han. While they were there, a war broke out between Berke and theCowan of Levant, blocking their return home. Thus Niccol and Maffeotraveled deeper into mongol territory, moving southeast to Bukhara, whichwas ruled by a third Cowan. While waiting there, they met an emissarytraveling farther eastward who invited them to accompany him to the courtof the great Cowan, Kublai, in Cathay(modern China). In Cathay, KublaiKhan gave the Polos a friendly reception, appointed them his emissaries tothe pope, and ensured their safe travel back to Europe(Steffof 10). Theywere to return to Cathay with one hundred learned men who could instructthe Mongols in the Christian religion and the liberal arts.In 1269, Niccol and Maffeo Polo arrived back in Venice, whereNiccol found out his wife had died while he was gone (Rugoff 5). Their son,Marco, who was only about fifteen years old, had been only six or youngerwhen his father left home:thus; Marco was reared primarily by his motherand the extended Polo family-and the streets of Venice. After hismother's death, Marco had probably begun to think of himself as somethingof a orphan(Rugoff 6). Then his father and uncle suddenly reappeared, asif from the dead, after nine years of traveling in far-off, romantic lands.These experiences were the formative influences on young Marco, and onecan see their effects mirrored in his character: a combination ofsensitivity and toughness, independence and loyalty, motivated by aneagerness for adventure, a love of stories, and a desire to please orimpress(Li Man Kin 10).Life's WorkIn 1268, Pope Clement IV died, and a two- or three-year delaywhile another pope was being elected gave young Marco time to mature andto absorb the tales of his father and uncle. Marco was seventeen years oldwhen he, his father and uncle finally set out for the court of KublaiKhan(Stefoff 13). They were accompanied not by one hundred wise men butby two Dominican friars, and the two good friars turned ...
