u, that the monk was too full of
words, and gathered too great a multitude to hear him speak. On this he was
called before the khan, who reproved him severely, saying, that as a holy
man, he should employ himself in prayers to God, and not in speeches to
men. But he was afterwards reconciled, by promising to go to the Pope, and
to induce all the nations of the west to yield obedience to the khan. On
his return to the oratory, the monk asked me if I thought he might gain
admission to the Pope as the messenger of Mangu; and whether the Pope would
supply him with horses to go to St James in Galicia; and whether your
majesty would send your son to the court of Mangu. But I counselled him, to
beware of making false promises to Mangu, and that God needed not the
service of lies or deceitful speaking. About this time a dispute arose
between the monk and one of the Nestorian priests, more learned than the
rest, as the monk asserted that man was created before paradise, which the
other denied; on reference to me, I said that paradise was created on the
_second_ day, when the other trees were made, whereas man was made on the
sixth. Then the monk said, that the devil brought clay on die first day,
from all the corners of the earth, of which he made the body of man, which
God inspired with a soul. On this I sharply reproved him for his heretical
ignorance, and he scorned me for my ignorance of the language: I departed,
therefore, from him to our own house. But when he and the priests went
afterwards in procession to the court without calling me, Mangu earnestly
enquired the reason of my absence; and the priests being afraid, excused
themselves as well as they could, and reported to me the words of the khan,
murmuring at the monk. After this the monk was reconciled to me, and I
entreated him to aid me in acquiring the language, promising to help him to
the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.

After the first week of fasting, the lady ceased from coming to the
oratory, and to give meat and drink, so that we had nothing but brown
bread, and paste boiled in melted snow or ice, which was exceedingly bad.
My companion was much grieved at this diet, on which I acquainted David,
the teacher of the khans eldest son, with our necessities, who made a
report to the khan, and we were then supplied, with wine, flour, and oil.
The Nestorians and Armenians eat no fish in Lent; but the monk had a chest
under the altar, with almonds, and raisins, and d