In a time long ago, in a far distant land, there was a clan of people who lived in The Great Valley. The valley was covered by a large forest and in all directions you could see great majestic mountains. They were, for all practical purposes, cut off from the rest of the world. Yet this clan grew, prospered and developed its own ways. One of the unique ways it developed was when a farmer named Herco tied a unique knot to identify himself and his property. Soon most of the farmers in the valley had their own identifying knot. This was just the beginning.
"Ho, little brother," Jodius greeted him warmly, "I have been looking for you three days now. The first day I came I saw your knot and knew you were not home, so I went to the field where you tend your crops and did not find you. Then I went to the glen where you keep your stock. I recognized them as your stock because they had ropes about their necks tied with your personal knots on them. But you were nowhere to be found. Next, I went to the river to see if you had gone fishing, but again, you were nowhere to be found. I went home that day very tired, little brother."
Herco explained that the first day he had gone hunting with little luck.
Jodius sighed and continued.
"The second day I came earlier in the day and I saw your knot again so I knew you were not home. Again, I went to the field where you tend your crop, and again you were not there. Then I went to the glen where you keep your stock. I could tell you had been there because the stock had been tended and the milk taken. But you were nowhere in sight. I quickly returned to your house and found that you had not brought the milk home. I decided you must have gone to cool the milk in the waters of the river. Again, you had been there, I saw milk skins with your knot on them cooling in the river, but alas, you were nowhere in sight. By this time I was tired and it was late in the day, so I went home."
Herco explained that on the second day he had first gone to tend his stock. Then he took the milk skins to the river to cool the milk. It was then he had gone to work his crops.
Jodius sighed even deeper this time.
"Today I came at sunrise and again found that you had put your knot in place and were not at home. Today I decided not to chase you about the countryside, but to wait here for your return. So here I am."
Herco said that today he had spent the entire day just over the hill cutting wood for the upcoming winter. "If you had walked just a little ways you would have been able to hear me chopping wood and not had have waited all day. But tell me, brother, why have you lost three days of work to find me?"
"My good wife bids you come to our table for the evening meal on the morrow." Jodius told him.
They sat and talked for awhile. Then Jodius left to return to his home but only after Herco promised to come the next day for the evening meal.
Herco sat up late that night studying on the fact his brother had lost three days of work trying to find him. He turned once again to his knots. If he made a certain knot to indicate where he was, then his brother would not have to search for him blindly. He worked out a knot to indicate he was with his stock, a knot to show he was with his crops, ones for hunting, fishing, the forest and the river.
But how could he tell his brother that he was just over the hill cutting wood? He found one piece of rope was not enough to create all the knots he needed. He decided to braid two smaller leather straps together in order to make more knots.
He developed knots for the four traveling ways. Knots were made to indicate the direction of the Sunrise Mountains, the Sunset Mountains, the Ice Pack Mountains and for the Desert Mountains.
Then he had to set distance and time. For this it took three leather straps to make enough knots. First, he worked on time, making knots for day and night. He made knots for the four phases of the moon and knots for a complete lunar cycle. As an afterthought he made knots for the four seasons and knots for a complete sun cycle. Herco felt sure that even this was not enough, so he worked on making even smaller segments of time. Five was the largest number in Herco’s language, since that was the most number of fingers you could show and still hold your weapon at the ready. All numbers over five were known as many.
Herco made knots for the sunrise, the high sun, the setting sun or night fall, and middle night. This represented one entire day from sunrise to sunrise. Then he tied five smaller knots between each major knot in the day. It turned out there were twenty four knots in a complete day.
It was nearing middle night and even though Herco had not solved the problem of distance, he felt he must get some sleep. Maybe it would come to him in a dream, since it had been a dream that told him to make his first knot.
Herco slept well, but no dream came to help him solving the dilemma of marking distance with knots. The way distance was measured was called meets and bounds. Go to the large evergreen tree, turn toward the Sunset Mountains, go to the river, follow the river toward the Mountains that lead to the desert. Herco knew there had to be a better way.
When he arose the next morning he still felt good about what he had accomplished. He quickly went and tended to his stock, checked his traps near the river, and looked in on his crops, harvesting some to take to his brother’s house.
Since he had several things he wished to take with him, Herco decided to harness his draft animal to his wagon. He loaded down the wagon with food from his garden, meat from his smoke house and stopped by the river to retrieve a skin of cooled milk for Jodius’ wife. He also took all the knots he had tied the night before and placed them in the wagon.
When he arrived at his brother’s house, they were still in the field with his two sons working hard to make up for the three days of lost work. Herco immediately joined in the labor to help lighten his brother’s load. As they worked side by side Herco explained his idea about passing messages by tying knots. At first Jodius did not seem interested, but as Herco explained more Jodius began to ask questions. By the time they had finished and returned to the house Jodius was excited about using the knots to pass messages between the two brothers.
Herco showed Jodius and his sons the knots he had brought and explained what each set of knots meant. The sun was going down when Jodius’ daughter called them in for the evening meal. Jodius’ wife, Sara-Margo, had prepared a fine meal of meat stew, milk bean soup, fresh bread, and several fresh vegetables from Herco’s garden. Sitting around the table was Jodius, Sara-Margo, their daughter Annadale, their two sons Jadda and Hadidea, and a young man that Herco did not know. He was introduced as Gordioun, son of Jodius’ neighbor toward the Sunset Mountains.
"He’s the reason you’re here tonight." Jodius said. "He has come to ask something of you."
The young man cast a quick look to Annadale, then looked back at Herco.
"Master Herco, I have asked Master Jodius for permission to marry Annadale," Gordioun said with a slight tremble in his voice.
Herco said nothing. He sat there staring stone-faced at the young man.
Gordioun, at a lost by Herco’s non-response, continued. "In that I am my father’s third son, I have no rights to any of his land. However, the elders will grant me land if I can find a sponsor."
Again Herco said nothing.
"Uh.. Uh.. They say I will be granted land out past the bow in the river near the two large overhanging rocks." Gordioun did not know Herco was having fun with him as he continued.
"The elders said I must have a sponsor before they will grant me the land." Once again he paused, as Herco remained stone-faced. "Annadale said you may be willing to be our sponsor, Master Herco."
Jodius could not take it any longer and burst out in roaring laughter. "Do not make the boy suffer any longer, little brother." He said as he slapped Herco on the back.
Herco joined his brother in laughter, then told young Gordioun that he would be honored to sponsor him and Annadale. Gordioun was relieved Herco’s attitude was just a joke and joined the laughter. It was decided Gordioun would stay with Herco. When they finished work each day, they would clear what would become Gordioun’s land and begin building a house for he and Annadale. When all this was decided Gordioun and Annadale went for a walk.
Herco and Jodius sat outside talking about the young man and Annadale. Eventually the conversation turned back to tying knots. With the practiced hand of a farmer, Jodius learned quickly how to make the knots and to read them. When Herco told Jodius he had not come up with a knot to measure distance, Jodius began to ponder the problem. First, he thought the distance a man walks during one knot of time according to Herco’s clock would be the way to go. But then, he thought better of it; the distance would be different for each man and therefore not be an accurate measure.
Then Jodius suggested they go to the village the next day. He explained that the village had a water well on each end. Herco could set the distance for his knot the same as the distance between the two water wells. Then Jodius threw that idea out. He said that if one of the water wells went dry and they had to dig a new well, then the distance would change. Jodius came up with one more idea .
"How long, by your knots, would it take you to walk from your house to mine?" he asked Herco.
Herco thought a moment, then answered, "If I left my house at the middle day knot, I would reach your house in about two knots."
"And from my house to the village?" Jodius asked.
"About the same if I am not in a hurry, go straight and do not waste time or make any stops," Herc o said.
Jodius continued, "If you make the trip to your house and break it into five parts of the same distance, you could make a knot which would represent one part of the walk."
Herco liked the idea, but said he needed something to mark the five parts of the walk to his house. Then Jodius walked over to the edge of his field and picked up some rocks.
"These stones are from when I cleared my field before planting." He said, "Now Sara-Margo and Annadale use these stones to mill the grain, but I’m sure they won’t miss a few millstones."
With that, Jodius gathered several stones and took one over by his house where he placed it on the ground. "When you go home tomorrow place these five stones along the way. Then we will have a measure we can judge when we travel."
With that settled, Herco and Jodius called it a night. The next morning Herco put the five millstones in his wagon. With the practiced step of a farmer he lead his draft animal home, stopping to place the millstones an equal distance apart along the way. When he reached his house, he placed the last stone in front of it. It was five millstones to his brother’s house, and five millstones more to the village.
The next day young Gordioun arrived to start work. Each day they would work Herco’s fields and then go clear the land the elders had promised Gordioun. When the land was cleared, they began building the foundation for a house.
Winter was fast approaching and there was much work to do. Some days the weather was too bad for working the fields, so Herco would tie a Knot message for Jodius and send Gordioun wit h the knots so he could see Annadale. Sometimes Gordioun would take Herco’s wagon and draft animal and travel to visit his family. On these days Herco would work on his knots. Gordioun showed little interest in the knots, which disappointed Herco a great deal. But still he liked the young man.
One day Herco asked Gordioun if he noticed the millstones when he went to visit Annadale.
"Of course," Gordioun replied, "there are five millstones from your house to Master Jodius’ house."
"Yes," Herco said, "and how many millstones would I have to place from my brother’s house to reach the village if I kept the same distance for the millstones?"
Gordioun thought for a few seconds and then came up with the answer. "You would need five more millstones."
"Very good." Herco felt a sense of pride in young Gordioun, "And how many millstones from my house to your new house?"
"Three," Gordioun quickly answered. "So, how many millstones from your house to the village?" Herco asked.
Gordioun’s face went blank and after some thought he simply said, "Many."
Herco knew then they needed more numbers than just five.
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