Page:The Chinese Boy and Girl.djvu/139

Rh During and at the close of the performance, the puppets cast such significant glances at the ladies as to anger the monarch, and he ordered the execution of the originator of the play.

The mechanic however ripped open the puppets, and proved to his astonished majesty that they were only artificial objects, and instead of being executed he was allowed to repeat his performance. This was the origin of the play in China which corresponds to Punch and Judy in Europe and America.

To the question which naturally arises as to how the play was carried to the West, I reply, it may not have been carried to Europe at all, but have originated there. From marked similarities in the two plays however, and more especially in the methods of their production, we may suppose that the Chinese Punch and Judy was carried to Europe in the following way:

Among the many traders who visited Central Asia while it was under the government of the family of Genghis Khan, were two Venetian brothers, Maffeo and Nicolo Polo, whose wondering disposition and trading interests led them as far as the court of the Great Khan, where they remained in the most intimate relations with Kublai for some time, and were finally sent back to Italy with a request that one hundred European scholars be sent to China to instruct them in the arts of Europe.

This request was never carried out, but the two returned to the Khan's court with young Marco, the son of one of them, who remained with the Mongol Emperor for