Another more fantastic legend tell us about a girl in love with her horse. Her ungry father ordered to kill both of them and hang his daugther from a tree, wrapped in the horse's skin. Soon after, they were transformed into a warm spinning its cocoon, from which the girl came out when it opened. She took the cocoon silk, sold it in the market, and nobody heard from her nevermore.

...AND THE SILK ORIGINS
    In any case, Chinese people were the firsts to elaborate silk by methods kept in secret for a long time, which made possible an important monopoly for centuries. So much so that it was forbidden to get warms or mulberry seeds out from its frontiers, which was punished with death! Even so, it is said that some Europeans suceeded, hiding them into their luggage. Another story tell us about Khotan sovereign, in Asia, who married a Chinese princess who got silkwarm eggs out in secrecy, hiding them into her hair, so that she could keep on wearing her luxurious silk dresses.

    Seemingly, it all began 5000 years ago, when Chinese suceeded in domesticating Bombix Mori (the mulberry warm or silkwarm). It is thought that its breeding was entrust to women, represented by the empress. Silk production spread out along China, specially in the lower Yellow (Huanghe) and Yangtsé (Changjiang) basins, and the Bashu zone in Sichuan.
    Silk envolved a great part of Chinese life for successive dynasties, not only relating to clothing, but also artistic facets: literature, poetry, painting, sculpture and folklore. Silk has been found in musical instrument strings, paper... Sure enough, there were silk books or boshu, firstly limited to intellectual groups because of their cost, and later made of a special silk, 73 cm wide, red or black framed to indicate margins, which could be folded or rolled without distinction.

    Arabs didn't allow cristians to sail to Indian Ocean: generally, Northern China regions were accessible by land, surrounding Muslim empire, and Southern China regions were accessible by sea.
    About the end of the 13th century, sericulture was already prosperous in Italy, monopolizing silk commerce with France, Germany and England for long.

    There are three main comunication and commerce routes between Asia extremes: The first one in the north of Altai, by Barkul lake, Urumtsi, Talki port, Ili valley, Talas, and then by Aral and Caspian seas, Caucasus and Minor Asia. The other two routes are more known, from Han in Southern Tarim, joining at the passings which cross Pamir dessert and come into China.
    Marco Polo travel stories were very spread, but neither in ancient times nor in Middle Ages, any of these routes were named as "silk road". It was in 1907 when Aurel Stein, discovered the Thousand Buddhas Grottoes, where he found 5th and 6th centuries silks, so the interest about these routes increased and they were given this name as a various routes compilation better than one way. These routes were 10000 km long, and crossing them by caravans took about 7 years.

LYON SILKS
    In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, European people liked to wear silks as a luxury symbol, but also there were certain laws to decrease wearing costs and to make differences between upper and lower classes.
    In 1450 Lyon obtained the silk commerce French monopoly. Sixteen years later, Louis XI ordered to install Royal factories to produce silk there.
    In 1545 the commercial society Lyon Fabric was founded, in which French and Italian people worked for centuries. In spite of radical changes (such as Jacquard loom invention, new dyes or the fashion start) it is still working.