Make a Brace
for the centre where the two sections join, of a two and one-half by three-inch piece of cardboard ruled in half-inch squares and cut like the heavy line on Fig. 360. The steps on this must be cut still deeper, each one-half inch, according to the heavy lines in Fig. 360, and the extensions bent over at dotted lines as in Fig. 361. Fit and glue the straight edge of the left-hand front section of steps on this brace; have the brace flush with the edge of the steps. The brace should not reach to the tops as the tread of that step lies upon the foundation of the temple. When the brace is on, lap the edge of the right-hand section over the left-hand section half an inch; glue the two together, and the front flight of steps will be finished.
Make the back flight in like manner.
The Side Steps
have no square corner extensions like Fig. 359; the corners are cut according to the heavy line in Fig. 358. Each of the side flights of steps must have its central brace, the same as the front (Fig. 361), and the two sections of each side must be joined together as you joined the front flight.
Make four more braces, one for each corner, by dividing with horizontal lines a piece of cardboard for each into six half-inch spaces, then crossing these lines by vertical lines wider apart, the width being the exact diagonal distance across a half-inch square, for they must fit the diagonal edges of the steps at the corners of the four flights. There must be five of these wider spaces (Fig. 362).
Cut along the heavy lines and bend down the point along dotted lines (Fig. 363).
Fit and Glue
one of these braces at each end of the two side flights, then glue the side flights on the sides of the temple foundation and the ground board. Fasten the extensions D D D D D D (Fig. 359) of the corners of front and back steps to the side steps by binding them over and pasting them on the side steps. At the same time glue the front and back steps on the temple foundation and ground board.
Set the temple up on a double pile of books placed on a table. The temple must be elevated that your friends may look in at the open front and behold the Goddess Diana. Your beautiful little classic temple will give some idea of the grand original structure rebuilt in Asia about 356 B.C., whose marble columns numbering one hundred and twenty-seven, were sixty feet in height and each the gift of a king.
These are the famous Hanging Gardens and you are in the ancient city of Babylon where Nebuchadnezzar is king, and the time is about the year 580 B.C.
The King’s Wife, Amytis,
used to live in the mountainous country of Media, and when she married and came to Babylon, she longed for the sight of a hill, so her husband, King Nebuchadnezzar, had the Hanging Gardens built for her. Pretend that
The Queen Has Invited You
to explore the gardens with her. Up, up the many flights of marble steps you go to the tip-top of the beautiful hill, and standing there by her side you have a splendid view of the surrounding flat country as well as of the River Euphrates, which divides the city into two equal parts, half on the east and half on the west side of the river. The Gardens are built as high as the walls of the city (three hundred feet) so you can readily look over the walls to the stretch of land on all sides.
If you will find some very
Stiff Pasteboard
we can go to work immediately and build toy Hanging Gardens. Cut a piece of the pasteboard exactly square, measuring on each of the four sides eighteen and one-half inches (Fig. 364). Of this we will make a box-like foundation. Draw a straight line three inches from each edge, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 365. Take each line in turn and, placing the edge of a straight ruler along it, score the line; that means, run the knife-blade along the pencil line at the edge of the ruler, cutting the pasteboard only partially through. As each line is scored, raise the pasteboard and bend it away from you along the scored line, then allow the pasteboard to lie out flat again.
After all the lines are properly scored, cut the lines A A and B B (Fig. 365) only far enough inward to meet the lines C C and D D (Fig. 365). Allowing a scant half-inch extension at each corner on the lines C C and D D, cut the corners out as in Fig. 366. Bend the four little extensions, then the sides E and F (Fig. 366). Cover the extensions with strong glue and, bending the remaining sides G and H (Fig. 366), glue the extensions, one at a time, securely on these sides.
Hold Each Extension Tight
to the side until it sticks fast. In this way the cardboard will be made into a large, square box, which, when perfectly dry, must have openings cut through all the sides that it may resemble closely the foundation platform of the real Hanging Gardens.
To Make the Twelve Openings
on each of the sides of the foundation platform, cut a strip of cardboard twelve and one-half inches long, and three inches wide. Across the entire length of the strip draw lines half an inch apart, as I I (Fig. 367). Cross these short lines by a long line running lengthwise one inch from the top edge, J J (Fig. 367). Between this line and the upper edge draw another line, running lengthwise, a quarter of an inch from the line J J, as K K, Fig. 367. You now have a strip of cardboard twelve and one-half inches long and three inches wide. Across its entire length you have run two long lines, and across the entire width many short lines.
Begin with the Second Division
from one end of the strip marked by the short lines, and make a dot on the centre of the line K K (Fig. 367) where this line crosses the second division. L (Fig. 367) shows the dot.
The diagram Fig. 367 is merely intended as a guide, giving only portions of the twelve and one-half inch strip you are making. Begin at the lower corner of the small division under L (Fig. 367) and draw a curved line up to L; draw another curved line from the opposite corner of the same division up to the same point. The two lines will
Form an Arch
as in M (Fig. 367). Skip one division and draw another arch on the fourth division in the same way that you drew the arch of the second division. In like manner draw an arch in the space between the lines K K and J J of every other division on the strip. This will make twelve arched divisions, leaving a solid division or pillar at each end of the strip and also between each opening. With the point of your knife-blade
Pierce Holes
around the edge of all the arches as shown by the arch N (Fig. 367); then with scissors cut the two sides of the second division up to the arch and, holding the cut piece with your thumb and first finger, bend it backward and forward until it breaks away from the strip, leaving an arched opening. Smooth the rough edge of the arch by cutting away the uneven particles. Cut all arches in like manner O O (Fig. 367) and cut the least bit from across each end of your strip—not more than a sixteenth of an inch—that the strip may slide inside of the box foundation. The strip will be a guide in making all of the arches of your Garden.
Stand the Box on One Side
and slip the strip inside of it; lay the strip down flat on top of the lower side of the box (Fig. 368) and, holding it firmly in place, mark the divisions and arches on the box by running a pencil line around the edge of each opening arch of the strip. Remove the strip, and one side of the foundation will be marked ready for the twelve archways to be cut out. Repeat the markings on each of the four sides of the box foundation, cut open the archways as you cut those in the strip and you will have made a garden foundation like the first story of Fig. 369.
The Babylonians
used arches to support their enormously heavy structures because arches are the strongest kind of foundations. Make another box of a perfect square of pasteboard measuring thirteen and one-half inches on each of the four sides, to form the second platform. Mark off the two and one-half inch sides and your box will be eight and one-half inches square, with a height of two and one-half inches. After the glue of this is thoroughly dry, cut the arches. Use the same strip for a guide that did duty for the first platform arches. Cut four arches from one end of the strip and shave off the outside edge of the solid fifth division which forms the end of the strip where the portion has been taken off. The strip will now
Fit in the Second Box Platform.
When this is all complete, make a third box still smaller, of pasteboard nine and one-half inches square. Measure off a two-inch border on every side to form the sides of the platform. The box should be five and one-half inches square and two inches high. Cut arches in this platform with the aid of the same guiding strip of open archways after first cutting off three additional openings to make it fit the new box. You can also trim off the bottom of the pillars along the lengthwise lower edge of the strip that it may be narrow enough to fit more perfectly in the third platform.
Make the fourth and
Last Platform
of pasteboard six inches square. When finished let the box measure three and one-half inches square and one and one-quarter inch high. Two more openings must be cut from your arched strip to shorten it sufficiently to fit in the last box platform, for this platform must also be cut into open arches. Build up the four platforms one on top of the other, as in Fig. 369.
Place the centre of each platform exactly over the centre of the one beneath it.
To Find the Centre
take each platform in turn and lay a ruler very lightly on its top that no pressure may bend the arched sides; draw a pencil line across from the upper right-hand corner to the lower left-hand corner P, Q (Fig. 370); cross this line with another drawn diagonally across the square from the other two corners R, S (Fig. 371). The exact centre of the square top of the platform is at the dot T (Fig. 371), where the two lines meet and cross each other. Find the centre of each platform and very carefully puncture a hole through the centre with a coarse darning needle. You will have use for these centre marks when fastening the platforms together.
The Four Different Floors
of the original Gardens were supported by pillars and arches, as you have made yours, only the real platforms had more pillars under them. Between the pillars which formed the square of the first lower platform twelve arched passageways ran, entering from each of the four sides and dividing the ground beneath, equally between pillars and passages. There were rows and rows of pillars and arches that gave the effect of a honeycomb with open-sided cells. The arches proper were formed at the top of the many pillars which supported them, and all were built of the
Queer Square Bricks
which had the king’s name stamped on them, with other writing in a square bounded centre. The bricks were twelve inches long, twelve inches wide, and three inches thick and looked like Fig. 372. You must pretend that your pasteboard pillars between each opening are made of just such bricks and that there are many, many more brick pillars throughout the entire space beneath the floors.
Cut Light-Green Tissue Paper
into strips wide enough to extend a trifle over the edge of the platforms while reaching in across the top far enough to have the inner edge of the strip covered by the platform resting over it. The tissue paper should form a flat green band bordering the entire top ledge of the first three platforms.
Cover the entire top of the fourth and last platform with the green tissue paper.
Before you can
Plant the Shrubs and Trees
you must dig holes in the earth for their roots. Take each platform in turn and, with a coarse darning needle, puncture holes entirely through both green paper and pasteboard. Let the holes be in straight rows; make them on the projection or step of each platform, midway between the extreme edge and the walls of the next higher story. On the first, second and third platforms the holes should be an inch and a half apart. Pierce three holes through the top of the fourth platform, one at the back on the extreme left-hand corner and one on each side of that hole, but much nearer the centre.
You Will Need Ground
upon which to erect your Hanging Gardens. Get a piece of heavy, stiff pasteboard which will not bend, or a light board about seventeen inches wide and nineteen inches long. Cover it with green blotting paper, allowing the paper to extend over all the edges. Paste the four turned-over portions of green paper on the under side of the board or ground.
Now build up the Gardens. First
Stick a Long Hat-Pin
through the centre of the fourth or top platform. Then run the hat-pin through the centre of the third platform; slide this up next to the top platform, keeping the sides straight and parallel. Add the second and the first platforms to the others, running the pin each time through the centre of the top of the platform. Place the structure on the ground with one of its sides flush with—that is—along the edge of the ground, and its adjoining side two inches from the adjoining edge of the ground, leaving about five inches of ground in front and four inches of ground at the other side of the Gardens. Then stick the hat-pin firmly down into the ground and leave it there until the structure is all glued together. In fitting the building on the ground be certain that it is turned so that the back of the top platform on which you have pierced the hole at the extreme left-hand corner lies along the back edge of the ground O (Fig. 373).
To Bind the Different Parts
of the structure firmly together and fasten the whole building to the ground, cut sixteen strips of white writing paper two inches long and a scant half-inch wide; fold each strip crosswise through the centre; then, paste half of one strip on the fourth platform upward from the right-hand lower corner; bring the free half of the strip out flat on top of the next platform, which extends immediately beneath it, and gum down securely (Fig. 374). Bind the other three lower corners of the top platform down to the top of the next platform in the same manner; then fasten the third to the second and the second to the first platform, also the first platform to the ground. When the paste is perfectly dry, cautiously remove the hat-pin.
Build the Four Flights of Steps
from stiff white writing paper. Cut Fig. 375, for the first flight of steps; make them exactly according to the dimensions or sizes of the different parts given. You will find that the stairs themselves C, C (Fig. 375) must be four and one-eighth inches long and an inch and one-eighth wide. The height of the side of the stairs D, D (Fig. 375) is three inches. The length of the bottom of the side of the stairs D, E (Fig. 375) is four inches. The top of the side of the stairs D, F (Fig. 375) is one inch, and the width of the back, one and one-eighth inch; this should be the same width as the stairs C, C (Fig. 375) because it is intended to fit on and over the flap H that turns down from the top landing and is the same width as the stairs C, C (Fig. 375).
The height of the back is three inches. The
Top Landing of the Stairs
(L, Fig. 375) is one inch by five-eighths of an inch. Cut all of the heavy lines of the stairs and bend backward all of the dotted lines except that along the flap G at the bottom of the side which must be bent forward that it may lie flat on the ground. Open out the stairs flat and with pen and ink draw straight lines from side to side of C C; the lines will serve for steps. In like manner make lines on each of the three other flights of steps. Bend down the two flaps H and J on the top landing (Fig. 375), then the line F E along one edge of the steps; turn outward the flap G, bend down the line F L at the head of the stairs, which will bring the flap J under the top of the side D F. Turn back the line D D that the back may cover the flap H. Crease down the flap K tight and flat; let its top M extend around and lie flat against the under side corner N of the flap H, and your flight of stairs will be able to stand alone (Fig. 376).
Gum the Extension
of the top landing securely along the front edge of the extreme left-hand corner of the first story of your Gardens and fasten the flap G to the ground. Make three more flights of stairs in the same way, only let the second flight run in the opposite direction from the first, as shown in Fig. 377. To do this, simply bend the dotted lines forward instead of backward, except the lower flap at bottom of the side, which should be bent backward; this method of folding turns the stairs around, bringing the under side of the paper topmost after the stairs are bent into shape. Let the second flight of stairs measure in length from C to C (Fig. 375) three and one-half inches, in width seven-eighths of an inch, height from D to D two and one-half inches, length D E three and one-eighth inches, length of top of side D F three-quarters of an inch, height of back two and one-half inches, width of back seven-eighths of an inch; top landing, three-quarters of an inch by three-eighths of an inch.
Fasten the
Second Flight of Stairs
at the right of the second story as you glued the first on the left hand of the first story. Crease the third stairway in the same way as the first, for it is to run in the same direction. Let these stairs measure in length from C to C (Fig. 375) two and seven-eighths inches, in width five-eighths of an inch, height from D to D two inches, length D E two and one-half inches, top of side D F half an inch, height of back two inches, width five-eighths of an inch; the top landing one-half inch by one inch. Fasten this stairway at the left-hand corner of the third platform.
Make the fourth and last stairs turn in the same direction as the second. These are the smallest: Length from C to C (Fig. 375) one and three-quarters inches, width three-eighths of an inch, height from D to D one and one-quarter inch, length D E one and one-half inch, top of side D F one-quarter of an inch, width of back three-eighths of an inch, height of back one and one-quarter inch. Top of landing one-quarter of an inch by five-eighths of an inch. Bend into shape and glue this flight of steps at the right-hand corner of the top platform of the Gardens.
Now go to work on the
Stone Broad-Fronted Bulls
which are to stand in pairs at the landing of each stairway.
Make Fig. 378 of white paper and with ink draw the wings, face and hat like Fig. 379. Then cut out the strange animal, part bull, part bird, and part man. Bend at dotted line on top of wings (Fig. 378); bend outward all four of the extensions under the hoofs and stand the creature at the top of the first stairway. Paste the extensions out from the hoofs firmly to the platform. Carve or cut out seven more stone bulls and place two at the head of each stairway as in Fig. 377. Gum each stone bull securely in place. One more bull is needed which must stand up high on top of a stone shaft (Fig. 380). Height of shaft is three and one-fourth inches, not counting flaps or bull; width of same pattern at top fully two and one-half inches, width at bottom three and one-fourth inches. Height of bull from top of wings to bottom of feet one and one-fourth inch. Mark and fold it along dotted lines like Fig. 381, sliding the two flaps P P (Fig. 380) through the slits Q Q; crease the flaps backward to form paper hooks that hold fast. Turn out the extensions R R, which must be pasted down flat near the right hand on the back part of the top of the third story. The shaft will extend up high above the fourth story, as in Fig. 377.
Make Two Statues
a little larger than diagram and glue one at the right-hand corner of the front of the first platform, and the other on the right-hand corner of the back of the first platform as in Fig. 377. Use two pieces of white stiff writing paper for the two statues (Fig. 382). Cut all the heavy lines and bend back all the dotted lines except the extensions V V; bend these forward. Slip the flap S through the slit T; bend down and fit in the top U; then glue the statues in place. Color all of the white extensions of stairs, bulls, and statues with green paint or with green tissue paper pasted over them.
The Garden will now be ready for
The Shrubbery
Use different tones of green tissue paper for the three varieties of trees (Figs. 383, 384, 385). Make several trees of each kind and have all of the same variety, made of one tone of paper. For Fig. 383 fringe the paper as in Fig. 386; have four layers of paper for the fringe and one layer for the unfringed part; begin with the plain strip and roll it around and around a slender stick (Fig. 386). Bend the top over to prevent its unrolling (Fig. 383).
Plant This Tree
in the hole you dug for it on the first platform just back of the front statue (Fig. 377); alternate these trees with the palm trees, extending the line entirely around the top of the first platform of the Gardens. Fig. 387 gives the pattern for the palm; cut the six leaves and strip all in one piece, fold each leaf lengthwise through the centre W, and fringe as in X; unfold the leaves and double the strip on dotted line Y and roll it on a slender round stick as you did the first tree.
For the other tree use six layers of fringe which you have cut like Fig. 386, and afterward crimped with a blade of the scissors. This time begin at the top of the stick instead of the bottom and with the narrow top of the fringe roll the paper down to the pointed end of the stick. This gives the tree a bushy foliage (Fig. 385).
Cut circles of dark olive-green paper to
Make Plants
like Fig. 388. Fold the circle evenly four times and cut like Fig. 389, stopping at dotted line before reaching the centre. Unfold and the papers will resemble Fig. 390. Hold each of these at the centre, and twist a few times to make the stems (Fig. 391). Plant the shrubs between the trees on top of the second platform. Cut a number of light sage-green tissue paper shapes like Fig. 392 for plants. Holding each of the plants at the centre, crease by drawing it lightly through the fingers of the other hand, twist the stems (Fig. 393) and plant between trees.
Arrange Your Plants
in precise formal rows, a tree then a plant, next a tree and so on allowing a tree in a higher platform to come between two plants in the platform beneath as in Fig. 394.
Make vines of rather long, very finely cut and crimped tissue paper fringe; paste the vines between the row of trees on the first platform, allowing portions of the vine to hang over the edge. Make a number of palm trees and plant the roots or ends of the tree trunks in button moulds. Glue the moulds at equal distances apart and in a straight line along the ground on the three sides of the gardens.
Play that in the highest platform of the pyramid
An Engine Pumps up the Water
from the river Euphrates, that runs along below on one side of the structure, to supply the garden with fountains which you can make believe are sparkling and dashing here and there among rare shrubs and many-colored, fragrant flowers. You must pretend that the spaces between the arches on the different platforms are made into magnificent apartments and banquet rooms and below in the vaulted corridors the money changers and politicians ply their trades, while outside on the terraces are to be found the simple, sweet pleasures of wholesome Nature.