Tradition has it that Polo, imprisoned in 1298 during a civil war, kept up his spirits in prison by recounting his travels as a young man in the Orient to a cell-mate.
EQ 大約相當高的馬先生，在西元一二九八年的時候，因內戰被俘而身陷囹圄，但他不但不頹廢沮喪，反而對那些關在一塊兒的囚友們大談早年遊歷東方的見聞，一部馬可波羅東遊文明上國的傳奇因而問世。