Famous Men of the Middle Ages · Ch. XXIV · Unit 8: Freedom fighters and far travelers
32. Marco Polo
Goal: Your child can trace Marco Polo's journey to China and back, tell the story of the jewels in the coats, and say how his book helped inspire Columbus.
You'll need
- The book, open to this chapter
- A map or globe showing Europe, the Middle East and Asia (a free online map works)
- Paper and colored pencils
- Your timeline strip (see the tips at the top)
What's in the book
Chapter XXIV (1254-1324): at seventeen Marco Polo goes with his father and uncle from Venice to Cathay (China), a journey of three years, to the court of Kublai Khan at Peking. He learns the language, serves as the Khan's envoy and governs a city. The Polos sail home with Princess Cocachin's wedding fleet to Persia. In Venice no one knows them until they show the jewels sewn in their coats. Captured in a war with Genoa, Marco dictates his book in prison. The book says Columbus probably read it.
The lesson, step by step
Set the scene
On a map of Europe and Asia, trace the Polos' route: from Venice, through the Holy Land and Persia (Iran today), to Peking (Beijing). Then the voyage home by sea, past Sumatra and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to the Persian Gulf.
Read the chapter
Read Chapter XXIV aloud. It begins:
Some years before St. Louis led his last Crusade there was born in Venice a boy named Marco Polo.
Tell it back
Prompts:
- Who was Kublai Khan, and how did he treat Marco?
- How did the Polos finally get permission to leave China?
- How did they prove who they were in Venice?
- How did Marco's book come to be written?
Talk it over
At the end of the dinner Marco said to his guests:
I will show you something that will please you.
Ask:
- Why were the jewels sewn inside rough old coats?
- Marco was in prison, but used the time to tell his story. What can a bad time sometimes give us?
A link back
SayThe book reminds us that Venice was founded by people fleeing from Attila the Hun (Chapter II). By Marco's time it was the richest city in Europe.
Remember it
Add to the timeline: "1271 Marco Polo sets out for China." Say: About two hundred years later, Columbus read about the riches of the East and sailed west to find them.
Extra (optional)
Draw the three Polos at their dinner, in robes of crimson satin, then damask, then velvet.
Afterwards
Ask your child to trace Marco Polo's journey on the map from memory.
Tip
Count it out: Marco was seventeen when he left and was gone more than twenty years. Ask your child how old Marco was when he came home.
Answers to the book's problems
Kublai Khan was the emperor of Cathay at Peking; he liked Marco, gave him important work as his envoy and made him governor of a great city. Princess Cocachin, who was to marry the king of Persia, asked that Marco sail with her wedding fleet, and the Khan agreed. They gave a dinner, changing into ever richer robes, then cut open their old Tatar coats and poured out jewels. In a Genoese prison he dictated his adventures to a fellow prisoner who was a skilled penman.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.