Page 168 of Circle of Days

Seft was not daunted. “We just need more people lifting.”

Tem chose more big people and gave them levers. It turned out that the most that could stand side by side without jostling was eleven. Seft decided it might also help to have levers at the sides ofthe stone. They would be less efficient but all the same it might be somewhat helpful. Tem placed four people crosswise.

Joia took over the job of encouraging those wielding levers. She was better at that sort of thing than Seft or Tem. Now she said: “Ready… take the strain… heave!”

The stone seemed to move.

“More, more!” Joia cried. “You can do it, I know you can!”

The stone came up a finger’s breadth, and the watching crowd cheered.

“Keep going, keep going!”

The stone came up the span of a hand. Seft quickly shoved a log into the gap so that the stone could not sink down. Joia held her breath, fearful that the log would be crushed, but it held, and Seft put in two more. Under the weight of the stone, they sank a little into the earth. That would make them stable, Joia realized.

“Well done!” she cried jubilantly. “Now relax.”

They dropped their levers. Some sat down, drained. Bax said: “Gods help us, that was hard.”

Wasting no time, Tem chose another fifteen of the strongest and told them to pick up levers. When they were ready, Seft stood by with another log.

Joia said: “Ready… take the strain… heave!”

The stone moved a fraction.

“Just a bit more, just a bit more!”

They grunted and cursed and became red-faced, and the stone lifted enough for Seft to put in another log on top of the first three, then add more.

The volunteers dropped their levers, and one man said: “I’m done in.”

This is very hard, Joia thought, but we’re doing it.

Another fifteen were deployed.

Soon the top of the stone was above the ground by the length of a forearm from elbow to fingertip. “Look how well you’re doing!” Joia said. “You’re lifting the biggest stone in the world! You’re heroes!”

The exhausted volunteers looked pleased.

The process went on with a change of team each time. Soon Seft was placing short upright lengths of tree trunk in the gap. Joia noticed that at the other end the base of the stone was tilting into the hole. She felt a warm glow of triumph, but told herself it was not finished yet.

Dini appeared with a basket full of strawberries. “Look how many we got!” she said to Joia. “And we ate lots too.”

“Well done!” said Joia. “Take the basket around and offer them to everyone.”

The volunteers ate with relish and congratulated Dini, which made her happy.

Then they ran into a snag.

When the stone was about a quarter of the way to upright, and its thin end was level with the heads of the volunteers, the levers no longer worked as levers. The volunteers found themselves merely pushing at the stone.

To Joia’s surprise, Seft admitted that he had not foreseen this.

Tem said: “We could rope the top of the stone and pull.”

“That might do it,” said Seft. “Especially if we could weight the thick end so that it would slide into the hole sooner.”

Joia was unnerved by their uncertainty. She said briskly: “Well, are we going to try that, or what?”