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"Because the destination is a very high place, Leonard, and your flying machines have an inevitable doards component"

"Yes my lord But I believe that sufficient down eventually becomes up, my lord"

"Ah Is this philosophy?"

"Practical philosophy, my lord"

"Nevertheless, I find myself amazed, Leonard, that you appear to have come up with a solution just as soon as I presented the problem "

Leonard of Quirm cleaned his brush "I always say, my lord, that a problem correctly posed contains its own solution But it is true to say that I have given soht to issues of this nature I do, as you know, experiment with deviceswhich of course, obedient to your views on this matter, I subsequently dismantle because there are, indeed, evil ht stuh to give me a roos OhI shall require several dozen swaons, too No, that should bemore than a hundred, I think"

"Ah, you intend to build a ship that can be drawn into the sky by dragons?" said Lord Vetinari, mildly relieved "I recall an old story about a ship that was pulled by swans and flew all the way to-"

"Swans, I fear, would not work But your surons, I suggest, to be on the safe side"

"That at least is not a difficulty They are beco rather a pest"

"And the help of, oh sixty apprentices and journey Artificers Perhaps there should he a hundred They will need to work round the clock"

"Apprentices? But I can see to it that the finest craftsmen-" Leonard held up a hand "Not craftsmen, my lord" he said "I have no use for people who have learned the li on an ancient burial mound a little way from the camp There were a lot of them in this area The members of the Horde had seen them before, sometimes, on their various travels across the world Here and there an ancient stone would poke through the snow, carved in a language none of thenised They were very old None of the Horde had ever considered cutting into a ht lie within Partly this was because they had a word for people who used shovels, and that as "slave" But , they had a keen moral Code, even if it wasn't the sort adopted by nearly everyone else, and this Code led them to have a word for anyone who disturbed a burial mound That as "die!" The Horde, each es, nevertheless advanced cautiously towards Cohen, as sitting cross- legged in the snow His sas thrust deep into a drift He had a distant, worrying expression "Co to have some dinner, old friend?" said Caleb "It's walrus," said Boy Willie "Again" Cohen grunted "I havfen't finiffed," he said, indistinctly "Finished what, old friend?"

"Re who?"

"The hero aff buried here, all right?"

"Who was he?"

"Dunno"

"What were his people?"

"Fearch hty deeds?"

"Couldn't fay"

"Then why-?"

"Foer!"

"You don't know anything about him!"

"I can ftill relances This was going to be a difficult adventure It was a good job that it was to be the last

"You ought to come and have a ith that bard we captured" said Caleb "He's getting on my nerves He don't seeot to write the faga afterwardf" said Cohen flatly and daht appeared to strike hiiven the a "Yeah, well, this isn't your basic heroic saga kind of bard, y'see," said Caleb, as his leader continued the search "I told you he wasn't the right sort e grabbed him He'ssung to a girl We're talking flowers and spring here, boss"

"Ah, got 'e on his belt he produced a set of dentures, carved from the dianashed the?"

"He's not a proper bard, boss" Cohen shrugged "He'll just have to learn fast, then He's got to be better'n the ones back in the Eer'n seventeen syllables At least this one's froas"

"I said we should've stopped off at Whale Bay" said Truckle "Icy wastes, freezing nightsgood saga country"

"Yeah, if you like blubber" Cohen drew his sword froo and take the lad's s revolve around the Disc," said Leonard "This is certainly the case with the sun and the moon And also, if you recall the Maria Pesto?"

"The ship they said went right under the Disc?" said Archchancellor Ridcully "Quite Known to be blown over the Ri a dreadful stor some days later, where it crashed down upon a reef There was only one survivor, whose dying words wererather strange"

"I remember," said Ridcully "He said, "My God, it's full of elephants!""

"It is my view that with sufficient thrust and a lateral co underneath by the massive attraction and rise on the far side" said Leonard, "probably to a sufficient height to allow it to glide down to anywhere on the surface" The wizards stared at the blackboard Then, as one wizard, they turned to Ponder Stibbons, as scribbling in his notebook "What was that about Ponder?" Ponder stared at his notes Then he stared at Leonard Then he stared at Ridcully "Er yes Possibly Erif you fall over the edge fast enough, theworld pulls you backand you go on falling but it's all round the world"