f the manuscript exist to this day. One of these is in a library
in Paris. It was carried into France in the year 1307. Another
copy is preserved in the city of Berne. It is said that the book
was translated into many languages, so that people in all parts
of Europe learned about Marco's adventures.

About a hundred and seventy-five years after the book was written,
the famous Genoese, Christopher Columbus, planned his voyage across
the Atlantic. It is believed that he had read Marco's description
of Java, Sumatra and other East India Islands, which he thought he
had reached when he discovered Hai'ti and Cuba. So Marco Polo may
have suggested to Columbus the voyage which led to the discovery
of America.

EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE

LIVED FROM 1330-1376

I

One of the most famous warriors of the Middle Ages was Edward the
Black Prince. He was so called because he wore black armor in battle.

The Black Prince was the son of Edward III who reigned over England
from 1327 to 1377. He won his fame as a soldier in the wars which
his father carried on against France.

You remember that the early kings of England, from the time of
William the Conqueror, had possessions in France. Henry II, William's
grandson, was the duke of Normandy and lord of Brittany and other
provinces, and when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine she brought
him that province also.

Henry's son John lost all the French possessions of the English
crown except a part of Aquitaine, and Edward III inherited this.
So when Philip of Valois (_val-wah'_) became king of France, about
a year after Edward had become king of England, Edward had to do
homage to Philip.

To be king of England and yet to do homage to the king of France--to
bend the knee before Philip and kiss his foot--was something Edward
did not like. He thought it was quite beneath his dignity, as his
ancestor Rollo had thought when told that he must kiss the foot
of King Charles.

So Edward tried to persuade the nobles of France that he himself
ought by right to be the king of France instead of being only a
vassal. Philip of Valois was only a cousin of the late French King
Charles IV. Edward was the son of his sister. But there was a curious
old law in France, called the Salic Law, which forbade that daughters
should inherit lands. This law barred the claim of Edward, because
his claim came through his mother. Still he determined to win the
French throne by force of arms.

A chance ca