[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!"

[01:08.28]