omake #3

 

Omake 3

 

Fourteen-year-old Jaromka Korybut Wiśniowiecki Bohun frowned.

“Papa,” he said, thoughtfully, “The Ottomans managed to make really good steel by blowing air through it. Why don’t we use watermills to power really big bellows, to get decent quantities of steel?  With the Kursk iron mines producing well, and all the iron in Silesia, and plenty of coal there, too, to smelt it, we could do a lot better.”

“You know what? There’s no reason we shouldn’t,” said Jurko. “We’ll run out of mill races soon, though.”

“We need some new source of power; wind isn’t reliable enough.”

“Do you remember you looked at that steam-powered toy the ancient Greeks made, which irritated you so much because it wasn’t being used to do anything practical?” asked Jurko. “Maybe that’s the answer. Oh, my son! You are definitely my true son in spirit, and you’re going to break the curse.”

“Curse?” Jaromka frowned.

“How many rulers can you think of whose sons were equally able?” asked Jurko.

Jaromka considered.

“Philip of Macedon?” he said. “Alexander the Great surpassed his father.”

“And that’s about the only example,” said Jurko.  “Now, I’ve not ruled, but I’ve fame in my own right – but I had achieved a measure of fame or notoriety before Grandpapa told me I was his son and acknowledged me. So, in a way, I never stood in his shadow. Mama and I have always encouraged you to be your own person, all of you to be individuals, and not to feel you have to be a small copy of either Grandpapa or me. And though you are following me into engineering, you are using your brain to come up with your own ideas and innovations.”

“You thought of steam.”

“No, I reminded you of your own thoughts,” said Jurko. “You have no need to be in my shadow, or Grandpapa’s, for you will think of things on your own, and be his adviser too, as I am, and I am here merely to guide you. No father can truly be great unless he has reared his sons to be able to surpass him. And that’s the mistake many of these so-called great men make. They are too busy seeing to their own fame to pass on how to be a good man and to improve the lot of their dependents to their sons, for being a good man is more important than anything else. Longing to improve the lot of others leads to inspiration, and the rest is inevitable.”

“There is much in what you say, Papa,” agreed Jaromka. “Also, sending sons to the Sich for a couple of years, to be anonymous Cossacks, and rub  off any corners, and develop our irresistible Cossack bodies.”

“That’s my boy,” said Jurko.

 so maybe this one might make it as a full story....