400 headwords 4247726 Ibn Battuta fp indd 1

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bandit a robber 
who attacks 
travellers
rock a very big 
stone
I was very afraid. I stopped eating and drank only water. 
In the end I left Delhi and stayed with a different holy man 
for five months. I gave away all my expensive things and 
beautiful clothes, and I prayed from morning to night.
Then one day the Sultan’s soldiers came to visit me with 
horses and new clothes. ‘The Sultan wants to see you,’ 
they said. I put on my new clothes, went back to Delhi, and 
sat before the Sultan.
‘Ibn Battuta, you’re going to be my man in China!’ he 
smiled. ‘I have fifteen Chinese visitors here. Go back to 
China with them, and take gifts from me for their ruler.’
I couldn’t say ‘No’ to the Sultan, and of course I wanted 
to see China. But, very importantly, I could now leave the 
Sultan and stay alive! So I said ‘Yes’ at once. 
I left Delhi in a big caravan with gifts for the ruler of
China – lots of horses and big bags of gold. My wife and 
young daughter came with me, too. We had a thousand of
the Sultan’s best soldiers with us. That was good because 
four days later we met four thousand of the Sultan’s 
enemies! We fought and killed them all, but I soon had 
more trouble. 
One afternoon, I went for a walk in the mountains far 
from the caravan. Suddenly, forty bandits came out from 
behind some rocks. They wanted to take all my expensive 
clothes from me, and to kill me, too! Of course, I didn’t 
want to die, so I told them lots of good stories, and I gave 
them all my clothes. In the morning, I was a free man, but 
I had nothing to wear – only my trousers!
For days I walked in the mountains with nobody to help 
me. From time to time, I saw more bandits. But I went 
quickly behind rocks and trees, and they didn’t see me.
4247726 Ibn Battuta FP.indd 17
7/7/10 15:21:01