OF THE DEVIL'S HEAD IN THE PERILOUS VALLEY; AND OF THE CUSTOMS OF
PEOPLE IN DIVERS ISLES THAT ARE ABOUT, IN THE LORDSHIP OF PRESTER
JOHN.
Near that isle of Mistorak, upon the left side, nigh to the river of
Pison, is a marvellous thing. There is a vale between the mountains
which extends nearly four miles; and some call it the Enchanted Vale,
some call it the Vale of Devils, and some the Perilous Vale. In that
vale men hear oftentimes great tempests and thunders, and great murmurs
and noises, day and night; and great noise, as it were, of tabors, and
nakeres, and trumpets, as though it were of a great feast. This vale is
all full of devils, and has been always; and men say there that it is
one of the entrances of hell. In that vale is great plenty of gold and
silver; wherefore many misbelieving men, and many Christians also,
oftentimes go in, to have of the treasure; but few return, especially of
the misbelieving men, for they are anon strangled by the devils. And in
the centre of that vale, under a rock, is a head and the visage of a
devil bodily, full horrible and dreadful to see, and it shows but the
head to the shoulders. But there is no man in the world so bold,
Christian or other, but he would be in dread to behold it, and he would
feel almost dead with fear, so hideous is it to behold. For he looks at
every man so sharply with dreadful eyes, that are ever moving and
sparkling like fire, and changes and stirs so often in divers manners,
with so horrible a countenance, that no man dare approach towards him.
And from him issues smoke, and stink, and fire, and so much abomination
that scarce any man may endure there. But the good Christians, that are
stable in their faith, enter without peril; for they will first shrive
them, and mark them with the sign of the holy cross, so that the fiends
have no power over them. But although they are without peril, yet they
are not without dread when they see the devils visibly and bodily all
about them, that make full many divers assaults and menaces, in air and
on earth, and terrify them with strokes of thunder blasts and of
tempests. And the greatest fear is that God will take vengeance then of
that which men have misdone against his will.
And you shall understand that when my fellows and I were in this vale,
we were in great thought whether we durst put our bodies in aventure, to
go in or not, in the protection of God; and some of our fellows agreed
to enter, and some not. So there were with us two worthy men, friars
minors of Lombardy, who said that if any man would enter they would go
in with us; and when they had said so, upon the gracious trust of God
and of them, we heard mass, and every man was shriven and housled; and
then we entered, fourteen persons, but at our going out we were but
nine. And so we never knew whether our fellows were lost, or had turned
back for fear; but we never saw them after. They were two men of Greece,
and three of Spain. And our other fellows, that would not go in with us,
went by another road to be before us; and so they were. And thus we
passed that Perilous Vale, and found therein gold and silver, and
precious stones, and rich jewels, in great plenty, both here and there,
as it seemed; but whether it was as it seemed I know not, for I touched
none; because the devils are so subtle to make a thing to seem otherwise
than it is, to deceive mankind; and therefore I touched none; and also
because that I would not be put out of my devotion, for I was more
devout then than ever I was before or after, and all for the dread of
fiends that I saw in divers figures; and also for the great multitude of
dead bodies that I saw there lying by the way, in all the vale, as
though there had been a battle between two kings, and the mightiest of
the country, and that the greater party had been discomfited and slain.
And I believe that hardly should any country have so many people in it
as lay slain in that vale, as it seemed to us, which was a hideous
sight to see. And I marvelled much that there were so many, and the
bodies all whole, without rotting; but I believe that fiends made them
seem to be so fresh, without rotting. And many of them were in habits of
Christian men; but I believe they were such as went in for covetousness
of the treasure that was there, and had overmuch feebleness in faith; so
that their hearts might not endure in the belief for dread. And
therefore we were the more devout a great deal; and yet we were cast
down and beaten down many times to the hard earth by winds, and
thunders, and tempests; but evermore God of his grace helped us. And so
we passed that perilous vale without peril and without encumbrance,
thanked be almighty God!
After this, beyond the vale, is a great isle, the inhabitants of which
are great giants of twenty-eight or thirty feet long, with no clothing
but skins of beasts, that they hang upon them; and they eat nothing but
raw flesh, and drink milk of beasts. They have no houses to lie in. And
they eat more gladly man's flesh than any other flesh. Into that isle
dare no man enter; and if they see a ship, and men therein, anon they
enter into the sea to take them. And men told us that in an isle beyond
that were giants of greater stature, some of forty-five or fifty feet
long, and even, as some men say, of fifty cubits long; but I saw none of
those, for I had no lust to go to those parts, because that no man comes
either into that isle or into the other but he will be devoured anon.
And among those giants are sheep as great as oxen here, which bear great
rough wool. Of the sheep I have seen many times. And men have said many
times those giants take men, in the sea, out of their ships, and bring
them to land, two in one hand and two in the other, eating them going,
all raw and alive. In another isle, towards the north, in the Sea of
Ocean, are very evil women, who have precious stones in their eyes; and
if they behold any man with wrath, they slay him with the look. In
another isle, which is fair and great, and full of people, the custom
is, that the first night that they are married they make another man to
lie by their wives, to have their maidenhead, for which they give great
hire and much thanks. And there are certain men in every town that serve
for no other thing; and they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the
fools of despair, because they believe their occupation is a dangerous
one. After that is another isle, where women make great sorrow when
their children are born; and when they die, they make great feasts, and
great joy and revel, and then they cast them into a great burning fire.
And those that love well their husbands, if their husbands die, they
cast themselves also into the fire, with their children, and burn them.
In that isle they make their king always by election; and they choose
him not for nobleness or riches, but such a one as is of good manners
and condition, and therewithal just; and also that he be of great age,
and that he have no children.
In that isle men are very just, and they do just judgments in every
cause, both of rich and poor, small and great, according to their
trespasses. And the king may not judge a man to death without assent of
his barons and other wise men of council, and unless all the court agree
thereto. And if the king himself do any homicide or crime, as to slay a
man, or any such case, he shall die for it; but he shall not be slain as
another man; but they forbid, on pain of death, that any man be so bold
as to make him company or to speak with him, or give or sell him meat or
drink; and so shall he die disgracefully. They spare no man that has
trespassed, either for love, or favour, or riches, or nobility; but that
he shall have according to what he has done.
Beyond that isle is another, where is a great multitude of people, who
will not eat flesh of hares, hens, or geese; and yet they breed them in
abundance, to see and behold them only; but they eat flesh of all other
beasts, and drink milk. In that country they take their daughters and
their sisters to wife, and their other kinswomen. And if there be ten or
twelve men, or more, dwelling in a house, the wife of each of them shall
be common to them all that dwell in that house; so that every man may
lie with whom he will of them on one night, and with another another
night. And if she have any child, she may give it to what man she list
that has kept company with her; so that no man knows there whether the
child be his or another's. And if any man say to them that they nourish
other men's children, they answer that so do other men theirs. In that
country, and in all India, are great plenty of cockodrills, a sort of
long serpent, as I have said before; and in the night they dwell in the
water, and in the day upon the land, in rocks and caves; and they eat no
meat in winter, but lie as in a dream, as do serpents. These serpents
slay men, and they eat them weeping; and when they eat, they move the
upper jaw, and not the lower jaw; and they have no tongue. In that
country, and in many others beyond, and also in many on this side, men
sow the seed of cotton; and they sow it every year, and then it grows to
small trees, which bear cotton. And so do men every year, so that there
is plenty of cotton at all times. In this isle also, and in many others,
there is a manner of wood, hard and strong; and whoever covers the coals
of that wood under the ashes thereof, the coals will remain alive a year
or more. And among other trees there are nut trees, that bear nuts as
great as a man's head[412]. There are also animals called orafles, which
are called, in Arabia, gerfauntz. They are spotted, and a little higher
than a horse, with a neck twenty cubits long; and the croup and tail are
like those of a hart; and one of them may look over a high house[413].
And there are also in that country many cameleons; and there are very
great serpents, some one hundred and twenty feet long, of divers
colours, as rayed, red, green and yellow, blue and black, and all
speckled. And there are others that have crests upon their heads; and
they go upon their feet upright. And there are also wild swine of many
colours, as great as oxen in our country, all spotted like young fawns.
And there are also hedgehogs, as great as wild swine, which we call
porcupines. And there are many other extraordinary animals.