And then there had been the Mongols themselves.
Safe to say that the Mongols seemed quite alien to this Flemish friar.
But not everything was so unfamiliar, so strange to him.
Most helpful to him during his stay was an artisan from Paris named Guillaume Boucher.
This so-called drinking fountain was, for all intents and purposes, a most convoluted and extravagant bar.
We are left with only the friars words to go on and, subsequently, with many questions.
Was it as imagined in the eighteenth-century edition of geographer and poet Pierre de Bergerons work?
Was it even actually as William described?
Have we correctly translated from his Gallicised Latin?
Might his lions have been tigers or his serpents in fact dragons?
How did it all work?
A press a button, lean down, and sip affair it was not.
There was a flaw in the fountain.
Basic function aside, the khans drinking fountain was a wonderfully grand, eye-catching piece.
What Guillaumes creation perhaps expressed most clearly was riches and imperial power.
Even the Franks, as distant as they are, submit to us.
It had not been carried there from afar, but of course, its creator had.
They wouldnt sit down to enjoy it throughout the year.
It was more of a seasonal delight.
And Mongol royalty did not do such things daintily.
He doesnt linger over the topic, but its always there.
At each audience, he noted the bench with drinks and goblets to the side.
His first audience with Mongke had been encumbered by his interpreters drunkenness.
Making the rounds of the royalty meant drinking with all of them, often a great deal to drink.
Sometimes, as the khan spoke, William would count the number of times he drank before he finished.
Friar Williams time among the Mongols would ultimately prove a frustrating experience for him.
Guillaume seems to fall off the map after Williams account of their time together.
