building for the next five years.”
“Wrong,” said Purple. “And you exaggerate besides. First of all, we don’t need I75 looms. We only need 60 —” He waited till the hoots of laughter had died away. “We only need 60, but we will
There was a murmur of reaction. “Use them continually? Are we to give up sleeping now?”
“No, no!” cried Purple. He was insistent now. Listen, you only work during blue days, right? When the blue sun sets, you stop. Well why can’t you work just as well during red daylight?”
Another murmur of reaction. Purple ignored it.
“Look, the light is just as bright at night as it is during the day. One team of men can work at night, another team of men can work during the day — we’ll call them shifts. That way we only need one third as many looms. Each man still works a full shift, but they don’t all have to work during blue day. Why should the looms stand empty and unused when there is light? One shift will work in the morning, another in the evening, a third during red morning, a fourth until red sunset. Each shift will work nine hours —”
The noise drowned him out then. “You’d have us violate the weaving spells? Defile the gods?” The weavers were on their feet, waving their fists angrily. “You’d call down the wrath of Elcin on us!”
“Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” Both Gortik and I were calling for order. Purple was saying something, but could not be heard. Finally Shoogar tossed a large fireball calmly into the center of the ring. It sputtered and spat and silenced the weavers.
Muttering, they shrank away. Their protests sank to a whisper. Gortik said firmly, “We have agreed to listen to Purple’s proposal and discuss it logically. He is a magician — we have all seen a demonstration of his power. Now, if he feels that there is no danger of offending the gods, then obviously he knows what he is talking about”
“And if there is any doubt, we have Shoogar here for a second opinion,” I added.
Gortik turned to Shoogar, “
Shoogar shook his head slowly. “Well, I’m not that familiar with weaving spells,” he said. “But what I do know about weaving suggests that the time of day the cloth is woven is unimportant. However, if there is any serious concern, I can construct some modifying spells to alleviate any danger.”
This seemed to pacify most of the weavers. They sank back to their seats.
“But still,” said Lesta, “Purple has called for sixty looms —”
“We do not even need to build that many,” said Purple. “You have six. Each of the other four villages has at least that many. Lant tells me that Hinc and some of the weavers of the Upper Village have already built one of their own. That is thirty-one right there. If all the weavers —
Lesta’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t trust that figuring, but he wasn’t going to challenge it until he had a chance to check it himself. “And what will we do about loomteeth?” he said.
They all looked at me.
I was unprepared for the question. I had not known that it would be asked. I said, “Well, it takes time to carve them — almost four days per full set.”
“Hah! There — you see!” snapped Lesta. “That means more than 240 days of carving by Lant before there are enough teeth for all of the looms — and what will we do about breakage in the meantime?”
“You know something, Lesta?” I said. “You’re kind of stupid.”
He stood up at that, glowering.
I stood also. “If we can bring in extra weavers and loom builders, then we can certainly bring in extra bonecarvers —”
“But there are no other bonecarvers on the island, you fungus-head!”
“Then I will train some! Any apprentice who can learn weaving can certainly learn bonecarving.”
“I wouldn’t let even let my worst apprentice be so degraded!” Lesta snapped. He sat down, smiling grimly, arms folded across his chest.
“Then what will you do for aircloth?” I asked.
His smirk faded.
Purple said quickly, “If you lend Lant ten boys, two from each village, the loomteeth will be finished ten times as fast.”
“Er —” I said. Purple looked at me. “What will I use for bone?” Across the clearing, Lesta snorted. “As big as a runforit skeleton is,” I said. “I have only enough for twenty or so looms.”
“Why do you have to use runforit bone?” asked Purple.
“I don’t — but it’s the hardest available.”
“Do you have to use the hardest?”
“Well, no — but the teeth will wear down or break faster. Wet bone is not as strong as dry.”
“But it would work?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “It would work. You will just have to replace them more often.”
“How often?” asked Lesta.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I haven’t had a chance yet to see how fast they wear.”
“Well, give me an idea — how long would a set of wet bone loomteeth last?”
“I can’t even give you an idea. It’s a totally new situation for me. I’ll guess four hands of days, maybe more, maybe less — how’s that?”
Lesta curled his upper lip in disgust. Obviously he didn’t think it was good enough. But Purple said, “That’s fine, Lant, that’s fine.” He looked at his skin of figuring. “Even three hands of days per set would be fine.”
“Good,” I said. Already I was eager to start training apprentices.
Then I guess that settles everything, doesn’t it?” asked Gortik.
“No,” said a voice. Lesta’s.
We all looked at him.
There’s still one question that hasn’t been answered — where will the thread come from?”
“Oh, yes,” said Purple. “The thread. I should think the answer would be obvious to you by now.”
It wasn’t. We all shook our heads.
“There is a large untapped source of labor already right here in our midst,” said Purple.
We looked around at each other curiously. What was he talking about?
“I’m referring, of course, to the women.”
It was a shout in unison from more than a hundred horrified throats.
All was uproar. Men were standing, shaking their fists, cursing and spitting. Not even a half dozen fireballs from Shoogar could quiet them. It wasn’t until Shoogar threatened to call down Elcin himself that the noise began to subside.
“Let me explain! Let me explain!” Purple was saying. Before anyone else could interrupt, he went on, “Listen, there is nothing sacred about spinning — even old Lesta admits it. The only reason you use boy apprentices to do it is that there is not weaving for them to do. Well, now that there is weaving for them to do, they don’t have to spin any more. The success of this whole plan depends on using the women for spinning — and your apprentice weavers can move up to being novices. Your novices can be promoted to journeymen. Your journeymen will all become team leaders.”
At this there was a great shout of joy from the assembled tradesmen. At least one part of Purple’s plan was going to be popular.
“But women?” declared Lesta. “Women? A woman is so dumb she cannot chew sweetdrops and walk through the forest at the same time.”
“Nonsense,” said another man, “you are still living in the days of your cubhood, Lesta. We are intelligent men — and intelligent men realize that women are more than dumb beasts of burden. They would have to be — they birthed us, did they not?”
This was greeted with a chorus of agreement from some of the other young men around the circle.
“Hah!” snorted Lesta. “Cubs still whining for the nipples.”
He was hooted at. The man who had spoken, a man of the Lower Village unknown to me, continued, “These
