CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT
ARE THEREIN, ONE OF GOLD AND THE OTHER OF SILVER.
And when you have travelled those 15 days through
such a difficult country as I have described, in which
travellers have to carry provisions for the road because
there are no inhabitants, then you arrive at the capital
city of this Province of Mien, and it also is called
AMIEN, and is a very great and noble city.[NOTE 1]
The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar language,
and are subject to the Great Kaan.
And in this city there is a thing so rich and rare
that I must tell you about it. You see there
was in former days a rich and puissant king in this
city, and when he was about to die he commanded that
by his tomb they should erect two towers [one at either
end], one of gold and the other of silver, in such
fashion as I shall tell you. The towers are built
of fine stone; and then one of them has been covered
with gold a good finger in thickness, so that the
tower looks as if it were all of solid gold; and the
other is covered with silver in like manner so that
it seems to be all of solid silver. Each tower
is a good ten paces in height and of breadth in proportion.
The upper part of these towers is round, and girt all
about with bells, the top of the gold tower with gilded
bells and the silver tower with silvered bells, insomuch
that whenever the wind blows among these bells they
tinkle. [The tomb likewise was plated partly with gold,
and partly with silver.] The King caused these towers
to be erected to commemorate his magnificence and
for the good of his soul; and really they do form
one of the finest sights in the world; so exquisitely
finished are they, so splendid and costly. And
when they are lighted up by the sun they shine most
brilliantly and are visible from a vast distance.
Now you must know that the Great Kaan conquered the
country in this fashion.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF MIEN WITH THE GOLD
AND SILVER TOWERS]
You see at the Court of the Great Kaan there was a
great number of gleemen and jugglers; and he said
to them one day that he wanted them to go and conquer
the aforesaid province of Mien, and that he would give
them a good Captain to lead them and other good aid.
And they replied that they would be delighted.
So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out with all
that an army requires, and gave them a Captain and
a body of men-at-arms to help them; and so they set
out, and marched until they came to the country and
province of Mien. And they did conquer the whole
of it! And when they found in the city the two
towers of gold and silver of which I have been telling
you, they were greatly astonished, and sent word thereof
to the Great Kaan, asking what he would have them
do with the two towers, seeing what a great quantity
of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan,
being well aware that the King had caused these towers
to be made for the good of his soul, and to preserve
his memory after his death, said that he would not
have them injured, but would have them left precisely
as they were. And that was no wonder either,
for you must know that no Tartar in the world will
ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything appertaining
to the dead.[NOTE 2]
