The Wisdom of Learning

By Robert Collins

Maisy, the Witch Queen of Hatham, has always been curious. Her travels have broadened her mind and are benefitting her kingdom. But expanding knowledge challenges old assumptions and could create conflict.

Maisy will need both her head and her heart to prevail as “The Witch Queen.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Collins
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463162330

Robert Collins

Two people with different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities met at a European and Balkan music and dance ensemble named Koroyar and their lives became intertwined, combining their gifts to continue exploring life as an avenue of creative expression. Robert Collins has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and has been an educator in the Los Angeles area for thirty years. He studied writing with Joan Oppenheimer in San Diego, with Cork Millner privately, and also in the Santa Barbara Writer's Conferences. Elizabeth Herrera Sabido, at the age of sixteen years, began working as a secretary at the Secretaria de Industria y Comercio in Mexico City where she was born, then she was an educator for twenty-six years, and a teacher of international dance for The Los Angeles Unified School District. She has also studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is a Reiki Master Teacher. Attracted by the Unknown, the Forces of the Universe, and the human psyche, during their lives they have studied several different philosophies. Elizabeth has been involved with various religions, Asian studies, and Gnosticism with SamaelAun Weor, and Robert has explored spiritual healing practices in Mexico, and studied with Carlos Castaneda's Cleargreen and Tensegrity. Elizabeth and Robert start their day at four-thirty in the morning. They enjoy playing volleyball and tennis, and in the afternoons play music, alternating between seven different instruments each. Their philosophy of Personal Evolution has led them to explore over 110 countries between the two of them such as Japan, Nepal, Egypt, Bosnia- Herzegovina, the Philippines, Turkey,Russia, etc.

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THE WISDOM OF LEARNING

The Witch Queen, Book 6

by

Robert Collins

Ebook Edition

Copyright © 2020 by Robert Collins

License Notes, eBook edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

Lord Master Thomas bowed to Queen Maisy. Your Majesty, I have for you, this day, a report on the first month of the first term at the Hatham School for Science.

I and my Royal Court would be most gratified to hear your report, Lord Master Thomas, Queen Maisy replied. All the more so since it took over two years to get to this point, she mused to herself.

A little over two years earlier Maisy had returned from her fateful trip to the land of Cardona. She had learned a great deal about the princedoms and dukedoms of that land. She had discovered what was going on with the daughter of the Fairy Queen of that region, and had accepted the daughter’s daughters, Luna and Lucia, as students of hers so they could one day become Witches.

Most of all, Maisy had visited the Princedom of Listuras. That part of her journey had been dominated by the tragedy of the Listuras Earthquake and the Great Wave. But she’d also met Prince Emmanuel, and saw a little of his efforts to advance learning. He told her the connections between his research and the prosperity of Listuras. They came to an agreement that there ought to be schools to share what was known and to increase knowledge. The latter, more than anything she’d experienced, what for her the best justification for the time away from home.

Upon returning she spoke to Thomas about the school idea. She told him what she and Emmanuel had talked about. She gave him permission to determine how such a school might function. He was, like Emmanuel, something of an inventor and researcher. She’d hoped he’d take to the assignment and come up with a good proposal.

A few days of work told the both of them that this would be no simple idea. They knew there would have to a formal structure to house the school. There needed to be rules to govern the teaching of subjects, the interactions between students and teachers, and a goal for the students’ efforts. The school in Hatham would need to have a focus. There would have to be contingencies made for expansion, either if the school was a success, or if its initial effort didn’t suit the needs of the kingdom.

Even Thomas’ own title had to be worked out. Like most free men of some status, but no noble title, Maisy allowed him to call himself Master. He wasn’t as old as the men who could be called by that common title, but he had worked with his Queen on important projects. He was an informal member of the Royal Court, addressing matters like street-lights and road paving that required their support. All of this guaranteed that he would be the head of this new school.

But will I be able to give orders to the teachers? he’d asked her. After all, if we can all claim the common title ‘Master,’ would age or appointment be superior?

She admitted that his question was valid. An older man might not appreciate taking orders from a younger man, even if that younger man was friends with the Queen. An older man might or might not respect authority without knowing the younger fully understood the older man’s field of study. There was the practical matter of how to make the man in charge of the school answerable to the Crown and the Royal Court.

The two of them came to an agreement. The man in charge of the Hatham School of Science would hold the title Lord Master of the Hatham School. It would be granted by a vote of the Royal Court. The Lord Master of the Hatham School would be directly accountable to the Royal Scribe, the Royal Steward, and the Royal Treasurer, in that order. The Lord Master would not be a member of the nobility, but an avowed expert, like those same members of the Royal Court. Only in certain specific circumstances would the Lord Master answer to the Crown; in everything else, he answered to the Royal Court.

This, Thomas pointed out, gave the Royal Court of Hatham an interesting opportunity for the future. If one day there should be a second school, for another part of the kingdom, say, or for magic, then the Lord Master of the Hatham School could be put in charge of those others schools. The Royal Court need not worry about managing others schools.

Maisy thought that would happen long after she had gone to God, but she could see his point. Even with the prospect of other schools being started in other princedoms and kingdoms, there was nothing to say that what was created over the next few years would be enough in a generation, or a few generations hence. Already Maisy was aware that the number of subjects in her kingdom had grown by a measurable number since her uncle had been King. What had once seemed largely unchanging was slowly becoming subject to the march of time.

That included her own family. One reason why the effort to establish the Hatham School had taken as long as it did was that Maisy became pregnant once more. She and her husband, Prince Tomaso, had talked before her departure for Cardona about the prospect of having one more child. While magic made it almost certain that their daughters would survive to adulthood, they were both young enough to try for one more. Maisy knew Tomaso would like a son, if for no other reason that to not be the only man in their intimate household.

She was blessed, but he was not. Indeed, she was doubly blessed, for Maisy gave birth to twin girls. She felt it important for her older children to have proper names, seeing as one or the other might be Queen, if only one could follow their mother and be a Witch. Since the twins were not going to rule, and it seemed all her daughters would command magic like their mother, Maisy decided to gift them with names with a bit more whimsy: Daisy and Violet. Caring for the twins along with their older sisters kept Maisy busy from some of her duties, including the planning of the school.

In time, though, Thomas and Maisy put forward a plan. The Hatham School for Science would offer two basic paths for students: either become a scribe or a teacher. Both paths would require more than just basic knowledge, however.

Being a scribe was more than just the skill to read and write. A scribe had to know numbers and basic mathematics. A scribe had to have some understanding of basic business practice in order to be able to put his knowledge to good use. A scribe would be helped with a grounding in culture, manners, and history. A scribe could even follow Thomas’ own example and use the knowledge he gained to create a trade for himself.

A teacher had to know reading, writing, and mathematics. A teacher needed an understanding of culture and history. A teacher also needed a grounding in science. In time teaching itself would have to be understood as a trade. That too would be built into the course of study over time.

Both paths meant attracting teachers who understood the subjects they would be teaching. To understand them meant working in them when they weren’t teaching. Thus the school could turn students into contributors to the kingdom, but would need to expand knowledge in a variety of subjects to continue to be useful to the kingdom and to the school’s students. It was a plan, Thomas and Maisy agreed, that might sustain itself over time. It could even be expanded upon if the need ever arose.

Once the plan was worked out came the step of convincing the Royal Court to support it. That didn’t take quite as much effort as Maisy feared it might, but it still wasn’t easy work. There was some debate over how much it would cost to construct the school. The original design called for separate buildings for teachers, students, classrooms, a library, and a place to do research. The first two aspects were acceptable, but the last three were too costly to keep separate. The final design called for a teachers’ building, a students’ building, a building for classes and a library, and a small research workshop with a common area for dining and meetings.

Maisy and Thomas, for their part, expressed quiet embarrassment to each other that they hadn’t considered a common hall in their design.

With the Royal Court behind the project, work in earnest got underway. Construction of the buildings took a little over a year. It took longer to secure teachers and find students. Finally, a month ago, the first classes started and the school went into operation. Now it was time to determine how the plan was coping with reality.

I can say, Your Majesty, that in practical terms, the school is doing well, Thomas said. The teachers are teaching. The students are studying.

I think we’re happy to hear that, Maisy replied. Is the teaching and studying going well?

Well enough. There is some debate going on as to the method of teaching.

The method?

Yes, Majesty. The way a teacher has usually instructed a student was to give the student material to read or work on, to observe, and to correct if the student was not doing the work. Clearly that’s not practical when a teacher had more than one or two students.

Not quite, Maisy said, recalling her brief time as a teacher to the Duke of Brough. That seems like another lifetime ago.

What efforts had been done when it came to schools was that of the teacher lecturing his students on the lesson of the day. The students were expected to recite back parts of the lecture to the teacher, to prove they had learned.

Does that not work?

It does when the lessons are simple, such as numbers, or addition and subtraction, or how to properly speak a language. The problem we are finding is that isn’t an ideal method in a broader sense.

What do you mean?

"Take history as an example, Majesty. It is quite easy to learn by lecture and recitation the list of the Kings of Hatham, or the battles they’ve won. But what lessons are to be learned from such a list? Why is one King known to have been a good King, while another is known to be a bad King? Is the King with more victories better than the King with more accomplishments?

We are finding that there isn’t much value in reciting names if a student has no understanding of what those names mean. The value of learning a subject isn’t only in knowledge of the subject. It some subjects mere knowledge has no value at all. The value comes in applying the knowledge acquired in the subject.

Go back to your example of history. What do you mean there, in terms of understanding and applying knowledge?

Take the comparison of victories and accomplishments away from the field of battle. It might seem that winning battles leads to success. Thomas smiled. But, for instance, a brewer cannot wage war on another brewer to achieve success.

I should hope not, Maisy said dryly. Modest laughter echoed around the Royal Reception Hall.

"But is there a lesson to be learned in winning a battle? Was it won due to a good plan of attack? Better ground to defend from attack? Was luck involved? A brewer could find lessons in the answers. Perhaps he succeeds because he plans for the future. He takes fortune into consideration, and tries to reduce its impact on his trade.

And what of accomplishments off the field of battle? Is it better to avoid a battle, or a war, if the King can gain something by such avoidance? Could that mean a brewer is better off working with a rival than against a rival? These sorts of questions are ones students have been asking. What is the value in learning? What is to be applied from what they learn in coming to the Hatham School?

That’s affecting teaching how?

It seems that we must adopt a new method. There must be in classes a subject of the day. There must first be a statement of the basic facts in the day’s subject. The students must be able to ask questions about the facts. There should be some discussion of the facts, when the subject of the day allows for it. There must also be some effort devoted to helping the students understand the day’s subject, and what it means, both for their studies and for their lives once they graduate.

That sounds like a great deal of work.

It’s proving to be just that, Majesty. Yet we can’t deny that the work has to be done. Something has to be gained from the coins and time spent. This isn’t harvesting crops. One of the teachers, Master Reynold, has observed that we are making minds.

Making minds?

"Yes, Majesty. We are taking students with minds that are empty and filling them. But we can’t just fill them with knowledge and send them on their way. What does it help to know Kings and battles if a man cannot use that knowledge in his life? What does it help to know the seasons if one isn’t wise enough to understand the proper times to plant, or harvest, or travel? What does it help to know one added to one is two if a man doesn’t understand that sometimes one is better than two?

Reynold says that is what we’re doing. We can’t just find minds with knowledge. We must give that knowledge context. Understanding. Application. There must be a practical use for a mind filled with knowledge. In that way, the mind can’t be filled, but must be made.

Shaped?

Exactly, Majesty. A lump of iron can be shaped into a cooking pot or a sword. But a smith has to know why a man wants that lump of iron shaped before he starts work.

It would do no good for a soldier to get a cooking pot.

Or it might be what the soldier needs in field, if he already has a sword, and the men around him need cooked food on the campaign. The smith has to know that.

Quite so. Maisy let out a breath. Always more to know and learn.

Indeed so, Majesty.

I expect all of that in your written report, Thomas. Is there anything else you will to say while you are here?

Yes, Majesty. Both the students and the teachers have asked about the teaching of cosmology and astronomy. I am not certain how to answer them.

Oh? Why is that?

The difficulty lies in a debate going on in Rimi. It’s Church position that the celestial heavens move around the Earth.

Yes. The stars, the Moon, and the Sun all rotate around the Earth. I thought the question is whether or not they rotate around a flat Earth or a globe.

There is that, but something else has arisen to spark debate.

What?

Last year a comet was observed in the night sky, for several nights, before it disappeared.

I remember. There has been debate over the generation as to what comets are.

Indeed, Majesty.

There are those who believe them an ill omen. Yet history also suggests that they have been a good omen, and that they matter nothing at all.

True. Comets are known in the historical record, but no one can explain what they are, except to note that the appear, have a tail, and disappear.

What is the debate?

Church doctrine is that the heavens are perfect spheres moving around the Earth, showing us God’s perfect order for man.

That is what the Church has said, Thomas, Maisy commented. The reply has always been to wonder why the heavens are perfect yet the Earth is not.

Quite so, Majesty. There is a man, a scholar near Rimi, Nicolo of Sianni, who is wondering if the comet does not disprove the doctrine.

How?

His question is whether or not comets are themselves stars that fall to the Earth. There are places where it seems objects have fallen to Earth before. Such events are also in the historical records of many lands. Yet, if the heavens are perfect, nothing should fall from the sky.

Maisy nodded. No. They should not. What does he think the heavens are?

He believes the heavens should be researched, Majesty. Men should make objects to look at the stars, the Moon, and the Sun.

The Sun? It’s too bright.

He suggests a way, Majesty. He seems to believe that objects in the heavens should be examined. Certain objects are known to move on a regular basis. Can their movement be tracked and recorded? What are they moving it? What are they?

And this is being debated?

So it would seem, among both scholars and the Church.

What is the Church position? Do you know?

Letters sent to me suggest the debate is over an important question. Would it be against God’s will to prove the doctrine of the heavens false? Could that undermine faith? Or, does God wish us to understand His creation, since He has given us the power of thought? Does understanding support faith?

I would argue that it does.

As would I, Majesty. But without knowing where the Church stands, it’s a risk for any man of learning in the field to come here to teach.

Why?

The fear is that if the Church opposes such research, it could condemn any who carry it out. And any kingdom or institution that supports such research. More importantly, though, is the practical concern.

What practical concern?

Why come here to teach when learned men can remain where they are and take part in the debate?

I see. Thomas, the Fairy Queen once said to me, ‘Asking questions yields answers. Answers lead to knowledge.’ I should like to know more about this debate.

As do I, Majesty. But I cannot go.

No. You have duties here.

As do you, Majesty.

True, but not everyone here in the castle has duties. I will think about it.

Might you also think about another problem, which perhaps a visit to this scholar can help to solve?

Of course. What problem is that?

A letter came for me from His Highness, Prince Emmanuel of Listuras.

Maisy knew Emmanuel was writing to Thomas on his own. What she didn’t know until that moment was that the Prince was asking Thomas for help in his own research. What did His Highness write?

You are aware, Majesty, that it is easy to calculate north and south, due to position of stars, the Sun, and the Moon.

Of course. I believe I mentioned it to you when we first talked about the school.

Thomas smiled. Quite so, Majesty. Well, His Highness reports that it’s proving not quite as easy calculating east and west. There isn’t as much variance as he thought east to west. He wondered if there might be another way to make the calculation.

How?

We know that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If the world is a globe, it stands to reason that the farther east or west one goes, the sooner or later the Sun would rise.

Maisy thought about that for a moment or two. Yes. I can see that.

His Highness had a ship going east across the Southern Sea equipped with a simple clock. His orders were that the clock not be changed as the ship went east. It had to remain true to the time in Listuras. His Highness reports that the clock was less correct the farther east the ship went across the Southern Sea.

Wouldn’t the Sun rise at the same time everywhere?

It does. But the clock was set to the time in Listuras, when the Sun rose there. It seems that if the Sun rises at, say, the first hour of the morning, it will rise at the first hour of the morning farther east. But that will be the first hour there. In Listuras it would be the third or fourth hour of night.

Maisy had to spend a few moments considering what Thomas told her. At least she beamed. Yes! I see. The clock stays true to the time where it is set. It doesn’t magically change to the time where you go.

It will tell you the first hour of the morning where it’s set. But if you go east, and do not change the clock, it will become inaccurate to the time where it is.

Strange to think of it that way. What a clever notion.

Quite so, Majesty.

But how does that measure where you are?

His Highness wonders that if you had two clocks, one set to the time where you depart from, and one adjusted to the time where you happen to be, you might be able to calculate your position based on how much of a difference in time there is between the clocks.

Yes, I suppose that would be possible. But what has this to do with the heavens?

"His Highness wonders if Nicolo of Sianni, among