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The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys cover

The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys

Chapter 66: CAP. LVIII.
By Sir John Mandeville
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About This Book

The narrator offers a medieval travelogue that traces routes toward Jerusalem and across regions of Asia, Africa, and India, blending eyewitness-style observations, borrowed reports, and fantastic tales. It catalogs cities, landscapes, animals, plants, trade goods, and unfamiliar customs, alternating itinerary notes with moral and religious commentary. Frequent digressions present marvels and monstrous races alongside practical details about pilgrim routes, local rites, and fortifications, producing a text that shifts between guidebook information and imaginative storytelling. The structure mixes descriptive chapters with episodic anecdotes, inviting readers to weigh veracity while encountering the era's geographical knowledge, commerce, and popular curiosities.

CAP. LVIII.

Of the Kingdome of Talonach, the king thereof hath many wyves.

THEN is there another yle that men call Talonach, that is a greate lande, and plenteous of goods & fyshes, as you shall hereafter heare. And the King of the lande hath as many wives as he will, a thousande & mo, and lyeth never by one of them but once, and that lande hath a marvayle that is in no other land, for all maner of fyshes of the sea cometh there once a yeare, one after another, and lyeth him nere the lande, sometime on the lande, and so lye three dayes, and men of that lande come thither and take of them what he will, and then go those fyshes awaye and another sorte commeth, and lyeth also three dayes and men take of them, and doe thus all maner of fyshes tyll all haue bene there, and menne have taken what they wyll. And menne wot1 not the cause why it is so. But they of that countrey saye, that those fyshes come so thyther to do worship to theyr king, for they say he is the most worthiest king of the worlde for he hath so many wives and geateth so many children of them. And that same kinge that XIIII M Olyfauntes or mo which be all tame, and they be all fedde of the men his countrey, for his pleasure bicause that he may haue them redy to his hande when he hath any warre against any kyng or prince, and then he doth put uppon theyr backs castels & men of warre as the use is of the lande, and lykewyse do other kyngs and princes thereabout.

1:  Know.