Once upon a time in a far-away land, a team of knights were tasked with protecting the food supply of the kingdom by using a magical fence given to them by a very old and powerful wizard.

The fence, all 4,000 magical yards of it, would be used to enclose the farmland on which the food was grown. The fence had the power to keep out invading pests as well as humans, but let water and sunlight through – it was basically the perfect crop-guarding tool. The king said:

“I need you knights to deploy this fence anywhere you want in this land in order to gain for us the largest possible food supply for the health and growth of the kingdom. As you do this, I’ll want you to keep track of the exact instructions for how you did this, so we can repeat the process in other parts of the kingdom, should more magical fence become available.”

Then he left the knights to figure out how this was to be done. As the knights studied the material and asked questions, they learned the following:

• The 10,000 inhabitants of the city required 100 square yards of food each to produce their food
• A plot of land had already been identified that was suitably large to accommodate any shape the fence would enclose
• The fence could be bent but not torn (an existing door in the fence allowed for getting men and food in and out)
• It was a rectangle 1 yard high and 4,000 yards long
• It stood vertically without any other support, as long as it was on top of a layer of lodestone at least 1 inch wide

The lead engineer, Seamus, upon understanding these constraints, and believing he understood what the king wanted said:

“I have enclosed many a field before, and have the necessary tools to do so. I believe we can simplify our task into merely laying down the lodestone in the correct shape, and once we have a repeatable procedure for that, we can unroll the fence to conform to it.”

He continued…

“It is by Providence that we have 4,000 yards of this material. Using the simple construction techniques I have used, and can easily explain, we will have 1 million square yards for food, enough to provide the 10,000 inhabitants of the city the 100 square yards each they need to eat. I need 3 able bodied men to join me tomorrow, and we can begin construction- now let’s eat drink and be merry!”

Everyone was glad that a plan existed, and they drank heartily. In the morning, Seamus unveiled his plan in full:

“From my surveying tools, I have four Squares. I also have four 1,000-yard lengths of line we can use to mark where the lodestone goes. We start all 4 of us at the center, one length of line between each neighbor, then back away from each other slowly, keeping our t-square arms pointing at one another and stopping when the line is exhausted. This construction technique will meet the requirements, and be simple enough to convey to others with minimal tooling.”

The other knights liked the simplicity of the approach, and so construction on the lodestone foundation began.

END PART 1

Where do you think this story is going ? I have a part two in mind, but I’m curious where you all are at in your heads after reading this part..