FRIAR ODORIC. 155
And then when he desired to cause any king or baron to be assassinated, or poignarded, he called on the officer who was set over that paradise to select some one who was most fitted for the business, and who most delighted in the life led in that paradise of his. To this young man a certain potion was given which immediately set him fast asleep, and so in his sleep he was carried forth from that paradise. And when he awoke again, and found himself no longer in paradise, he went into such a madness of grief that he knew not what he did. And when he importuned that Old One of the Mountain to let him back again into paradise, the reply was : " Thither thou canst not return until thou shalt have slain such a king or baron. And then, whether thou live or die, I will bring thee back into paradise again." And so through the youth's great lust to get back into his paradise, he got murdered by his hand whomsoever he list. And thus the fear of this Old One was upon all the kings of the east, and they paid him heavy tribute. But when the Tartars had conquered nearly the whole of the east, they came also to the land of that Old Man, and at last took his dominion from him. And when they had done this, he sent forth many of his assassins from his paradise, and by their hands caused many Tartars to be assassinated and slain. And when the Tartars saw this, they came to the city wherein the Old Man dwelt, and besieged it, and quitted it not until they took it and the Old Man also. Him they bound in chains, and caused to suffer a miserable death.
4S. How the friars deal with devils in Tartary.
In those regions God Almighty hath bestowed such grace upon the Minor Friars that in Great Tartary they think it a mere nothing to expel devils from the possessed, no more indeed than to drive a dog out of the house. For there be many in those parts possessed of the devil, both men and women, and these they bind and bring to our friars from as
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