The Lion on the Lump
The idea: a mark everyone trusts can say a lump was already weighed, so strangers can trade without weighing it again.
Read it
One story, three ways: Sprout for a new reader, Grower in short chapters, Reader as a full chapter book. Same plot, same ending.
Who is in this book
-
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices -
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts are true, stretched or made up — and what does nobody know?
True
- About two thousand six hundred years ago, in Lydia (now western Turkey), some of the first coins were made: lumps of electrum, a natural mix of gold and silver found in the river, made in set weights. Many were stamped with a lion's head, the king's sign. The city of Sardis made lion coins in thirds, sixths and twelfths. Source
- Before coins, people often paid with lumps of metal that had to be weighed on scales every time something was bought or sold. Source
- Three lumps that each weigh a third weigh the same as one whole lump. Lydian coins were made in whole weights and in smaller parts, such as thirds.
Stretched
- In the story, a girl and her grandmother press a lion seal into lumps at the market. What we simplified: Real Lydian coins were made in a workshop, with the stamp cut into metal and struck with a hammer, for the king. Even the smallest were worth a lot, so they were used for big payments, like a winter's wool, and it was some time before coins were used for everyday shopping. The story keeps the idea simple: a mark everyone trusts means a lump does not need weighing again.
Made up
- Lan and Inkling, the spark, the buzzing word, the girl, her mother and grandmother, the trader from the hills and the bale of wool are made up.
Nobody knows
- Nobody knows who first stamped a lump of metal so that people could trust its weight. Coins seem to have begun at about the same time in Lydia and in nearby Greek cities, and in China and India people found their own ways to make money that could be counted. Source
Tell it back
Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the letter D, the third of the third word under DOOR and OPEN goes on your belt.
On your belt: the letter D, the third of the third word under DOOR and OPEN.
Your belt lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.