Meegor and the Master

Meegor and the Master

Meegor rolled his eyes - the Master always needed him for something, even if it was just to yell at him.

"Meegor, where are you?" The Master's voice echoed down the long, twisting stairwell.

"Coming, Master," Meegor called back as he trudged up the steps.After the long trip to the top, Meegor found the Master standing right where he had expected-looking out the big window that faced the town.

"I will defeat her this year," the Master growled, his dark cape and cowl flapping in the wind."I will vanquish her completely.When I'm finished, the judges won't even remember the Professor's name."

"That's hard to believe," Meegor said."She's won every Better Flat Earth Competition since it began."

The Master twirled around to look at Meegor.His eyes narrowed as he said, "This year will be different.I have the perfect idea that will defeat the Professor's touchy-feely discoveries."

"You thought of something better than proving that bathing is good for people,or that mice don't come from old grain, or that rats carry disease?" Meegor asked.

"Yes, I did. This land was once fertile,producing enough food to feed everyone, but now the land is giving us less.People are going hungry, but I know how to feed them - the pigs are the key."

"The pigs? Pigs are the key to pork chops, ham, and bacon.Are you going to give everyone pork chops, ham, and bacon?If so, we're going to need to get some more pigs;we only have four in the pen right now," Meegor said.

"This, Meegor, is why you're the assistant and I'm the Master.You must use the scientific method. Do you know what that is?"

Meegor knew all about the scientific method,but he wanted to see where the Master would go with this, so he said nothing.

"Last year," the Master continued, "I was walking among the farms and found onethat was producing an impressive crop - far more than any other farm around it.As I walked through the field, I saw pigs squealing and playing in it.The first step in the scientific method is to form a question, and mine was,'How do I win the Better Flat Earth Competitionand beat the Professor by making everyone's fields grow this well?'The judges would love the answer to that one."

"You said the same thing about your hole to the other side of the Earth," Meegor said.

"Thousands could have benefited by trading with the other side of Earth."The Master jabbed his finger at Meegor."If only you had worked harder." Meegor raised an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't understand; you're not a scientist," the Master said."Now I had a question, but I needed an answer.I knew I had to make observations in order to formulate my answer.It was squealing right at me - the pigs! The pigs are the key." "Just pigs?"

"Yes! I had my hypothesis right there in front of me:the presence of pigs makes crops grow better and produce more food."The Master laughed, waving his hands triumphantly in the air.

Meegor waited for the Master to finish before he said, "Then why isn't the pigsty a lush garden?"

The Master lowered his arms, scratched his head, and said, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, while you ponder it, I have to go feed your 'keys.'"

As Meegor made his way down the stairs and into the yard,he thought about the farm that the Master had seen.Meegor knew it well, as he had passed it many times on his way to town.It belonged to Old Man MacDonald, who was known for raising abundant crops.The farm was also known for all the animals - not just pigs, but cows, dogs, goats, and sheep as well,which Old Man MacDonald didn't like to keep confined all year long.Before his fields were planted, the animals roamed around freely,and Old Man MacDonald fed them out there.Once the fields were planted, though, he brought all the animals inside the fence that surrounded his big yard.The pigs, however, were notorious for sneaking into the fields.

The Master might have been on to something,though Meegor doubted he was going in the right direction.Meegor thought things over as he dumped the pigs' slop of old table scraps into the trough.The more Meegor thought, the more it seemed as though the animals had something to dowith the crops growing so well - but what?

"Eureka!" Meegor heard the Master scream from the top of the tower."Meegor, get up here! I've got it!"

Meegor put away the slop pail and climbed the stairs again.The Master was almost shaking with excitement.

"I've made my observations, and now I must use them to draw conclusionsand make inferences and reach a new hypothesis."The Master looked at Meegor as if waiting for a sign that he understood the steps of the scientific method.After a moment, the Master continued.

"The pigs would trample any new plants trying to grow,but it's the closeness of the pigs that the soil needs.Pigs like mud, so it therefore follows that mud also likes pigs.If pigs aren't rolling in mud, the soil still wants to be close to the pigs.Since soil can't move, it grows better plants to try and be close to the pigs.It makes perfect sense!" The Master clapped his hands together.

"Sounds pretty crazy to me," said Meegor.

"I think your negative attitude is why I never win," grumbled the Master, his shoulders slumping.

"Another genius hypothesis."

"I think so," said the Master, "but we'll have to test that one another timebecause I've devised an experiment to test my pig-and-plant-relationship hypothesis.We're going to need some poles and fabric strong enough to keep a pig hanging above the ground."

"Hanging? That's cruel."

"Don't worry, they won't be hurt," the Master said. Meegor raised an eyebrow."Well, you figure out a better way.Moving on ... in any experiment, there are three kinds of variables: independent, dependent, and controlled."The Master started drawing a diagram on a piece of parchment."The independent variable is the thing that changes.In this case, it will be the distance of the pig from the ground.Since we only have four pigs, we'll do four different distances - one foot, two feet, three feet, and four feet."

The Master drew the pigs at different distances above the ground.

"The dependent variable is the thing being measured," the Master said."In this case, we will measure how fast the plants grow under the pigs."

The Master drew little plants growing under each of the pigs.

"All of the other factors in the experiment must be the same; these are called the controlled variables.This means the pigs have to be over the same field for the same amount of time.The pigs also have to be fed the same amount at the same time.The pigs themselves are pretty similar, so I don't think we'll have a problem there."

The Master started writing up a schedule to manage the experiment.

"So here's how it will work: For the same two hours every morning and the same two hours every afternoon,the pigs will be gently positioned over the field behind the tower.You'll feed the pigs while they're there, so we'll know they're all eating the same amount of food.If my hypothesis is correct, which it is,I predict that the plants under the lowest pig will grow faster than the plants under the higher pigs."

Meegor looked at the parchment with its pigs, little plants, and schedule."This sounds like a lot of work," he said.

"That it does, Meegor, which is why I'm glad I'm not an assistant. Better get to work!They don't give awards to lazy people,"the Master said as he lay down on the ledge beside the window and stretched."Let me know when we're ready to start measuring."

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