She took a child in either hand
And went wandering through the land
From place to place in poverty
And kept alive by beggary.
— The Miracle of Beatrice*
On Clever’s Road
…a day came when the Golden Bird led her beggars, hungry and footsore, to a mill. It stood on the far side of a stream. A footbridge spanned the water which turned the mill-wheel which powered the mill-stone.
On that far side: Gears groaned. Timbers creaked. Shafts pounded. All to drive the rotating stone. What grinding and grating boomed from the stone! Earth shuddered to the mill’s mechanical beat, an autonomous roar — a noise too constant for the natural world.
Simple Jack cried at the sound.
He halted by the footbridge and would not budge.