in two. The amiable
Ivorine says she will go with Bauduin:

"'Se mes peres est mors, n'en donne. j. paresis!'" P. 364.

We need not follow the story further, as I did not trace beyond this point
any distinct derivation from our Traveller, with the exception of that
allusion to the incombustible covering of the napkin of St. Veronica,
which I have quoted at p. 216 of this volume. But including this, here are
at least seven different themes borrowed from Marco Polo's book, on which
to be sure his poetical contemporary plays the most extraordinary
variations.

[Sidenote: Chaucer and Marco Polo.]

[78 _bis._--In the third volume of _The Complete Works of Geoffrey
Chaucer_, Oxford, 1894, the Rev. Walter W. Skeat gives (pp. 372 seqq.) an
_Account of the Sources of the Canterbury Tales_. Regarding _The Squieres
Tales_, he says that one of his sources was the Travels of Marco; Mr.
Keighley in his _Tales and Popular Fictions_, published in 1834, at p. 76,
distinctly derives Chaucer's Tale from the travels of Marco Polo. (_Skeat,
l. c._, p. 463, note.) I cannot quote all the arguments given by the Rev.
W. W. Skeat to support his theory, pp. 463-477.

Regarding the opinion of Professor Skeat of Chaucer's indebtedness to
Marco Polo, cf. _Marco Polo and the Squire's Tale_, by Professor John
Matthews Manly, vol. xi. of the _Publications of the Modern Language
Ass