Cogs In A Natural Machine

Just something about the position of the flowers reminded me of a machine and I am prone to whimsical thoughts like that.

A quiet Saturday.  G was away at the City Of Bears and I've been sitting here not enjoying the rain in Manchester*.

I also heard of something curious and interesting: The Silver Tree Of Karakorum (Qaraqorum, modern name: Harhorin).  It was the capital city of the Mongol Empire. The Great Khan (Ogedei Khan) was known for his love of drinking, and he had a huge silver fountain shaped like a tree set up in his palace that served all manner of alcoholic beverages from fantastically-shaped spouts.

I found this description of it: "In the entry of this great palace, it being unseemly to bring in there skins of milk and other drinks, master William the Parisian had made for him [the Great Khan] a great silver tree, and its roots are four lions of silver, each with a conduit through it, and all belching forth white milk of mares [the alcoholic drink called koumiss]. And four conduits are led inside the tree to its tops, which are bent downward, and on each of these is also a gilded serpent, whose tail twines round the tree. And from one of these pipes flows wine, from another cara cosmos, or clarified mare’s milk, from another bal, a drink made with honey, and from another rice mead, which is called terracina; and for each liquor there is a special silver bowl at the foot of the tree to receive it. Between these four conduits in the top, he made an angel holding a trumpet, and underneath the tree he made a vault in which a man can be hid. And pipes go up through the heart of the tree to the angel. In the first place he made bellows, but they did not give enough wind. Outside the palace is a cellar in which the liquors are stored, and there are servants all ready to pour them out when they hear the angel trumpeting. and there are branches of silver on the tree, and leaves and fruit. When then drink is wanted, the head butler cries to the angel to blow his trumpet. Then he who is concealed in the vault, hearing this blows with all his might in the pipe leading to the angel, and the angel places the trumpet to his mouth, and blows the trumpet right loudly. Then the servants who are in the cellar, hearing this, pour the different liquors into the proper conduits, and the conduits lead them down into the bowls prepared for that, and then the butlers draw it and carry it to the palace to the men and women".

All of which makes opening a bottle of beer seem a little dull.

I know this fact will be crowding out other more useful information but I love reading about stuff like this.  My curiosity acts as a balm against all the stupidity I see and read about every day.

*There's a cricket match going on in Manchester and, as always, the weather always plays a role.