It is true those would be modern dinosaurs. Rather, I should have said modern dinosaurs that would have been called dragons back in the day. The creature Marco Polo describes, for example, sounds like it could be something similar to a T.Rex. And many of the ancient drawings (cave drawings, etc), look like some form of Brontosaurus, etc.
This is one of my favourite pictures on the internet. And Iāve looked at a lot of pictures on the internet. A lot.
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Hmm. I didnāt know shepherds had animatronicsā¦
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Here. This is PART of Marco Poloās writings. This is the paragraph that sounds like a description of a serpent similar to a T-Rex:
āLeaving the city of Yachi, and traveling ten days into a westerly direction, you reach the Province of Karazan which is also the name of its chief cityā¦Here are seen huge serpents, ten paces in length, and ten spans in the girt of the body. At the fore-part, near the head, they have two short legs, having three claws like those of a tiger, with eyes larger than a fourpenny loaf and very glaring. The jaws are wide enough to swallow a man, the teeth are large and sharp, and their whole appearance is so formidable, that neither man, nor any kind of animal, can approach them without terror.ā
He had quite the imagination.
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Well, yeah, he invented the beloved childrenās swimming pool game didnāt he? Thatās pretty creative.
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And he built an airport in Venice.
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In California? I didnāt realize they had an airport.
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Yes. He was widely travelled. He wrote about it. A bit like Gulliver.
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That was entirely an accident.
See, Marco Polo had stopped, along with his entourage, at a river and they decided they needed a bath. Badly. So, some of them, including Marco Polo, stripped and went into the river.
Only, there were a bit of confusion. Because along with Marco Polo was another guy named āMarco Valdez.ā So, while they were bathing, an emergency came up and someone on the shore ran to the river and called out, āMarco!ā And, in order to clarify, Marco Polo called back, āPolo?ā But Marco Valdez didnāt respond because he was under the water at that very minute.
It became a bit of a game, you see. One we continue to play to this very day.
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Itās fun to learn history.
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I just had to pop in and say that this thread is absolutely brilliant! I wish I had something witty to add or some sage advice, but I do notā¦ so Iāll just say thank you for this morningās laughs!
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I was actually talking about the game sharks and minnows.
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Well, weāll have to agree to disagree there. Because learning history is so much bother. All those dates and facts to memorize. So, I prefer to just make things up when I can. Far simpler.
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But you donāt play sharks and minnows in a swimming pool! (Well, I mean, I suppose you CAN, but when Iāve seen the game played, it never involved water.)
Maybe not where youāre from
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Wait, wait, wait. Hold up.
Real dragons and giants I can get on board with, but how in the world do you play Sharks and Minnows on land?!
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