I quoted a bit last night from The Travels of Marco Polo on how the Great Khan chose ladies for his harem. I might well have added a word or two about the situation of the ladies, or girls, or, at any rate, of their families:
It may be asked whether the people of the province do not feel themselves aggrieved in having their daughter thus forcibly taken from them by the sovereign? Certainly not; but, on the contrary, they regard it as a favour and an honour done to them; and those who are the fathers of handsome children feel highly gratified by his condescending to make choice of their daughter. "If," say they, "my daughter is born under an auspicious planet and to good fortune, his majesty can best fulfill her destinies, by matching her so nobly; which it would not be in my power to do." If, on the other hand, the daughter misconducts herself, or any mischance befalls her, by which she becomes disqualified, the father attributes the disappointment to the evil influence of the stars.--Marco Polo, Travels (link)
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