Chapter 3 Summary

Kublai Khan notices that the cities Polo describes resemble each other. Khan's imagination takes hold. He mentally creates the cities without listening to Polo. Polo does not realize the emperor has stopped listening he continues to tell of the cities he has visited. Khan interrupts him. He says that he has conceived of a city and wants to describe it to Polo. Polo must tell the emperor if he has ever visited a city like the one the emperor has imagined. The emperor describes the city and Polo interrupts him. Polo says that the city is the one he was just talking to the emperor about before the emperor interrupted him. Polo explains that the city has no name or location and only exists as a dream exists.

Leaving Zenobia and traveling for six days and seven nights, one finds himself at Zobeide...