Friar Marchesino of Bassano addeth his say ; and telleth a pretty passage that he heard of Odoric.

I, Friar Marchesino of Bassano ¹ , of the Order of Minorites, desire to say that I heard the preceding relations from the aforesaid Friar Odoric when he was still living; and I heard a good deal more which he has not set down. Among other stories which he told, this was one:—He related that once upon a time, when the Great Khan was on his journey from Sandu to Cambalech, he (Friar Odoric), with four other Minor Friars, was sitting under the shade of a tree by the side of the road along which the Khan was about to pass. And one of the brethren was a bishop ² . So when the Khan began to draw near, the bishop put on his episcopal robes and took a cross and fastened it to the end of a staff, so as to raise it aloft; and then those four began to chaunt with loud voices the hymn, Vení Creator Spírítus ! And then the Great Khan hearing the sound thereof, asked what it meant ? And those four barons who go beside him replied that it was four of the Frank Rabbans (i.e., of the Christian monks). So the Khan called them to him, and the bishop thereupon taking the cross from the staff presented it to the Khan to kiss. Now at the time he was lying down, but as soon as he saw the cross he sat up, and doffing the cap that he wore, kissed the cross in the most reverent and humble manner. Now, the rule and custom of that court is that no one shall venture to come into the Khan’s presence empty-handed. So Friar Odoric, having with him a small dish full of apples, presented that as their offering to the Great Khan. And he took two of the apples, and ate a piece of 271one of them whilst he kept the other in his hand, and so he went his way.