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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
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| CHAP. XVIII. SHRINE OF ST. THOMAS | 355 | ||||||
| brethren who keep the church relate the story of the Saint's death. They tell that the Saint was in the wood outside his hermitage saying his prayers ; and round about him were many peacocks, for these are more plentiful in that country than anywhere else. And one of the Idolaters of that country being of the lineage of those called Govi that I told you of, having gone with his bow and arrows to shoot peafowl, not seeing the Saint, let fly an arrow at one of the peacocks ; and this arrow struck the holy man in the right side, insomuch that he died of the wound, sweetly addressing himself to his Creator. Before he came to that place where he thus died he had been in Nubia, where he converted much people to the faith of Jesus Christ.4 The children that are born here are black enough, but the blacker they be the more they are thought of ; wherefore from the day of their birth their parents do rub them every week with oil of sesamé, so that they become as black as devils. Moreover, they make their gods black and their devils white, and the images of their saints they do paint black all over.' They have such faith in the ox, and hold it for a thing so holy, that when they go to the wars they take of the hair of the wild-ox, whereof I have elsewhere spoken, and wear it tied to the necks of their horses ; or, if serving on foot, they hang this hair to their shields, or attach it to their own hair. And so this hair bears a high price, since without it nobody goes to the wars in any good heart. For they believe that any one who has it shall come scatheless out of battle.6 | |||||||
| NOTE t.—The little town where the body of St. Thomas lay was MAILAI'IR, the name of which is still applied to a suburb of Madras about 3i miles south of Fort St. George. NOTE 2.—The title of Avarian, given to St. Thomas by the Saracens, is VOL. II. Z 2 | |||||||
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