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.
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With that, my uncle put a big book into my hand. 
‘Thank you, Uncle!’ I said. I took the book home with 
me that afternoon. My uncle died not long after that. But I 
have his book – and I often read it – to this day.
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