As a Roman, my heroine is asking herself why the Gauls build their protective wall from wood. It was only by chance that she found a scroll in an abandoned sawmill.
Knock on wood
Today, I, Ambiorix, received the order to write down a kind of manual for palisades. Thanks to Palisadix, our security expert, attackers won’t get far. Priceless are the looks of our enemies, as they fail to break through the palisade. However, it seems that some of our Gaul neighbors are no longer able to properly construct the wall. To prevent them from being blockheads, the following introduction will be documented.
Palisadix came from far away, just to record this transcript. He normally lives in a distant village near a forest with only 20 odd inhabitants. It’s a place where no one really is sitting on the fence regarding the attractiveness of the village. He told us that due to the forest, the village never gets attacked. So out of boredom, the inhabitants cut down the trees and perfected their craftsmanship. His advice:
– Use 20-30 centimeter thick and 3-4 meter long logs
– Sharpen the tip of the logs to prevent enemies from climbing over them
– Place the logs at a distance of 8-9 centimeters
To ensure security, we have also copied a Teuton strategy: On the outer perimeter of the palisade, ditches can be found.
– The ditch should be about 3 meters wide and 1.6 meters deep
– Whether it will be a u- or v-shaped ditch is up to the Gaul village’s inhabitants
– Those who want to watch their village like hawks construct watchtowers at a distance of 6 meters from the palisade
Our palisade may not be made from stone, but our protective wall also has its advantages: there are plenty of trees around. We can finish construction in much less time than the Romans. Also, due to the sharp tips, there are no bird droppings.
Palisadix revealed that he is not a master who fell from the sky. As a young child, he barked up the wrong tree and didn’t know what to think of craftsmanship. It was difficult for him to grasp each step of the process, so much so that he almost needed an IKEA manual. His father constantly had to show him wood to do. It was only later that he discovered why his boy was not focusing on his work: the village beauty, whom he is married to today, was so well-stacked, that he only had eyes for her and not the stacks of wood.
