In the absence of songbirds

I actually have a Swedish translation of this comics album, featuring the explorations of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta adapted to comics format.

Both are interesting, certainly to a precocious young reader, but the story of Ibn Battuta is better illustrated (at least in my opinion). It also contains more dramatic episodes, such as Ibn Battuta's stay at the court of a mad sultan in Delhi, his amorous contretemps in Damascus, or his visit to the Maldives, where the Muslim women were almost nude!

The Polo comic contains one of my favorite lines: “In the absence of songbirds, a crow will do”. Indeed! Besides, a crow *is* a songbird, although this may not have been common knowledge in 13th century Venice…

It's interesting to speculate about the significance of the following. China, the most sophisticated culture at the time, didn't send any explorers Westward. The Muslim explorer Ibn Battuta hardly ever left Muslim territory. The Venetian Marco Polo was the only one who actively explored territory outside his own cultural sphere…

With that, I leave you for now.