The Knowledge Stone

by Jack McGinnigle

  Kati burst into noisy tears. The man continued: ‘No, Kati. Dry your tears. I think you have lied to me about this. I do not know why. It perturbs me and makes me sad. I will think about this further. But meanwhile, you will not go to your brother’s bedchamber. I forbid it, do you hear?’

  ‘Yes, Father.’ A whisper.

  ‘You may go, now, Kati.’ Her father’s dismissal was unequivocal.

  ‘We’ll see about this,’ Kati hissed furiously, as she stamped through the house, ‘he may be ill now but he won’t be ill for ever. And when he’s better, I will find something to make him really sorry. All the other fun I have had with him will be nothing compared to this.’ However, Kati’s mood lightened when she thought of the fulfilment of her ambition to push her brother into the nettles: ‘That was very clever of me to see the opportunity and take it. I know what one little nettle sting is like (that’s really painful) but how wonderful that I was able to cover my brother’s whole body with nettle stings. He had stings everywhere – absolutely everywhere!’ Kati smiled broadly as she thought of all the very sensitive places on her brother’s body that were now covered with nettle stings. ‘Just you wait, my dear brother,’ she whispered, ‘you have a lot more suffering to come. Just you wait!’

  Kati’s brother slowly recovered from his ordeal although his skin retained a certain uncomfortable sensitivity which affected him for years. He was now approaching his tenth birthday and was in the middle of one of these jumps in development that children go through. He had cast off much of his “little boy” image and suddenly become taller and stronger. In part, this was due to the employment of a physical trainer for the boy who came regularly to the Manor House and schooled the boy in a range of games and physical exercises. The boy developed well and became strong and more coordinated.

  His father was still keen that his son should be able to swim well but, instead of putting his daughter in charge of the boy’s teaching, he himself took over this role. He had approached the boy some months after his recovery and suggested that he and the boy should go to the river for some swimming practice. The boy was pleased to have his father’s attention though naturally still a little nervous at the prospect of swimming.

  ‘Do not worry, Son,’ his father said with a smile, ‘I shall be there to save you.’ The boy looked at his father rather doubtfully but felt he had to smile in return and say: ‘I know I will always be safe if you are there.’ Certainly the boy was much safer with his father than with his sister!

  In this new-found father-son relationship, the boy felt he could raise the difficult question of swimming naked: ‘Father, I know you always swam naked when you were a boy and, in obedience to you, I have done the same. But I think you will see that, in these modern times, the boys swim with some clothes on, usually wearing just their linen breeches, to cover their lower parts. I am pleased to obey you whatever you decide but I do not wish to dishonour the family by having people laughing at me if I am not covered.’

  ‘Very well,’ the man replied, ‘you may wear your linen breeches when we go to practice. I am pleased to hear that you think of the honour of the family.’ Remembering the supreme embarrassment of being stripped naked by his sister in front of many town children, the boy was delighted with the outcome of that particular conversation! Of course, it had never occurred to him that his sister had done this deliberately to make him suffer severe embarrassment. At that time, he thought it had just been an unfortunate coincidence.

  In due course father and son went to the river for swimming practice. They went to an area where a number of the town boys were swimming and Kati’s brother was pleased and relieved to see that all the boys wore a light garment of some type to cover themselves. Somewhat to his surprise, he found that his father was indeed a strong and expert swimmer and, under his schooling, the boy soon became a very good swimmer too, achieving a high standard within several months. His father was delighted with his son’s progress and began to enjoy the boy’s company very much, so much so that he took to seeking out his company for frequent conversations on many things.

  The man was surprised to find that his young son had developed quite an academic bent. He noted that the boy’s room was filled with many books and found that he was knowledgeable on many subjects. After a particularly interesting discussion about the stars – the boy was able to show his father a number of books on the subject – the man sat back, looking at his son with admiration. ‘What will you do with your life when you are a man?’

  ‘Father, I have been thinking about that. What I would like to do is study at the University of Yarlsvott (this was known as the “best” university in the Country). I thought I may study many matters of the world there; the stars, the science of our world, medicine, life, everything. Then, when I have learned everything there, I would return here and bring all my knowledge to the people. I would develop this knowledge and extend it.’

  The man now looked at his son with great respect:

  ‘You please me greatly, Son. I had no idea you had been studying so many things. I must think deeply on this. We must think how to prepare you for your great adventure to come.’

  Needless to say, the young boy was very happy with this new and happy relationship he had with his father.

  Meanwhile Kati worked hard to rebuild her father’s trust in her, seeking to please him in every way she could. She had been artful enough to show sorrow and contrition about her brother’s “unfortunate accident” and, in the end, the man decided that what had happened to the boy was just a serious mistake by his sister, a human error of judgement.

  ‘After all, she’s only a child, too. Perhaps it was my fault by placing too much responsibility upon her.’ So saying, the man had forgiven his daughter and resumed his loving relationship with her. Of course, Kati would have dearly liked her father to return to his former opinion of his young son (disinterest, at best) but she realised there was little chance of this happening.

  ‘That little brother of mine has ensnared my father into thinking he is clever! I’ll watch him carefully and try to destroy their relationship in any way I can,’ she resolved.

  The months then rolled by without significant incident until the drama of Kati’s accident with the horse. Kati’s brother, deeply absorbed in his studies as always, was unaware of this incident on the day it happened. It was all over by the time he heard that Kati’s horse had gone mad and had to be killed at the stables. However it seemed that even more trouble had occurred on the very same day; it was reported that the youngest stable boy had attacked his sister physically in some way and was now languishing in the Town Jail, awaiting trial for this crime. Kati’s brother was amused at this thought, since he knew that few people, never mind the youngest stable boy, would have dared to attack the fearsome Kati!

  ‘I wonder what really happened there,’ the boy mused, ‘I wonder what Kati was up to!’

  Then the boy remembered that another incident that happened almost immediately afterwards (perhaps on the following day?). Kati had made a new decorative pendant for herself, using a funny old stone she had found somewhere in a storeroom. He remembered this because something very odd happened to him at on the day she had shown the pendant to their parents. He remembered that he had felt a little strange at the beginning of the evening meal in the Great Hall. Then, after the meal had been eaten, he found that his fear of Kati had completely disappeared. He remembered feeling this as he passed Kati’s new pendant back to her. This change in himself puzzled him very much, because nothing had altered, had it? Afterwards, he had thought long and hard but could not find any positive explanation. Finally, he had concluded:

  ‘It’s probably because I’m growing up and my swimming and physical training has made me a lot stronger than I used to be. After all, I will soon be ten years old.’

  A third family incident occurred only a few days later when an item of h
is mother’s jewellery went missing. It was all very strange. The missing item was a very old medallion that he had never seen. A huge search had been carried out (extending even to his own body and belongings!) but nothing was found. For a time, he understood that his mother’s personal maidservant was suspected of the crime but nothing came of this accusation: ‘I suppose you can’t accuse someone of theft if there’s no evidence,’ the boy had concluded.

  One morning weeks later while the family were eating the first meal, his father announced he was making a business trip to a foreign country and would be away for a while: ‘But I will return for your birthday,’ he told his son, ‘I am determined to be here for that.’

  The boy flushed with pleasure. ‘Father, I will be so pleased if you are here for my birthday.’

  Kati lowered her head so that the family would not see her scowl as she muttered to herself: ‘I haven’t forgotten about you, little brother. Just you wait!’

  Weeks passed and then came the glorious day when the boy’s father returned, bearing with him a large box of fine polished wood.

  ‘What is in this box is a secret,’ the man said with a smile, ‘all will be revealed in due course.’ The box was placed beside the Master’s desk in his room and everyone was forbidden to touch it or even approach it. ‘You will all know what it is, soon enough,’ the man smiled gently at them, giving his son a special smile.

  ‘Surely such a large box cannot possibly be a birthday present for me,’ the boy thought modestly; secretly, of course, he hoped fiercely that it was!

  The day of the birthday came and Kati’s brother was ten years old. On rising from his bed, the boy looked carefully at himself in the looking glass: ‘I suppose I really am taller and stronger than I was before. This must be the reason I’m not frightened of Kati anymore.’ Nevertheless, the boy was still rather mystified.

  The family were instructed by the Master to gather in the Great Hall. All, except Kati, were excited and filled with anticipation. Kati was in a foul mood; however, she knew she would have to control herself and forced a rictus grin. The Master appeared, smiling broadly. He addressed the family in formal tones: ‘I congratulate my clever son on his tenth birthday. You may not know this but he intends to become a highly-qualified scholar and then use his knowledge to benefit the world. He has asked me if he could study at the University of Yarlsvott and I have agreed that he may go there when the time is right. Meanwhile, I have obtained for him a birthday gift of true greatness, a gift which will enable him to expand his mind. It is in this large box here.’

  The boy’s heart leapt as two strong servants carried the large wooden box carefully into the room.

  ‘Before I open it, I will tell you about my recent journey when I went to a foreign country far away to meet a very special man whose name is de’Dondi. This man is a very great scholar and he is the inventor of many fine scientific machines. This is his very latest invention, unique and considered by all who see it as the foremost marvel of these modern times. It is an incredibly complex astronomical clock and planetarium which he has named the “Astrarium”. Until very recently, there was only one astrarium in the world (and that is in his possession) but I persuaded him to construct another in smaller scale, in fact exactly half the size of the original. I have purchased this unique machine from the inventor for a considerable sum of gold. It is here in this box and it is my gift to my brilliant son, who is already so knowledgeable in the science of time, stars and planets.’

  With a flourish, the Master folded down the sides of the box to reveal an awesomely complex and elegant construction in silver and gold, its seven equal sides covered with dials, pointers and other indicators of varying size and shape. Each of the indicators was calibrated in a different way, so that at any moment an observer could tell the time, the day, the month, the year and the position of all the planets and stars in the solar system. It was truly a breathtaking work of scientific magnificence!

  The ten-year old boy was at first struck dumb by the instrument’s beautiful complexity but soon he drew near and, with incisive intelligence, began to seek out how its various parts worked and how they were all linked together by over one hundred (actually 107 – he counted them later!) toothed gear wheels, each one meticulously hand-cut to be a perfect fit with its fellow, each shaft and its means of mounting a vision of free-running perfection. His eyes shone with astonished delight.

  ‘Father,’ he breathed, ‘this is the happiest day of my life. This is the most wonderful gift I have ever received and I will treasure it forever. I will study it and understand how it works. And then, Father, I will see whether it can be improved or whether it can be developed into an even more complex astrarium.’

  ‘Bravo!’ His father clapped his hands delightedly. ‘What an intelligent boy you are. Now we will close the box and have it carried to your own room, where later you may study it at your leisure.’ The servants were called and the box was carried carefully to the boy’s room and placed upon a sturdy low table.

  ‘Before we finish here, each member of the family will bless you on this, your tenth birthday.’ The father opened his arms to his son and they embraced warmly.The man said: ‘My son, I bless you on this occasion of your tenth birthday and promise you my love and support for ever.’

  ‘Thank you, Father and I bless you too.’

  His mother took her son into her arms and said: ‘My beautiful, clever son, I bless you on your tenth birthday and I will love you forever, as I have loved you since the day you were born.’

  ‘Thank you, Mother and I bless you too.

  Smiling fixedly, Kati opened her arms to her brother and whispered in his ear: ‘I do not bless you, you pathetic little fool. And, don’t worry, I will smash it, I will find a way and there is nothing you can do to stop me.’

  ‘Thank you, Kati, I wish you the same blessings.’ As he said these words, the boy pulled back from her embrace, held her by her upper arms and looked straight into her eyes, something he had avoided doing throughout his life.

  Kati was suddenly transfixed by those eyes; green (‘just like Father’s,’ she thought with a jolt), calm, confident, resolute. Kati was totally unnerved and broke free from his grasp muttering: ‘You cannot win against me. By the time I have finished with you, you will have nothing and Father will have disowned you.’

  Maidservant

  A “Great Commotion” had permeated all parts of the Manor House. It had started quite early that morning, not long after the breakfast meal. Kati’s mother had gone to look in her jewellery box for a broach that she intended to wear later this day. Going to the curtained sleeping area in the Great Hall, she had retrieved the key from its hiding place, a well-concealed compartment in her largest dressing chest, and opened her jewellery box. She had found the broach she was looking for easily enough and was just about to close the lid and relock the box when she was struck with the feeling that something was missing.

  The jewellery box was in the shape of a small chest and it was capacious enough to contain many pieces – broaches, pins, necklaces, pendants, all mixed and tangled together. So it was quite remarkable that Kati’s mother should spot a single deficiency in the box. Now she began to sweep her eyes across the contents of the box in a methodical way, comparing what she now saw with what she expected to see; after some moments, she identified the deficiency. She could not see the large round disc of her great-grandmother’s medallion, attached to its gold chain. Although this was an item that was never worn, it was highly regarded as a very important part of the family’s history.

  ‘Perhaps it’s concealed below something else,’ the woman thought and wondered whether she should bother to start a comprehensive search for the piece. ‘After all,’ she reasoned, ‘it’s bound to be in here. No-one ever unlocks this box except me and my maidservant. Of course my husband could look in here if he wanted but he is not interested in any
thing in this box.’

  Kati’s mother debated the matter for a few seconds and, inevitably, decided she had better make a thorough search for the medallion: ‘It’ll just worry me if I don’t confirm it’s here in the box.’ A sensible, practical thought. So the woman immediately began to unload all the pieces of jewellery from the box, setting everything out neatly on her dressing chest. Within ten minutes or so, it became obvious that the medallion and its gold chain were not in the jewellery box. When the box was completely empty, the woman searched all the corners of the box meticulously, laughing at herself as she did so: ‘That big medallion would never fit into a tiny corner!’

  However, now she was puzzled and worried. Where had it gone? When did she last see it? She thought back carefully. It was probably about one week since she had opened the box. Frowning with concentration, she cast her mind back to that time and, yes, she thought she did remember seeing the piece then. She remembered seeing the large thin disk of the medallion standing on edge among all the other pieces. Therefore, it had gone missing in the last week! So began the Great Commotion in the Manor House.

  Firstly, all the members of the family were assembled and apprised of the situation. They were then asked a number of questions:

  Had they opened the jewel box? Had they seen the medallion and its chain? Could they think hard about this because there was no doubt the medallion was missing – and it was very valuable!

  Her husband had not been in the box; in fact he couldn’t remember the last time he had even seen the box open: ‘The jewellery box is yours, my dear, I would not expect to have anything to do with it.’

  Kati’s brother looked blank, because no-one had ever shown him this piece of jewellery or spoke to him about its history. Kati’s mother always had the intention of showing it to him – it was after all an important part of the family history – but until now she had thought the little boy would not be interested. Maybe when he’s older …?