h was the modest sum of five cents, what
would you do?

You would do as I did, no doubt, go out with the little girl, call in
the passing showman and allow him to perform, which would serve the
triple purpose of furnishing relaxation and instruction for yourself,
entertainment for the children, and business for the showman.

This however proved to be not the monkey show but Punch and Judy, a
species of entertainment for children, the exact counterpart of our own
entertainment of that name. It may be of interest to young readers to
know how this show originated, and I doubt not it will be a surprise to
some older ones to know that it dates back to about the year 1000 B. C.

We are told that while the Emperor Mu of the Chou dynasty was making a
tour of his empire, a skillful mechanic, Yen Shih by name, was brought
into his presence and entertained him and the women of his seraglio
with a dance performed by automaton figures, which were capable not
only of rhythmical movements of their limbs, but of accompanying their
movements with songs.

During and at the close of the performance, the puppets cast such
significant glances at the ladies as to anger the monarch, and he
ordered the execution of the originator of the play.

The mechanic however ripped open the puppets, and proved to his
astonished majesty that they were only artificial objects, and instead
of being executed he was allowed to repeat his performance. This was
the origin of the play in China which corresponds to Punch and Judy in
Europe and America.

To the question which naturally arises as to how the play was carried
to the West, I reply, it may not have been carried to Europe at all,
but have originated there. From marked similarities in the two plays
however, and more especially in the methods of their production, we may
suppose that the Chinese Punch and Judy was carried to Europe in the
following way:

Among the many traders who visited Central Asia while it was under the
government of the family of Genghis Khan, were two Venetian brothers,
Maffeo and Nicolo Polo, whose wondering disposition and trading
interests led them as far as the court of the Great Khan, where they
remained in the most intimate relations with Kublai for some time, and
were finally sent back to Italy with a request that one hundred
European scholars be sent to China to instruct them in the arts of
Europe.

This request was never carried out, but the two returned to the Kha