400 headwords 4247726 Ibn Battuta fp indd 1

hippopotamus
a large African 
animal, with thick 
skin, that lives in 
or near water
Things soon changed after that. Mansa Sulayman was 
now very good to me, and he gave me a house and a lot 
of gold. And when I left the city with a friend to visit the 
country, his men brought me more gold!
In the end, my friend and I came to a big river. I saw some 
very strange animals in the water there – horses with big 
fat bodies, little legs and elephants’ feet. My friend called 
them ‘hippopotamuses’ but they were new to me!
I travelled north to Timbuktu, but in a town near 
Timbuktu I was very ill once more. Then one day, I got a 
letter from the Sultan of Morocco. He needed me at once. 
‘What does he want?’ I thought. 
We travelled north for a long time, and went back over 
the Atlas mountains. The winter snow there made the 
roads very dangerous, and we journeyed slowly.
In the end, after some months, I arrived back at the 
Sultan’s home in Fez. ‘I have important work for you!’ he 
said when he saw me. ‘There’s a young writer here. His 
name is Ibn Juzayy, and he wants to write down all your 
stories. Then everybody can learn about them.’
‘Ibn Juzayy?’ I said at once. ‘I know him! I met him 
in Granada! A holy man once told me about meeting 
friends in different places. It happened before, and now it’s 
happening again!’
Of course, it was wonderful to speak to Ibn Juzayy 
again. I told him all about the exciting places, the different 
animals, and the interesting people from all my journeys. 
And now Ahmed, all these stories are in a book. I’m not 
going to be here always. But take this. It’s my gift to you. 
You can read it, and learn more about my travels when 
you want.
4247726 Ibn Battuta FP.indd 36
7/7/10 15:22:29
www.frenglish.ru