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Aircraft, balloons, helicopters, rockets, dirigibles, and what not."
"These others we must discuss, but later. For now I want you to immediately
build me this kite thing."
"Yes, my lord. Uh, there is the matter of the fighting practice you ordered."
"Forget about that for now. After all, you're going to die anyway, and I want as
many of your devices saved as possible."
So on that cheery note, I went out and flew a kite.
Vitold was pulled from supervising the construction of the second windmill to
give me "every possible assistance. " I told him to lend me a junior carpenter and
sent him back to work.
I took a yard of the fine linen cloth and put Krystyana and Annastashia, good
seamstresses both, to work cutting and sewing. It was done in an hour, and we
gave it a thin coating of linseed oil. We set the finished kite up in the sun to
polymerize the oil, then had a few rounds of beer.
It was a simple, traditional diamond-shaped kite, and there was enough of a
breeze to fly it right out of the bailey. I no sooner had it airborne than Count
Lambert was there. By the time twenty yards of string was out, he'd taken it out of
my hands like an impetuous child, and was playing with it himself.
"That a man could build a thing that could fly!"
"Of course, my lord. You saw us make it. It's a simple enough thing. This is
probably the simplest design, though there are many others."
"Then I must have them! Sir Conrad, could you stay on a bit past your usual two
days?"
"If you wish, my lord."
"Earlier today, you mentioned the cloth I was to have. Do you suppose that I
could have a few tons of thread and yam as well? I'd like my people to have
knitted underwear as well as decent top clothes."
"What?" The count was clearly distracted. "Oh, yes. Those marvelous knots you
showed my ladies last winter. Take six tons, a dozen tons if you want it."
I took it. In fact, I sent it along with the cloth to Three Walls within the hour. This
forced the muleteers to camp out that night, but that was better than to give
Count Lambert the chance to regret his generosity.
In making and flying that kite, it was as though I had created the wonder of the
world. People who had been indifferent to my mills and factories were astounded
by a simple child's toy. In the course of the next week, I made box kites,
Rondalero kites, French war kites, and even a monstrous Chinese dragon kite.
Kite-flying became the big game on campus, and grown men, professional
warriors and leaders, were soon ignoring their hawks and hunts and flying kites.
The fad spread across Poland-within a year across Europe -and the mill couldn't
keep up with the demand for Count Lambert's Finest. Prices on that linen cloth
soared, and merchants who came to buy it often bought other varieties of fabric
as well. By spring, the factory was selling every yard it could make, all because of
a silly kite-flying fad.
At least they didn't name it after me.
That night at dinner, Count Lambert was glorying in a thick slice of watermelon. I
was sure that watermelon didn't come from the New World, but somehow no one
from Poland had ever heard of it. "And to think, Sir Conrad, you gave this
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marvelous stuff to a peasant!"
"Yes, my lord. Just be sure and save the seeds, and next year there'll be more than
enough for everybody."
"To be sure, to be sure. You've explained over and over again that there is no
reason why all these different sorts of melons you brought can't soon be enjoyed
by everyone. It simply seems that they are too good to waste on a peasant! Still,
nothing's to be done for it, I suppose."
I'd given the count all those types of plants whose seeds might be eaten, since I
was worried that a hungry peasant might eat, say, our entire supply of hybrid
wheat the first winter. Actually, I almost had that problem with him. I'd decided
it was good PR to show the cook what to do with sweet corn, and, to get enough
acreage the next year to plant all the seed we'd grown, sacrificed one ear out of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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