[00:01.34]In 1291, after 17 years of service
[00:04.79]to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy.
[00:07.81]He was now a very wealthy man.
[00:10.14]Not long after his returen,
[00:12.02]a local war broke out near his town.
[00:14.98]During the war, Marco was the cptain
[00:17.11]of a warship but was caught
[00:19.30]by the enemy and put into prison.
[00:21.92]However, Marco was lucky enough
[00:24.39]to meet another prisoner who enjoyed
[00:26.49]listening to his stories about China.
[00:29.47]The prisoner was an author
[00:31.21]and he took dictation
[00:32.90]while Marco tol all his stories to him.
[00:36.16]The prisoner then wrote the stories
[00:38.10]in a book called The Description of the World,
[00:41.11]which became one of the best-selling
[00:42.88]books in Europe.
[00:45.43]Although people enjoyed reading his book,
[00:48.36]many of them thought that Marco's stories
[00:50.58]about China were too fantastic to be true.
[00:54.56]But Marco always stood by his tales.
[00:57.91]Just belfore he died, aged 70,
[01:00.76]Marco was asked the question,
[01:02.43]"Was it all true?",
[01:04.29]to which he replied,"I have only told half
[01:07.42]of what I saw!"
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