Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Gaelic Maundeville (Author: John Maundeville)

paragraph 221

When Magnus Khan dies he is put on a chair in the middle of a tent, and a table is set before him, and on the table a cloth, and food, and a cup full of mare's milk. And they tether a mare with her foal before him, and a horse saddled and bridled, with its load of gold upon it. Then they dig the earth all round the tent till they cover it, and they close the earth over it on every side. And no one ever dares to go near that place. And they say that they will not leave their lord in another life without house, and milk, and gold, and horse—for the people of that country think that those who die eat food in another country, after leaving their life (on earth), just as they eat here—and thenceforward no one ever ventures to talk about his death in the presence of his friends.